Getting over an 'incident' can it be done?

[Tilda]

Further to the post over the weekend about 'what incident sparked your nerves' I am interested to hear if people have been able to get back to normal on horses they had the incident on?

I had a bad accident in the summer and I have finally started getting my confidence back with my mare enough to have a decent schooling session and am even contemplating jumping again. However my accident happened on a walking hack and I have been out for a short one round the village with someone on foot but on Saturday I went to do the same with someone on a horse and I felt a lot more nervous (my mare followed a bolting horse which caused the accident). I actually got off and walked her round even though she did absolutely nothing wrong and behaved really well despite it being quite windy. I get annoyed with myself because I think I am making a big deal of it when she has given me no reason to be like that yet I am quite happy to hack out and canter my YMs horse.

So I was just wondering if any of you poor people who have had these awful accidents have managed to overcome the fear with the horse it happened on?

 

[jendie]

I've overcome many 'incidents' on my Gypsy Cob but although I've hit the deck in many and varied situations - including along roadways - I've never been really hurt. Then my relatively newly purchased 'bombproof cob' spooked at a flock of pigeons whilst she was in walk. She bucked, reared and went into gallop and I fell and broke my back. I'm afraid I could never contemplate riding her again, I would have been too terrified. She has luckily found a lovely new home where she is happy and settled.

 

[NeverSayNever]

i came off last easter and hurt myself for the first time... i tried and tried to get over it with my gelding. i put him on livery with my RI and had her riding him, i started back out only riding in lessons at the yard with her before moving him home again, but the bond was lost between us. I guess it depends on you as a person, im a nervy type anyway and I just knew i did not ever want to ride him again, and he was in no way nasty, just young and green. i didnt think id get over my nerves after for quite a while but thankfully i found charlie and slowly but surely we are getting there, although its taken more than 6 months for me to get to the stage where i can hack out without having butterflies first

 

[Dexydoodle]

I think it can - I had what people wouldn't regard as much of an incident - posted on the other thread but ended up being so nervous out hacking I felt sick the whole way round and would shake and burst into tears if my horse so much as jumped. Now got my own mare and done baby baby steps - ridden out with people on foot, bikes, and a couple of hacks with others (at nothing faster than a trot) and starting to enjoy hacking again (most of the time!). No way I could contemplate going out on my own yet or cantering! Luckily there are some very sympathetic people on my yard to ride out with!

 

[Faithkat]

I had a horrible incident in 1988. To cut a long story short, I was run away with, the horse went across a very, very busy main road on her way home and I really thought we were going to die painfully. I got off her and didn't get on another horse for 8 years. I am still terrified of being run away with and 9 times out of 10 "freeze" when we start to canter although I do have days when I'm feeling brave! It's really wet, I know, but the "incident" really broke my nerve. Fortunately everyone has always been very supportive - well, at least to my face!!

 

[jinglejoys]

I have a plan and I'm doing each part of that plan 7 times,weather keeps interrupting,now I can't wait to ride him (But I'm sticking to the plan)
Nothing wrong with getting off,better to say "I got off" than "I should've go off!"

 

[xloopylozzax]

yes it can.

Mine spooked at a pile of rubbish left at the side of the road (insert multiple expletives here) span and bolted straight through the barriers of a level crossing and flipped over and was trapped under the barrier. the train was on its way but luckily stopped in time. my mum says its lucky my girth wasnt tight (had only just set off, literally 500 yards from the yard) otherwise the saddle wouldnt have slipped and i wouldnt have fallen off and god knows what could have happened.

he never even attempted to stop, thats a true bolt, he just ran blind. saddle was wrecked, knees scuffed and i was nettled top to toe (i rolled along the bottom of a hawthorn hedge because i came off that fast and badly bruised, but no real injuries.

hes back showing now (healed very well!) and i competed 3 days later on my other mare.
hes never been fantastic to hack, but we still do it now (its that or dont ride) and i go out on my own down the same road fairly regularily.
started off just leading him up and down loads of times to get him used to going out, then mum took us out on the lunge first couple of times because it was scary being back on board. sometimes he still does scare me, but i couldnt imagine never riding again. if i think it warrants it, i jump off and reassure him, but we even managed a train and a tractor the other day.

just dont expect too much, i never thought he was gonna be sound so anything more than that is fab

 

[sula]

I sustained a very nasty leg injury in a riding accident a few years ago during which I had multiple fractures and knackered my knee which will need replacing in a few years time. I was a relative newcomer to riding at the time but because I didn`t know very much, had a very simple confidence. The accident changed all that and I became afraid even of being around horses (I was off work for a long time, was unable to live at home for three months and had allsorts of problems associated with the accident). I sold all my tack and equipment and was never going to ride again. I`m the sole earner in the household so the consequences of a loss of income were onerous.

However, after a year or so I was really missing being around horses. I started hanging out at a friend`s yard, just grooming, bathing and feeding. One day I had a ride on her Gypsy cob who set off around the school with me which set me back hugely. Long story short, I eventually bought an older `been there, done that` pony as a confidence giver. At first I would just tack up and get on in the yard, then I`d go out of the gate, then down the road, up to the estate, gradually building up the distances. I was mostly on my own so I either did it or gave up. Now, I will ride anywhere and although there are times when I still feel nervous, I change the record in my head to something positive and that seems to work.

So, in conclusion, getting over an `incident` can be done. Good luck in your quest to be an overcomer and a return to riding.