icyfreya
Well-Known Member
I'm having a few issues with my confidence atm 
. Basically, I'm totally fine walking and trotting, and jumping, if I can go into canter before the jump on a straight line, and can come out of canter just after the jump. But when I canter, I feel quite nervous and tense, and tend to become really tight with my hands, holding them quite low and gripping, and in most cases this ends up with the horse sort of bolting off a bit and being really fast and unbalanced.
I'm finding it really hard to bring my hands up and give more rein, because I'm scared the horse will take off with me. It's usually worse in an outdoor school, because if the horse gets a bit strong and fast, I get worried it's going to jump out of the school! (Hasn't actually ever happened to me but has to a few friends).
I think these confidence issues are from a few bad experiences of riding horses that bolted off with me, and I really couldn't stop them or control them, and then they started bronking! Which is a scary feeling, when you're on top of a big powerful horse, that you're not in control. It's lead to me being over controlling with my hands, because I'm scared, when actually if I relaxed my hands most horses would relax and steady, instead of taking off, which is what I tend to expect...
Had a lesson recently where they put me on a lovely gelding who is really sensible and wouldn't dream of taking advantage or jumping out of an arena, and have been doing an exercise where I totally give the rein, one at a time, so that I can learn that the horse will not speed up if they do not feel a tight contact...any other exercises to help me boost my confidence? I'm usually fine once I get going, I just get apprehensive and tense before cantering...
Hot chocolate with sprinkles and marshmallows and whipped cream for reading my essay!
. Basically, I'm totally fine walking and trotting, and jumping, if I can go into canter before the jump on a straight line, and can come out of canter just after the jump. But when I canter, I feel quite nervous and tense, and tend to become really tight with my hands, holding them quite low and gripping, and in most cases this ends up with the horse sort of bolting off a bit and being really fast and unbalanced. I'm finding it really hard to bring my hands up and give more rein, because I'm scared the horse will take off with me. It's usually worse in an outdoor school, because if the horse gets a bit strong and fast, I get worried it's going to jump out of the school! (Hasn't actually ever happened to me but has to a few friends).
I think these confidence issues are from a few bad experiences of riding horses that bolted off with me, and I really couldn't stop them or control them, and then they started bronking! Which is a scary feeling, when you're on top of a big powerful horse, that you're not in control. It's lead to me being over controlling with my hands, because I'm scared, when actually if I relaxed my hands most horses would relax and steady, instead of taking off, which is what I tend to expect...
Had a lesson recently where they put me on a lovely gelding who is really sensible and wouldn't dream of taking advantage or jumping out of an arena, and have been doing an exercise where I totally give the rein, one at a time, so that I can learn that the horse will not speed up if they do not feel a tight contact...any other exercises to help me boost my confidence? I'm usually fine once I get going, I just get apprehensive and tense before cantering...
Hot chocolate with sprinkles and marshmallows and whipped cream for reading my essay!
Yeah, my instructor has suggested I have a lunge lesson soon, so I can do some cantering with no stirrups or reins, to prove to me that I can stay on without the reins. The funny thing is, my seat is apparently really good, and my instructor thinks I have nothing to worry about. So it's mostly all in my head, but I can't get it out of my head!
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