confidence crisis! HELP!

[diesel1981]

Hi

Recently had a bad fall in the school from my 17.2hh, we unbalanced eachother on a corner, she bronc'd and i ended up flying through the air, cracked my pelvis, hip and squished 3 vertabrae, had 8 wks off riding and have only recently started again..The problem is riding in the school is freaking me out and i wondered if anyone had any calming tips/remadies on how to overcome this. Im hacking out ok and even had a canter on the mountain the other day but whenever i go in the school my heart starts pounding, i get short of breath, my head hurts and i get so tense that my back starts to hurt so bad i could cry!, I practiced a walk and trot test with a friend in there the other day and didnt want to say but i was totaly petrified lol, i asked my mare for a few strides of canter up the long side which went ok but i wanted to be sick!!!! I literally cant go in the school now, even though i cantered the other day, it sounds daft i know, any advice gratefully received, i'm desperate to get back into practicing some tests and go competing but the fear of coming off again is making me ill, i feel safer on a busy main road than i do in the school!!! xxxx

 

[k1963]

I'm really sorry to read about your problem . I haven't got the answer , but as you are ok everywhere else , it seems to be the school that is your mental block - come on HHO's , please help better than I can !

Best of luck with overcoming your fear & sorry I can only sympathise & not help x

 

[Shay]

I did almost exactly the same thing when a RS horse and I slipped on a tight indoor school corner, over balenced in canter and fell together about 4 years ago - except I cracked vertebrae too.

I know exactly what you mean. I have a problem with any small indoor school still - although I'm OK in bigger ones now. Took me ages to canter again and I would always slow to a trot if we had to turn. And I'm still obsessive about my daughter using the correct studs for SJ and XC and stuff.

The first thing to remeber is that time helps. You won't always feel this way. Even if you do nothing to help yourself this will fade in time. Everyone recovers from these sorts of things in thier own way and you need to find what works for you. Try whatever people suggest - but if it doesn't work don't get hung up on it. Dump that idea and move on.

To get you started on the ideas front...

I understand the "Ride with confidencne" CDs are great. Someone reccommended them to me but to be honest I'd pretty much sorted it out for myself by then so I didn't bother. But they thought highly of them.

I reccommend positive thinking to my daughter - I think some call it NLP? You shut your eyes and visualise doing the thing you're afraid of perfectly. In every tiny detail. (Not sure it worked that well for me - but it does for her. So it might be worth a try.)

For me - I did it bit by tiny bit. I think they call it de-sensitisation? But in the process I did change yards and bought myself a pony - much safer than the tall horse I fell off! So that probably had something to do with it.

I'm a massive fan of herbal medicine and used a lot of Valerian and Hops. (but do be aware that hops can have an agitating effect on about 5% of the population so if that is you - don't use them!) You can find both ingedients in things like Kalms Tablets. Or some herbal teas. Bach's flower essences are good. Try rescue remedy for acute situations. Or something like Rock Rose or Aspen for persistant fears.

Many painkillers have caffine in them which might increase any feelings of panic. If you're a coffee addict like me it might not make any difference - but if coffee or cola makes you anxious then just be aware your pain killers might be doing the same.

Long post - sorry. My heart goes out to you. You will recover and you will enjoy riding again. It might take time but you will get there. Don't despair!

 

[diesel1981]

thanks, ill def try the herbal remadies, will give anything a go to get over this, was thinking of booking myself a lesson, the instructor that comes to our yard is brill, i think that if i explain he may be able to help, didnt know if i could get anything from the doctor or not because it feels like a panic attack. Glad to hear there is light at the end of the tunnel, thanks so much for your advice xxxxxxxxxxxx