Confidence issue - hypnotherapy ?

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Bedford Joy

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I was wondering if anyone has used Hypnotherapy to help overcome confidence issues? Since falling off a few weeks ago I've only ridden once and find myself doing lots of grooming my horse but suddenly lose confidence when it comes to riding her. I'm really annoyed with myself but it's like there's a mental block stopping me and I start thinking all sorts of scary scenarios in my head and its getting me down as I only have the opportunity to ride a couple of times a week and I'm missing out doing the thing I love, any suggestions ? :)
 
I bought the download (also available on dvd) "hacking with confidence" which I read about in one of the threads on here. I found this did help and it's not expensive (around £10.00) so might be worth a try. It's really good at getting you to relax (oK so maybe I did drop of once or twice!).
 
IMO (very limited) hypnotherapy is particularly good if you can relate it to a particular incident that you need to be 'modified'.

Only thing is check out you therepist very carefully, it really really helps if they are horsey. Also, if they are good, they are expensive, but worth the cost if they get you happily back in the saddle .
 
I looked at doing this when I had my major loss of nerves a few years ago. One of my friends is a hypnotist and she told me that whilst they can't cure your fear for you (because it's totally logical to be afraid of something which is dangerous whichever way you look at it) but they can help you manage your fear, and this is what my friend did for me. I wouldn't say it solved all my problems instantly but it did help. :)
 
If you don t feel confident to ride at the moment why don t you just spend the time building your confidence slowly back up with your horse.
A bit of groundwork and a step at a time slowly edging out of your comfort zone might just work wonders! Dont be hard on yourself most of us feel very wary about getting on again after a fall!
 
Hypontherapy can be great and you should not need more than a couple or three session, sometimes one is enough. As someone else said make sure they are horsey and understand your problems. You could try some self help -imagine yourself doing the things that frighten you - but really really well. Imagine all the good feeling you would be having and how happy you would feel. It might help. I hope you feel better soon. Often the longer you leave things the greater the fear becomes. However if you have a sharp horse or a horse with a problem maybe try riding something else first?
 
Hi hun, my friend has had hypnotherapy and it worked for her after loosing all her confidence she is now back in the saddle and jumping big tracks which she never thought she would of ever done, i spent 250 10 years ago to try and stop smoking and it did not work for me at all!!! Saying that i am going to see the lady on friday whom my freind went to see when she lost her confience to see if she works for me as i feel that ive lost my way with the jumping due to having a long time off from popping fences. will let you know how i get on and if it works, i believe she is good so the only way to find out is to have a go!!!! will let you know how i get on xx;)
 
I tried quite a lot when I lost my but I found the best was my instructor who pushed me but didn't if that makes sense kind off right get one will stay in walk and shed walk with u for however long it took then introduced me back to trot slowly took me six weeks to canter confidently though and taken longer with new horse as I am always scared they will just take off but now I can canter on my own so I would look at a really good instructor who will sympathise. Sorry if you have tried that already
 
Thanks everyone for your replies, when I first bought my mare I'd not ridden for 2 years and was so nervous but my instructor rode her first and she was so good I felt confident enough to ride her and within seconds of getting in the saddle again all my nerves dissapeard. I think I need to do the same again and I'm sure I will feel the same if I do that again so I think I'll arrange to do this again next week. I thing I will try the hypnosis DVD too which will hopefully also help to eliminate the "what if" scenarios rolling round my head :)
 
I have been going through this with my new mare that I bought after my gelding was pts. He was a much loved horse and losing him wiped out my confidence.

Nowadays I am always extremely nervous before riding her, but every time I ride her she is fantastic! I know its mad but I still have zero confidence (though I think this is a common side effect of losing your horse of a lifetime).

I think you could try just tacking up your mare and getting on her and if that feels fine then just ride in the school for 10 or 15 mins. Build it up like that and hopefully you will overcome it.

I never realised how fragile confidence is until I lost mine. Previous to this I was totally confident riding any horse.

I am sure you will come through this. Best wishes for finding your mojo again.
 
I used a CD by Paul Mckenna to improve confidence - really worked even though I was cynical as it wasn't a horsy CD either. I had other issues with work etc that were contributing to my loss of confidence, it wasn't just a lack of riding confidence.

I used a hypnotherapy CD to prepare for the birth of my child, and that was a load of rubbish, made me expect a calm controlled birth and it was anything but!!!!
 
Not hypnotherapy, but I think she does do it as well, I went to see this lady about 5 weeks ago: http://empathyrider.co.uk/ after losing my confidence progressively over the last 4-6 months with my new horse, nothing really major happened but we had a few minor issues in the early days and my nerve went to shreds. I'm doing loads better now, hacking out, cantering in the outdoor school by myself - I couldn't do either of these before I went to see her, the thought of it terrified me!
She got me to do some exercises where I went through some scary things that had happened which had contributed to my lack of confidence, and she talked me through thinking through these experiences in my head with my eyes closed, I had to go over them several times, forwards and backwards and changing bits of the image in my head each time. Amazingly now, when I try to think of these events they are all scrambled, like a jigsaw with all the bits mixed up, and when I think of them I don't get the panic feeling anymore at the prospect of it happening again, I just feel calm, almost amused by it! Crazy stuff, can't explain really how it works, NLP I think it is, but it works! Best £80 I ever spent. Don't let the nerves get you down, you can beat it!
Good luck
x
 
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