Days where you just can’t ride

[greenbean10]

Does anyone else have these and how do you cope?

Saturday went to a show and just couldn’t ride! Warm up was bad, couldn’t see a stride, horse threw in the towel and I was eliminated in both classes which has never happened.

Are these days normal (I suppose I know they are). Why do they happen? How do you cope with them and get your confidence back?

 

[humblepie]

Possibly two options. One is don’t over think it. Second is analyse it. What happened? Did you have things on your mind? Possibly a bad warm up then affected you. Were there others in the warm up that you felt upset you or worried you. I’d suggest perhaps an arena hire or similar to go and play and get your mindset back. Am sure others will have better ideas. Not jumping but years ago at a championship with lovely sashes one of which I wanted I made a complete mess of the first test to the extent I forgot to do the first halt. That much of a basic mess up. Ended up just about last. Went away gave myself a talking to, ‘rode’ through the test in my mind whilst looking at the actual arena and we won the class. I can’t visualise but just thinking at that point do x or y really helped. See what others suggest. I’ve not jumped for years so probably not the best person

 

[mini-eventer]

I sometime wonder if my hormone have an effect? Sometimes I am a brave rider, sometimes wimpy with no rhyme or reason. Also over tiredness can impact.

I'm recovering from a cold and my core strength is like jelly at the moment. I feel like I could quite easily wobble off!

 

[greenbean10]

I sometime wonder if my hormone have an effect? Sometimes I am a brave rider, sometimes wimpy with no rhyme or reason. Also over tiredness can impact.

I'm recovering from a cold and my core strength is like jelly at the moment. I feel like I could quite easily wobble off!

This is really interesting as actually it was the first day of my cycle, I hadn’t even considered that. So it could certainly be hormonal.

 

[Skib]

This isnt about riding a horse, it is about competing. I learned from an RI who had been badly injured on a day when she rode while feeling under the weather.
So I arranged with our yard that the horse I share would not depend on me for her exercise, and if I dont feel up to riding, I message the yard to say I am not coming in.

 

[Squeak]

Was it a venue you have jumped at before? I've had some surfaces my horse hates and you're never going to get a good round on it or just something about that venue didn't suit.

If you've competed a lot and never had this problem then I'd be tempted to do an arena hire or have a lesson, make sure everything is ok and forget it ever happened. Yes, sometimes we all have a bad day but if they're frequent then something else is going on or something needs changing.

It's always possible something is going on with your horse or saddle etc etc but after one bad show I wouldn't be wanting to get too hung up on things.

 

[greenbean10]

Was it a venue you have jumped at before? I've had some surfaces my horse hates and you're never going to get a good round on it or just something about that venue didn't suit.

If you've competed a lot and never had this problem then I'd be tempted to do an arena hire or have a lesson, make sure everything is ok and forget it ever happened. Yes, sometimes we all have a bad day but if they're frequent then something else is going on or something needs changing.

It's always possible something is going on with your horse or saddle etc etc but after one bad show I wouldn't be wanting to get too hung up on things.

It was a new venue, which does make me more nervous. I wonder whether I just got in my head a bit. I don’t think anything is wrong with my mare as it was me riding terribly - she was actually pretty good until she told me to p*** off!

I am going to get an arena hire booked for this weekend - thank you.

 

[J_sarahd]

I get this quite often and it’s usually dependent on how I’m feeling before I get in the saddle. If I’m feeling quite anxious, down or generally not on top form, the slightest “mistake” really affects my riding and it ends up just snowballing. Whereas when I’m feeling confident and in a good mood before, a small “mistake” just makes me more determined.

I also had very sensitive horses who could pick up on my mood really well so if I was feeling rubbish, they’d be more tense and it was a bit of an endless cycle.