Are you scared when you ride your horse!

Daisychain

Daisychain

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Just looking at all the various posts etc, it just seems that people are always desperate for a calmer more relaxed horse etc. So are the majority nervous of their horses behaviour when riding it, or are you happy with him just behaving as a horse? personally i have never fed a calmer or used anything to change my horses behaviour, i just think thats the way they are!
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Spring has never ever made me nervous until last night when she made a damn good attmpt at bucking me off
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I got on her this evening and had butterflies in my tummy but she was fine and I soon relaxed and started to enjoy her again
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Have never fed her a calmer though and fully expect her to have off days and I do like her with a bit of sparkle!
 
I have tried a calmer to help my lad relax when he found shows/events very stressful, but tbh the resulting difference wasnt worth the cost!
I would never ride a horse that scared me,and to date there's only been one that I chose not to ride (for a client). Sometimes though with 2 ex racehorses there are days when the 'challenging behaviour' is prevalent and it can be a bit hairy! Tuesday was one of those days this week.
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I'm definitely not scared to ride Chex. If I was after 9 years then I'd have a serious problem! He has given me the odd scary moment (like galloping full pelt towards an open gate onto a road!), but they all do that. I couldn't cope with a horse that I was scared of - where's the fun in that
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Nope nope nope, i would live sitting in maes saddle, shes given me a few stroppy moments, but shes still a living being with a mind of her own. Im a firm believer that no horse is 100%, they can all have their moments!
 
Think most of the horses I've ridden in the last three years have scared me in different ways. But you are eight feet off the ground and they do move and have their own opinions on things.
Just have to outweigh scarey bits with good bits - and there are many of them.
 
Sorry if I appear to highjack this but Christmassparkle, you say that you laugh when your horse is naughty. I used to laugh when my highland would do a handstand buck out of nowhere and got severely told off. It was said that it made him worse. No-one else would ride him at one time. I was never worried, just always aware that he could put in a big one at any time. It made for some great riding. He tells me when he's about to do one now by squealing and arching his back.
 
Might be right, but I doubt laughing makes them worst, more likely the fact we are too busy laughying to tell them off makes them worst!!!
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My girl can do some massive spooks (spins) but she would never do them on the road (probably because she knows she is not allowed), and humpy bucks when in a strong canter out hacking. Hell they need to let of steam sometimes!!!
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i must be the only one that sometimes is nervous! you'll have to excuse me i am a bit drunk. but 98% of the time i am not scared at all i ride him.......yet sometimes if i dont ride him for a week i think 'oh my god what is he going to be like today' and i get a little butterfly. but i think it all adds to his character.....Frankie is not a nasty horse and i love him even though he can be stupid xxx
 


XC - scared I might die
SJ - Scared I'm going to look a complete t**
Dressage - Scared my bum looks big in my cream jodhs
Hacking - scared the pub might be shut

I think, as lots have said here, they all have their moments but I'm more scared of the circumstance than the horse. Wouldn't do it otherwise. Wouldn't feed calmer either. Want mine in full control of their faculties.
 
I am often amazed at the number of people who don't feel they have enough control of their horse, or are nervous of them or their behaviour. I can't see any fun in having a horse like that
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I feel 100% on my girls.
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Trust them both and never feel nervous about getting on.
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None of mine are on calmers and never have been. Im not nervous of mine. Although, I used to be very nervous of getting on my grey because he used to be cold backed and I absolutely hated "that" feeling when I got on and the fact he'd bronc'd me off twice because of it! Now he's not cold backed anymore so its fine again
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I might feed calmers occassionally for stressful situations, for example if I were introducing a new horse etc.
 
I think calmers have a place when used as a temporary measure, perhaps when bringing an injured horse back into work? Or a particularly stressy horse when it has a change of environment.However I don't see the point as a long term thing as surely they are just making a more deap seated problem. There is also the dange that eventually these calmers wil loose any effect they had when used continually of the under lying problems are nopt looked at.

I have never used a herbal calmer, but have occaisionally used sedalin when an injured horse has been confined to box rest/gentle walking.
 
i'm a bit nervous to ride him if he's had a couple of days off, as he goes completely mental!

i don't mind the prancing around/jogging ect, tbh it doesn't bother me at all, i don't even mind the spooking... it's the bucking i hate! in all honesty, it's not too bad, and he only does it if he's fresh/excited, but it still worries me!
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Never used calmers, had my boy 10 years and generally not nervous these days, but we are just happy hackers! Having said that, I trailered him somewhere new for a hack a few months ago, when I got on, he was a different horse, tense, grown two hands, you know the thing! I was off him like a shot, I think because it was so out of characteur I knew something was very wrong - and it was, sore back.
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I know that in 3 or 4 years time when it come's to backign the baby, I will be too nervous, I'll be mid 40s by them, I don't think that's a good age to take up backing horses!
 
I have never been scared/nervous getting on my horse- only nervous if it is at a big show due to competition nerves, even though i know she wont do anything naughty- i dont think she has a bad bone in her body!

however i did use to be abit scared about getting on my old pony harry, he used to throw in some awfully big scary bucks and i did fall off him a handful of times, and often came in crying from riding him- but the good times we had made it all worth while, and as i got older and stronger i could handle his naughtyness and found it funny rather than scary!
 
I did get apprehensive about riding Cat sometimes because he was a spooky spinner & could be v sharp if he was in the mood. 95% of the time he was lovely, but the other 5% he wasn't... If the weather was bad I used to lunge instead of ride, or lunge first, & he was on nupafeed.

I thought that that was how riding was supposed to be, until I got Adrian, who's Cat's double but without the artistic temperament. He's only 5 but I can take him anywhere & do anything with him in all weathers & he's never scarey. He'll buck to canter out hacking if he hasn't hacked for a bit, but I don't mind that.

I will def NOT be buying any more sharp horses - riding is so much more fun with a laid back one.
 
I was always nervous before I rode rather than when I was on the horse, so that going down to the stables with the tack could feel like I was going to my execution; but I knew I'd enjoy it once I was on board. Why this should be, I do not know.

However, I've always felt that my riding lacked something: I just didn't feel particularly safe or secure, although instructors would tell me I was doing it right. (I learnt in the "grip with your knees" days, by the bye). This feeling came between me and doing anything really competitive; I looked OK but I felt I just wasn't in control of my body in relation to the horse; so it was a concern about my own stability rather than what the horse might do. Then I had a couple of lessons with an instructor called Judy Ascoli- who also learnt in the "grip with your knees" days but had moved on from there, & so knew just where my probs were coming from. Personal circumstances meant I couldn't continue with this, but in those few lessons, she unpicked my riding down to even how I held the reins, and particularly as to how my pelvis related to the saddle, and one day, just for a brief moment, I got the feeling of how a real rider feels; I felt absolutely at one with the horse I was riding; I felt I could jump the moon, and that not only could the horse never unseat me but it wouldn't want to try. It was totally amazing.

I haven't ridden much since, but when I start again I've definately got to find an instructor with this sort of understanding.

I think that especially in riding youngsters who haven't learnt to be forgiving or to ignore what you are accidentally signalling them to do, rider error creates a lot of the problems and rider insecurity compounds them; the nervousness that arises from this is well founded and possibly mirrors what the horse feels, unless its just a wily old horse taking advantage.
 
My horse did nothing but bolt and dump me on the floor every time I mounted her from the day I bought her until she went to the right person to figure out how to deal with it, six months later(Richard Maxwell failed!). She's only done it once since I've been back riding her at home and she's mostly ace but I still can't stop my heartbeat from rocketing as I get on and it doesn't slow down til I've had a good trot and canter round and she relaxes. Trouble is its kind of like going on a roller coaster - you sh*t yourself at the beginning, enjoy yourself when your on it and when it ends you can't wait to do it again!
 
nope never have been i have the opposite problem my mare has no will to go any faster then she desires (is a pain when crossing a main road and she just ambles across) so spooking is a no no as it requires too much energy. If i fed her a calmer she would be horizontal,
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The only time I've ever been scared on my boy is galloping flat out into a water jump with no breaks knowing damn well he hates water and not quite knowing what he was going to do when we got there... And that wasn't really scared, just a bit uneasy about the situation... I didnt want to get wet!!

He plays about by bouncing around and sometimes is strong, but I prefer him like that as sometimes hes the opposite and really lazy, expecially when showing, so I have to feed him oats then otherwise I have to beat him up to make him move!!

But I don't mind a horse can throw whatever it want's at me and I wont be scared, that doesnt mean I'd then take it round badminton though!!!!!
 
I'll be apprehensive and nervous when I do manage to finally get back on my horse. She's been off for nearly a year and to be honest she was such a handful before I stopped riding her that she did knock my confidence a bit. But I'm sure everything will come good, she is a very geniune lady. She's the sort to look after you rather than do anything malicious, but can be very spooky.
 
My own horse - I am totally, 100% confident on her. On the flat at least, I do trust her when jumping too but it's more a case of not trusting myself
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My share horse - I was fine on him until today. It's only the fourth time I've ridden him and he's very much a one-person horse so is testing me out. Apparently I already have quite a bond with him on the ground, compared to previous sharers. However today he decided to nap (spinning was quite fast, backing up was quite fast, but no rearing thankfully). I am naturally a nervous person let alone nervous rider, but I would not be beaten and although I got off after 30 minutes (not solid napping) I got him all the way to where I wanted to be, and got back on, and had a lesson in a scary school, and rode all the way back without mishap. Berlin is a bit of a prat at times, scared of his own shadow. Not ideal for me but he's what I've got and he will teach me a lot.
My loan pony and my first pony, I was always scared of. My first pony would bolt and buck, and my loan pony would nap with the rearing and the bucking. Because of those I do know how to sit a bolt, buck, rear or nap so it's just a case of persuading myself to get on with it with Berlin!
I certainly couldn't carry on long-term being scared of a horse though, having Maiden has made me realise how much fun riding can be when there is mutual trust there.
 
No, none of my horses ever worry me to ride - they are Quarter Horses after all.....they never do scary things.
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