Feeling self conscious and down about schooling my horse

[Natassia]

I've just moved to a fab yard with a huge indoor school that has mirrors, my horse needs schooling so thats one of the reasons I moved. I'm not a bad rider at all, but not so used to schooling horses on my own, without an instructor or a friend on the ground. I'm a confident rider and hack out on my own a lot, when I have someone telling me what to do I can ride well and my horse goes really well and improves, but on my own I'm terrible. I know what I should be doing and remember what I do in my lessons and read books on schooling all the time, but putting it all into practice is another matter! It seems that although I am confident I have no confidence in my own ability (not wanting to sound arrogant) and its getting me down a bit

 

[DiablosGold]

Sorry can't help constructively but just to let you know I am exactly the same!!

 

[BigRed]

I am exactly the same. I have a weekly lesson mainly because I have no access to a school, but also because I know that for 40 minutes, once a week, I work my horse properly and usefully. My trainer gives me exercises to work on out hacking, and it really does work, so maybe you should ask for a specific set of exercises to work on between lessons, not to many or you will forget and become side-tracked.

 

[xnaughtybutnicex]

You should think about what you are going to do before you even get on e.g practice leg yeild, flying changes, getting a good rhythm in canter, pole work, jumping, surpentines ect. then you have a target when you go in so will morely likely concentrate on getting it right.

 

[peanut]

I'm not good at schooling on my own either and know what it's like to feel self conscious. I get disheartened so easily.

Get chatting to people who ride at the same time as you and maybe you can school together.

 

[MarinaBay]

Can you not have weekly lessons or fortnightly lessons? That way you can work on what you have learnt during the week? I know exactly how you feel I am exactly the same! Its difficult isn't it. Try to use the mirrors to your advantage. Or plan you scholling session before you start. Think what you want to achieve in the 1/2 hour / hour session.

 

[tinker512]

If you set your self simple targets this should slowly build your confidence, plan ahead before you decide to school.Obviously I don't know how well schooled or what level your horse is at but set little aims for your self like doing a 20m circle bending your horse properly, and once you acheive that you could then move onto doing serpentines with sufficient bend, or spiralling in and our of circles...Your confidence will just be shattered if you dive in thinking your going to practice a Medium dressage test and then if you can't do it shooting your self down...Best of Luck don't give up

 

[OrangeEmpire]

the trick is to decide what you want to achieve. It is too vague to simply want a nice session where you ride beautifully and the horse is amazingly soft, supple and obedient. How exactly do you acheive that?!

Start out each schooling session with a specific aim in mind - eg riding good serpentines, improving your canter transitions, teaching walk to canter or getting a square halt. One aim per session with a warm up and warm down to round it off nicely. Hey presto, you've ridden well, and your horse is soft and supple as a by-product of the schooling process.

We're always told to keep it simple for our horses but in actual fact it is vital for us too. You need something specific to be able to say ' Yay, we've achieved that. well done!" otherwise it (speaking from personal experience here) is easy to be bogged down in aimlessly fiddling.

 

[peanut]

[ QUOTE ]
otherwise it (speaking from personal experience here) is easy to be bogged down in aimlessly fiddling.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a prize one for that too

 

[Equus Leather]

Excellent advice there from orange empire. I too struggle to think of what to do (and how to do it) when I'm schooling on my own.

 

[mymissmegan]

I dont have a sand school at my yard but have weekly lessons. when i take my horse over by myself i practice my dressage tests. There are lots of walk and trot test you can print off. they arent too complex so Try to memorise one and run through it when you are schooling until your horse is working nicely. Thats what I do as i dont have alot of self discipline(think that is how its spelt) hope it goes well! x x x

 

[Flicker]

Please don't feel disheartened. I felt the same way when I moved from an 'ok' yard to the gorgeous one I'm on now and everyone seemed so professional and their horses all went beautifully. What I realised was that, almost without exception, everyone lacks in confidence with what they are doing. It might be getting their horse to go on a circle, or do a piaffe, but the underlying feelings are the same.
My advice, like those above, is to set yourself a target (but don't let it completely rule your session if it is not happening), aim to do certain things, don't get disheartened, get an instructor if you can, have regular lessons and enjoy yourself. The more you do it, the easier it will come!
You won't regret moving to a lovely yard and your riding will only come on as a result.
Have fun and good luck!!

 

[HollyP]

Maybe in your next lesson bring this up with your instructor, they can then give you a few exercises to do...you go on and do them and then they can critique you and tell you how to do it and what you should be trying to feel when you are on your own...

practise makes perfect just trying and aim for what feels good and wait for it

 

[helenhorse]

see im total opposite, i school alot of horses without an instructor, and when an instructyor does come, its usually for the horse and not me! so i can cope without someone watching, and bbecause i could also teach someone else, i laos find it hard to bight my tounge when someone gives me advice while riding!!

because we might have different equally effective techniques.

 

[mrogers]

The thing is,its ok reading about schooling a horse but you have to adapt these techinques to suit your horse.

I am a very smart looking rider as i have been in the showring all my life, but with my new one i have to chuck these theories out the window and ride like a bag of sh1t to get anything good out of him.

Just work on tiny steps in your schooling and when you get these right it feels like a huge importance (just ask my mum!)

 

[RachelFerd]

i've thought about this at length...

and I don't think you can go into a schooling session with a specific exercise or aim in mind - you have longer term goals obviously, but you have to ride and school the horse that you are sat on at that time, on that day.

I think you have to go into it with a warm up, and use that warm up not only to stretch the horses muscles, but also to FEEL what is good and bad about the way the horse is going, and then have a think about appropriate exercises to improve what you are sat on right now, as well as what you are aiming to do. Throughout the ride you have to keep concentrating on the feel, and be able to instantaneously move into an exericise which is going to help or correct what you are doing. Eg. you are going up the centre line and you turn left, but around the left turn the horse falls in and is leaning on your left leg - you then do something to correct that - perhaps go into shoulder fore down that long side to make sure the horse is respecting and stepping away from the left leg.

When it's going well, it becomes a series of small but beneficial corrections - and include plenty of stretching and relaxation periods inbetween the hard work.

I think it's good to really vary what you do - endless repetition of the same patterns gets boring for horse and rider - do exercise a twice, exercise b twice, back to a once again, onto c, and so on...

I also think it's important as well to do plenty of things the horse finds easy and enjoyable, mixed in with more intensive periods of learning and correction.

Most important thing is to stop when it's going well - and if thats only 20 minutes in - that's fine!

 

[Sillymoo]

Look on the bright side - at least you know you're a good rider when you have an instructor there - this issue you have now is something you can work on & it will come in time.
Don't get down, try to think about the positives.
In my very limited experience I find that you can try to hard at something & the harder you try the more it goes wrong! What about going for a hack & schooling out on a hack or just popping in the school for a short while when you get back? You could even play some music to take your attention off everything you feel you can't do & then I bet it'll drop into place!

 

[jules34]

I feel exactly the same Natassia! I'm trying to school my mare but I'm not very confident and not very good at it! She was a bit better yesterday, but she is very lazy and unbalanced. I took her out today, and normally she's fantastic out hacking. We had a canter in the field with 2 friends who she's very used to riding out with. She's normally better at the back coz that encourages her to canter, but not today! She decided to try and overtake and when I tried to slow her down she started darting all over the place. I lost my balance and before I knew it, I was on the deck underneath her. I felt one of her hind legs on my arm, I've got a big black bruise too on my hip where I was dragged along before letting go of the reins. So I'm feeling a bit sore, bruised, disappointed with myself for falling off (it's the first time I've fallen off her) and a bit surprised - what has happened to my lazy welsh D??? Is there something in the air???!!!

I did feel better reading these posts to know I'm not the only one who's feeling a bit down about it all...

 

[scotsmare]

**NERD ALERT***

I make a plan every week (told you I was being nerdy

and break it down into days.

Somedays, I don't go faster than a trot cos I do millions of daft transitions - you know the type walk 3 strides, trot 5, walk 2, halt - obviously aim being to keep horse balanced (it doesn't always work

) Other days, it's something like leg yielding / shoulder in. I tend to school on the basis of a different exercise every day so that it's not the same. You do have to plan ahead though....

However, there are obviously days when neither of us can be bothered so we just go for a canter

 

[mickey]

Some really good advice here.

I think you should have one or two goals (lets say a relaxed horse and a forward moving horse - - - achieved by using exercises ) when you do a schooling session. You can vary the exercises until you meet or come close to meeting a goal.

To gain confidence in any aspect of life the principle is generally the same; Have a long term goal (in this case getting to the point where you can have a good session/get your horses going pretty much how you'd like - WITHOUT your instructor present).

In between NOW and the ULTIMATE goal (above) are lots of little steps. Start with an unambitious goal (it may seem really trivial). Work towards this goal, be patient and believe you will do it. If you get close to it, repeat. Then add a little. If you need to, take a step back.

An instructor of mine used to write me a summary between lessons of what to focus on.

Also, video fottage of your lessons may help. You could watch it the night before you school alone.

Everyone has stuttering confidence, whether they admit it or not. Take steps, keep going, seek advice from your instructor. Most of all HAVE FUN and ENJOY your horse and riding. You will be surprised what relaxing and having fun can achieve! Good luck xx

 

[brighthair]

I have a once a week lesson to check my position/how the horse is working and also because I am a very nervous rider!
The lesson once a week gives me ideas to carry on with but usually I'l get on then:
work in walk on a loose rein for 5-10 mins, and try some halt walk transitions to see how he feels. Then take him into trot and see how the trot feels. I then judge by that what he needs so if he's stiff - bending, circles, concentrate on corners. If too fizzy then: loads of transitions and trot work to settle him, and if he's lazy then direct transitions and more canter work
I'll usually have a play at something like leg yield or turn on the haunches then some stretching and cool down
I try not to worry too much about what I'm doing and concentrate more on what works to make him feel better - if that makes sense. If I get 15 mins fantastic work, I'll leave it there

 

[Natassia]

Thank you all so much for the reassurance and advice! I've got a lesson with my instructor next week so will definitely bring this up with him as well, and he can give me some things to do as well before my next lesson which will help.
I think one of the main things I need to work on is feeling how my horse is going and doing something to correct it almost instantly if necessary. I know I can do this, I've done it in my lessons and got an improvement in the same lesson and even done it by myself, but I need to have more confidence in what I'm doing. Like most horses, my horse always picks up on how I'm feeling and how it is affecting my riding, if I'm not committed he won't be particularly committed and although he isn't at all lazy, he won't go as well as he can go. Obviously this isn't beneficial and I need to think more positively, I do really enjoy my horse and want to do more with him at this yard as I have so much more opportunity, I just need to get over this and relax more. I'm a perfectionist by nature so I do tend to overthink and get bogged down about my riding, by hopefully in time I'll get better!