Fear of jumping any tips?

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wowzer22

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Hi all

I have recently started jumping again after a really scary experience (the horse I was jumping freaked after jumping and boltednot once, not twice but three times) - in 2 lessons.

We've eliminated any reason for the horse doing it, his tack and health is fine we think he may have been spooked by various things, ie one time it was quite windy, another I lost my balance and may have spooked him and the other time we're not sure why?

Anyway after a LOT more lessons on the flat and on different horses, Ive just started jumping again....heres the problem Im fine going over very very low poles barely off the ground in trot, my problem is the canter - I have no problem cantering in general but as soon as you put the canter and jump together....well I haven't had the guts to try it in canter yet!
I want to jump but hate the thought of going over in canter and then the horse bolting again (even though its different horses to the one I had then)!

Anyone got any advice or tips - I really want to overcome this and would appreciate some help? Or anyone been through a similar experience?
 
Have you tried cantering over a plank on the ground? (better than a pole as it won't roll) It helps to get your eye in with little risk and will give you the feeling of cantering up to something. Do this lots untill you are really comfortable and YOU ask to do something higher off the ground. Then you'll feel in control and can help to manage your fear.
 
Hi, you could always put up two jumps, at whatever height you feel comfortable with, but put the jumps on a circle, with canter poles between each jump on the circle, then try the first jump on the circle in trot, carry on and land in canter to do the second jump. You can keep the circle if you wish but you decide the pace to jump them in. Hope this makes sense, I'm very bad at explaining things.:D
 
Don't force yourself to jump. Carry on with the flat lessons and have a couple of small jumps up in the school to work around. You may find near the end of the lesson after you've taken the pressure off yourself to DO IT that actually, you would quite like a little pop over the jump you've been going round and past for the whole lesson. Just saunter up to it and think happy thoughts!

Also, at other times, think about the good times you've had jumping. How it felt, the exhilaration etc.

Try not to dwell on that on that one bad time.

Jumping isn't the be all and end all.

Good luck!
 
Just dont do it :D

Horses are supposed to be fun, why put yourself through it. I made myself do it when I thought I would like to pass BHS exams, cant imagine why now.

Take up showing or stressage :D :D

Just ignore me, its old age talking.
 
if i was you.....and i have been there!!!!!..just keep doing the flatwork and trotting over poles..one day all of a sudden you will feel like a wee jump and your horse might even cantre over it...once you have started ..you will be happy to move on dont push yourself too much....
seven years ago i cried at the thought of getting on a horse again ,i threw up the first day i rode(after not riding for a few years after an accident out hunting)....now i am flying round a metre track on my own horse..and loving every minute.......give yourself time.
 
Yep I have been through this too - on my own horse. He would land and then take off bucking and I had a few nasty falls. So I gave up jumping and concentrated on dressage instead. I had no desire to do it any more or to hurt myself.
But after a couple of years, horse and I had got to know each other properly and I had learned to turn him in a circle if he took off, my confidence was back and my riding was SO much better. I started to miss jumping. It came to a head at a riding club show - I had entered just to do the mounted games but everyone else was jumping and I really wanted to do it, so I gritted my teeth and jumped the warm-up fences. It took a bit of circling and chickening out til I managed it. Then all the happy feelings jumping gave me came rushing back! So I booked into a jumping rally with the riding club, whom I made aware of my situation. I was lucky that the instructor didn't push me too hard and I felt safe in an arena, she was very sensitive and supportive. The other members of the riding club were fantastic, so encouraging and slowly I have regained my jumping mojo!!!
Once I was confident enough I started jumping at home in our field, I made some new showjumps and like others have suggested started cantering over a pole on the ground first to get the feel of it then carried on cantering onto a little jump. So horse doesn't charge off after this I have another canter pole on the ground to aim for after the jump. If you keep going in this way, ALWAYS having something to focus on after your jump then you won't end up losing control. I never jump a single fence without something else to go on to, because when I do that is the time when horsey throws a cheeky buck or drops his shoulder to roll me off! I am now able to jump a course of 2' 6" and a small xc but some days I am too scared to even get off the ground so I don't claim to be confident, but I will have a go.
Sorry for the essay!!!! To summarise - Don't jump until you feel you are confident enough and wait til you really WANT to do it. Find a good instructor or a supportive group of friends. Use a canter pole on the ground to start with and build up from there, and always jump a few jumps, preferably in an arena on circles etc so horse doesn't think 'wow that was fun, now to charge off'. Only do what you feel you can manage, even if it's just one jump in a session it's better than none. And stop when you are pleased with yourself - don't overface yourself.
 
whats the rush? when your ready youl do it! if your never ready does it really matter all that much?? just relax and enjoy riding and your confidence will come in time :)

i havnt jumped in 10ys! never had an accident just dont like jumping! lol
 
Agree with all the advice to take it slowly and not push yourself to a point where you are horribly scared, as this is when the horse will sense it and accients can happen.

However, sometimes you do have to bite the bullet and deal with the fear in the smallest stages possible. Could you have a jumping lesson on a schoolmaster? Ideally watch someone else ride the horse first, and do everything possible to show yourself that horse is safe to jump. And still take it very very slowly. Clearly you have a problem that you don't trust the horse you are currently riding (for a good reason) and this will make things worse - might be better to try another horse for a while without the same history, while building up confidence in flatwork with the one you are currently riding.

Good luck.
 
A bit off the wall, but I use this when I have a dip in confidence. If possible see the horse you are riding loose jumped. This helps you learn to trust that the horse knows what they are doing and that they are relaxed with it.

If your horse is OK with canter poles and placement poles then I would use these. That way you don't have to think about where you are and placement. If your main worry is running off on landing then build a small fence and then place poles at a distance on the landing side to form a "channel". Get another confident rider to take the horse over the fence a few times and aim to have brought the horse to a standstill between these poles. The horse will then be slowing down on landing expecting to be asked to stop in between the poles. At this point if you take over then after landing you will feel your horse waiting to see if you are going to ask them to stop, hopefully this will give you confidence that you can be controlled on landing. Another alternative with a good confident horse is to use a landing pole then the horse has to also concentrate on the pole after the fence to so won't be rushing off.

Don't do too much and if you don't feel like jumping in canter then stick with trot for a while. You can also do plenty with canter poles to build up gradually.
 
Can you jump him while someone has him on a lunge line? My horse is bit of a git when jumping although it didn't bother me, my partner was afraid of it, so I had him on a lunge line, just so my partner had more confidence in that if he took off, there was an extra person to help keep control. His confidence appeared in no time :)
 
I feel for you as have loads of confidence issues with jumping and flatwork.

For those that say dont push yourself you dont have to do it, no you dont but if your anything like me you want to, its just your confidence that stops you.:mad:

What has worked for me is watching someone else jump my horse first.

We have a 3ft drop at home, I thought it was far too big, after watching my husband take my mare off and seeing how easy it looks, I was dropping off everytime I rode lol.

Maybe is you watch someone else and see that your horse was calm, you would feel like popping on yourself one day ?:)
 
WOW thank you for all the replies everyone (wasn't expecting so many helpful responses) - lots and lots of really helpful tips there! will definately be trying all of those out!
 
I know this is not everyone's cup of tea but NLP can help with dealing the emotional and physiological reactions after a bad experience. Bad experiences can affect our body language and guess what the horse picks up on....

Use visualisation techniques - think of a time when jumping felt good and keep replaying it in your mind like you have a remote control and you are watching yourself on tv. Think on how you are feeling and how you are sitting - this will be different from when you are worried/anxious.

Try to work on turning your reaction to jumping back to a positive one whilst sitting comfy on the sofa before getting on a horse.
 
Do you really want to jump or are you doing it because you think you should? I used to jump when I was younger, really enjoyed it. Now I'm in my 50's and had a bad jumping fall 2 years ago that really finished me off. It made me realise that I'd been pushing myself on to do it because my friends were and because having done it when I was younger then why couldn't I do it now? (Because now I've got arthritic knees and am more likely to break a hip if I have a bad fall again! ;)) Sometimes you need to push yourself on to do things but equally sometimes there's a reason to be cautious. I feel happier being honest with myself these days that it's ok for me to be scared!

If it's what you really want to do then take it at the pace you feel happy with and you'll get there in the end :)
 
Try a lesson with a schoolmaster. Watch someone else ride the schoolmaster first and then start small. It helps if you don't have to worry about what the horse is going to do.
 
Try going back to basics. Ride on the lunge with your instructor lunging. Try cantering with no stirrups, this will help your balance a lot. Start with walk and trot first if you're a little nervous. Then add a plank on the floor (take stirrups back) planks are good because they don't roll if its knocked. Take things slow and it will come back to you. Don't put pressure on yourself, and above all make sure you enjoy it! Good luck x
 
I started jumping again since pony club about 6 months ago. All I wanted was to be happy going over 1ft. My instructor laughed and said in no time I would be asking for the jumps to go up higher and higher. She was right. Just start small on a steady neddy and when you get the feeling back you'll be happy jumping higher in no time. If not, why not not jump. Nobody is forcing you and there are plenty of other ways to enjoy your riding!
 
Don't push yourself, you'll do it when you feel ready :) . I jump when I'm in the mood and that can be anything from twice in one week to once in 6 months! My boy isn't that experienced in jumping, he will jump but can occasionally take off too early which puts me out a bit . He does enjoy it and for that I loose school him every now and again over jumps and he loves it. Means he's happy and I'm not pushing myself to do it! Infact he refuses to jump anything too small on his own , and if I'm on him I usually start at 2 ft so he gets a bit bored I think which causes him to not take it seriously as such.

Why don't you set up a few jumps and leave them as poles in the ground and canter round them? Then you can make them canter poles and then jumps. Also if you have a good instructor , get them to make you a grid excericse , it can focus the horse a lot more.
 
Update (seeing a few of you were asking)

Well it was going well - I managed to go over a teeney tiny literally just off the ground (we're talking centimetres btw) pole AND THEN
The following lesson we were just doing flatwork....and my horse got spooked by another horse who was being silly...took off and threw me to the ground (but I got back on)....was a bit bruised...but I did smile!
BUT THEN: the following lesson...different horse this time (as my usual one was lame) and he spooked a a fox....took off round the arena...and went round a corner in panic so fast that I flew (quite literally) ribs first (no idea how) into a concrete wall (yep 1 broken rib) OWTCH!
SO 9 weeks later (fall was back in Jan) I got back on.....different horse this time.....and all my confidence was gone.....only walked the first 3/4 lessons after that....those that have probably seen my previous posts probs know that my confidence in canter took a long time to come...so it really set me back.....FAST FORWARD 7/8 months to now....and I am beginning to like canter again (thanks to a superstar schoolmaster who had really helped my confidence)....no jumping still though....whether I will again....erm ? not sure...but I am trying hard to focus on things I do like doing for now ie lateral work/dressage....will keep you all updated
 
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