Calmers for Humans!?

S

Sherbie

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Hey,

I am a right nervous so and so when riding. Its not always been that way when I was younger (teenage years ;) ) I would ride on my cousins horses and have a great time even if it meant a few bumps along the way. After getting back into horses after being away for a while and having my daughter, the nerves started kicking in. I made a mistake getting on another friends horse (on lead rope as she was in training, dont ask, lesson learned) she reared and came back on me = confindence shattered.

My problem is this was last year, and I now share a lovley horse with my sister. He is a stanadrdbred and a total gent. I have ridden him and after a few issues an experienced friend rode him his week for us, I will be riding him next week but dont want my nerves to affect the way he goes, hes too good for that. Looking on here I have seen alot of people go through worse than I have and wonder how you cope and how you get on day after day.
Thanks
S x
 
Hi Sherbie,
Apart from the deep breathing exercizes to do when you are with the horse, maybe a few mind distractions like singing yourself a little song .... (am not sure, but I heard that sort of thing works for some people) .....

but not for me when it includes a visit to the dentist. I have a real fear of the dentist. Bachs herbal RESCUE REMEDY works well for me if I take it about 20 minutes before I leave the house.

Hope you soon find a good remedy and hopefully will not need anything once you are back into the routine. Camomile tea is supposed to be good too.
Enjoy your time with the horse
Teg :)

Padderpaws, that sounds an excellent idea :D
 
Alcohol.

Valerian.

Bach Flower Remedies.

Chamomile.

But also to appreciate that your sub-conscious brain and your body are trying to keep you alive and thinks riding is a very bad idea. They don't trust you any more!

You can't over-ride this instinct immediately, you need to convince your brain and body that you're not trying to harm them. Time and confidence will achieve this.

Or....(like myself with jumping) cling on to the neckstrap and pray;)
 
OK - Someone else already said it....singing! works every time.

I got my friend to do it...she thought I was mad and now she does it all the time. She had a nasty fall caused by cows! every time she saw a cow she would freeze and hence so would the horse.....

so...along came 'Old macdonald had a farm'...it really is the best song... as you have to keep thinking of the next animal...the horses like it too...even with my warbling!!

I am not taking the mickey...this honestly works..dare you to try it!! :)
 
Thanks for the replies all!

Oberon- its defo sub-consous (my spelling is awful) its trying to get through the frist 10 -15 mins that can be so difficult as one half of the brain says its ok and fun the other half says be ready to jump off.

Remedy rescue was good for my driving lessons (roundabouts) and test but the feeling I get riding it totally different and very frustrating. I regularly go for lessons at a riding school aswell and am fine normally. Mainly because I learned to ride by sitting deep,never holing on to the horses mouth and enjoy, I realised lesson were in order after accident.

Hopefully riding tomorrow or Monday, will post an update of how we go. Got my remedy rescue pastels at hand though :D
 
Try Kalms-they are a natural calming tablet which use Valerian Root extract. I was sceptical at first but they really keep my dressage nerves at bay. you can get a pack of £40ish for about £5 at boots-may be worth a shot?
 
Not being funny but...... Magnesium!!! There is a supp called "magnesium-OK" and I take it for my stress levels when I had a very stressful job.

A balanced diet helped too and lots of H2O! :)
 
Equimins do a rider chill out supplement. I have tried for work related and other stress and it does seem to help it is magnesium and B vits a bit like the horse calmer.
 
I suffer with anxiety(not just horse related) and my doc prescribed me beta blockers for when I am really bad. I virtually never take them but somehow just knowing I have them in case helps! Sounds a bit extreme I realise but worth thinking about if it starts to overwhelm you. The ones I have are very low dose.
 
Well.. we done it, A short walk up the road back, then a little trot :eek:
I was a great feeling! I had about 6 of the remedy rescue pastels as horse was was being a bit of an ass while being brushed and tacked, that did not help one bit! There are some really lovley people on the yard who have helped so much too. A couple of the girls walked out with us and I just blabbered a load of nonsense, shaking in the saddle for the first bit. To start with I was not going to get on.

Tallyho, H20, must remember that in future, mouth was so dry with all my worrying/ breathing.

Kinnygirl1 - I totally understand, I was also on beta blockers for a while, again not horse related but the same 'panic' comes back regularly esp when it comes to riding.

After today Ill still be looking into other things to try as we are not going to give up, hopefully the nerves will start to fade soon :)

It is horrible to feel like that, esp when deep down you love to ride. Hopefully carry on with little steps at a time, not pushing too far and will have someone on the ground as long as it takes. Horse really is a gem and he got lots of extra carrots in his feed tonight!
thanks all x
 
Well done sherbie!!
I am having major confidence problems too at the moment and could do with a calmer myself.
Its so frustrating, I seem to be able to ride other horses but not my own and could kick myself but just get really nervous when I think about getting on her :(
You have done really well (I haven't been on mine since december) keep going xx
 
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