Can a nervous rider be a good rider?

Woo go Alwaysbroke! As an aside, that's one sweet looking horse!

I think you can be, with the right partner (in your horse) and outside help (instructors, livery etc)
 
Its interesting to hear an examiner's side of it. I would expect the pony club instructors that are training the B test candidates to tell someone if their horse is not up to standard. I would also expect them to have you swapping horses during rallies throughout the summer, so that you are used to riding other horses and it is no longer worrying.

My friend used to teach the B test aimed teens at our local pc, and got quite frustrated that over the last few years, the riders got quite upset about swopping horses - they wouldn't push themselves - as she said, they weren't going to pass their B test unless they did. Our then DC, who was the mother of two of the girls that refused to swop, changed instructors to one who pandered to what the kids wanted, rather than pushed them. My friend (a BHSII who has taught pc and bhs exam candidates for years and is a wonderful instructor) doesn't teach at pc anymore. No children have passed, or even taken, their B (or even C+) since she left.

This is not a reflection on you OP, just my musings, but it seems like a lot of candidates nowadays expect conditions to be perfect before they took exams. I too always thought that you had to be quite a confident, capable rider that could get on most things (within reason) at B test level.

Back to OP. I used to get really nervous in exam conditions. I failed my stage 2 first time round due to it. An instructor gave me a vodka and orange before my stage 3 riding!! In the bit without stirrups the horse that I was riding "ran off" with me during the canterwork, and I just sat there grinning! One of the comments at the end (in the days when you got them face to face) was that I was lovely and relaxed without stirrups! Rescue remedy may be a better solution!

You also sound like me, in that you will focus on the negative. If you were told to get on this horse, and you didn't know it, you would be fine, but now you are focusing on its bad points, which may never raise it's head anyway. If I were you, I would ride this horse lots and get the worry out of your head...
 
I think they can, with the right horse and lots of work. I have a friend/pupil who is nervous, she doesn't like horses to play up at all. However, looking at horses etc (bought one now) she'd always emphasise temperament was her biggest priority and that she was nervous etc...and whenever she got on the owners were always surprised at how well she rode for somebody who's nervous. She has a good seat, and is quiet in her hands and legs..she does get nervous and will hang a bit, but it's fixable...so on lots of horses, yes, she rides well :) She just refuses to ride anything that will be naughty or dangerous or is very sensitive (even her horse is quite forward, but he never does anything worse than just get a bit fast).
 
I'm really glad someone posted this. I used to be really confident when I was younger before I had bairns and an OH. I took about 15 years off to spend time with my children and now my boy is at university and my little girl is in secondary school I'm away again. I noticed that I am a much more nervous rider. I am constantly being told to be more confident but that's like telling a short person to grow taller! I nearly barffed during last weeks jumping lesson as we took on three jumps of about 75cm. When I was younger I'd have jumped them on a bicycle singing the hallelujah chorus! My instructor is putting me on as many different horses as possible as I go for the Stage 2 exam next month. I'm going to be the oldest one there too probably just to put the icing on the cake......yeh.... that gives me loads of confidence...NOT.
 
First off- good luck for your B test! Al is doing hers this year (hopefully) and is similarly a bit worried about others riding Reggie. He's a lovely horse, but if you challenge him he does throw little tantrums where he pretends to rear and humps his back. If you boot him along and ignore him he stops but if you make an issue of it he would go up properly... And he has a mildly unorthodox jumping style! Don't want him made scared by someone who tries to make him conform...

As for nerves- I get very nervous riding new horses at first, and about being in open spaces. I had a pony who used to get very very strong and run away with me XC and out hacking and it scared me a lot. I found that I just had to literally grit my teeth and make myself do stuff/ my sister would make me (she's far more scary than anything else when she's telling you off!) and once I'd done it a few times I got a lot better. Maybe go to a local riding school and ask if you can have a go at riding several different horses to do the required stuff?
 
Lolo- don't worry about people jumping your horse as most centres tend not to jump the swap horse, although some do.

The only riding schools near us with good horses are very pricey. The place where the B test is held hires out horses for a lesson and I go there to ride them and feel quite happy on them because they are B test horses. I worry about getting on a non B test horse. :p
 
Interesting that this thread came up just now! :o

I think we all go through phases of nerves to different degrees, and I think it is possible for a choronically nervous rider to be good, if she can learn strategies for working through the nerves.

A fall last summer affected me very badly, I think because I couldn't get back on immediately. Since then, I've been specifically very nervous about being tanked off with in random directions. It's a long, hard slog getting my confidence back. For the first few weeks, I was even scared to canter a well-behaved school horse in an unenclosed outdoor school! A month later, I went on a 6-day trek across Scotland, which helped a lot, although I was still nervous about being away from the group.

Gradually, my instructors are starting to put me back on less steady horses. Yesterday, I was petrified at being put on a horse that I had seen bounce around rather a lot under other riders, and that I knew had bronced someone into a wall a few weeks before. It turned out to be fine---as advised, I focussed completely on "ride it forward!!!", and it soon stopped bouncing and settled well. This morning, I had to cross the hurdle of doing XC-related stuff for the first time since last summer. I was really really nervous, especially since the horse did try to tank off once near the beginning, but as soon as I had several jumps in a row, I got down to concentrating on how it was going, rather than just my fear.

I've got a long ways still to go, especially as regards my own very silly pony. And I think that to be as effective as I can be, I do need to work through the nerves! It's frustrating to feel you're performing under your abilities because of them! :)
 
I think everyone gets a bit nervous at some point! If a rider is that brave that they never sense danger then they are the ones more likely to have an accident IMO. Likewise a really really nervous rider may also cause an accident by panicking and making things worse.

I get nervous before comps but once I'm working the horse or in the ring I focus so much they go away so even if I feel sick before hand they dont inhibit my riding. If anything I ride better as adrenaline kicks in.

At home if anything happens with my horse to make me feel nervous, pride and being a competent rider makes me never give up. For example if a horse was being naughty then I would never give up even if I was scared as I couldn't let myself down like that. If I can't ride a horse through a tantrum then Im not good enough to have a horse and I shouldn't ride at all. Not saying that's right but it's how I feel. I also have a good seat and I don't fall off easily so that helps!

I think what i'm trying to say is that everyone I'm sure will feel nervous at some point but it's how you deal with it.

Re your B test, this girl sounds a big silly! If she has bad hands then maybe she makes this horse play up. If you are swapped onto this horse with a quiet rider it may be fine and that will show her up won't it! She will also aggravate horses she is swapped over too and I can't imgine that will be good for her passing the B test!

They aren't going to make you do anything dangerous. I'm sure it will all work out fine :)
 
Nervous riders can be good riders as long as they can deal with the nerves. Being a good rider is about horses going well for you not being able to get on anything regardless of what happens.
With regard to your friend's horse, your Pony Club have a duty to tell the examiners if the horse is not suitable for other riders. Equally you have stated that she is rough with her hands and pulls the horse into an outline - the best way to make a horse rear so it might be a different horse with quiet hands and just being ridden softly forward.
Try not to worry about it as it may not happen and if you do have to ride it, take a deep breath and focus on feeling what the horse is telling you, then it will be fine.
 
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