Has anyone gone from wibbly wally to scaling 5ft hedges?

skewby

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Or something equally dashing/daring? I would love, just love, to hear stories of people who really surprised themselves. I've had totally unjustified jumping wibbles for a few years now, going on a fun ride on Sunday when I will learn about my current comfort zone after not jumping properly for a good while! (I always jump on fun rides...just often very pathetically. Then get home and beat myself up.)

My horse tried to cart me over a massive hedge a few weeks back and it got me to thinking...he's clearly up for that sort of shenanigan...by some miracle, will I ever be??
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Someone give me hope??!!
 
WOW star I remember when you first went and had braking issues, not long before I took my boy hunting for the first time and we were both asking how to stoooop!

That is AMAZING! Even attempting those sorts of obstacles would leave me ecstatic, let alone clearing them and coming home!! How did you do it? How did you feel yourself change? What made you change?
 
Get yourself out hunting - it will get your 'blood' up and you will gain soo much confidence
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I had terrible wibbles after a horse I had (especially bought to SJ from germany) decided it wasnt for him and used to put in the most dirty evil stops, he even did it with pro riders. Got to the point I was terrified of an X pole.

Took me a year to get out of it - used to be so scared of jumping that I couldnt eat on the day of a competition, used to litteraly poo myself (stomach used to churn and Id have to dash to the loo)
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I even kept a little bottle of Vodka in my lorry to slug on before a class!

I didnt jump 5 ft hedges but I did jump 1.15 classes and school 1.30 on my irish mare without too much fuss.

Had to sell her last year sadly but she gave me my confidence back and I have jumped other horses since and been able to swallow any nerves
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hunt- that gets you jumping things that you wouldnt dream of doing but you do them ebcause everyone else did.....
christamas eve last year hunting, its a bit of a tradition to jump every hedge we can find, and they always jump this 1st one which is giant, but later on they jump this hedge which is 5ft at one end and gets bigger towards the other....it has post and rails on either side of it and is a very thick and very wide hedge, no chance of brushing through, gotta go right over the top! anyway, galloping round the corner on B and me and my friends thought the bigger end was better to jump as these guys were jumping it there and usually they are preety sensible, i gave them all a lead, and it was HUGE, eurgh it makes me feel sick remebering looking down at teh drop, yes theres a drop on the other side.... one friend followed and the rest bottled out, it was huge... but then again ive never had any problems with jumping as im stupid and do just about anything... so does my horse lol...
go out hunting next season and just tuck in behind a big cob for the first one as they often brush through it making the hedge smaller
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have fun!!
 
Wasrandyra, good for you for pushing on through that. I would be sooo happy if I manged a 1.15 class! I too have considered vodka
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Perdy that hedge sounds terrifying, wish you had got a pic. How do you get brave enough to jump things like that?! How do you know your horse can even do it?!

I did go hunting to try and shake myself up a bit. Unfortunately only managed once this season, absolutely loved it but hardly any jumping at the meet. There were two nice fences early on and I was so nervous about the whole event I just followed people through the gate! Thinking that there would be more chances later, there weren't. What gets me is that I won't even try a fence - then I get home and think, why didn't you do that?! That's the most annoying thing!!
 
I am reading this with interest since I have the same problem! I get so scared that I wuss out of tiny jumps on sponsored rides then kick myself later. Hunting was really good for me since the fences were quite small compared to the usual hunting monsters but big enough that they were scary and made me feel like I'd acheived (although you prob won't agree since they are the mini ones in my siggy
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I am going to a sponsored ride on Sunday and I always try and do 2 fences that scare me a bit without doing ones that will make me poo myself. It's the Halton ride and all my friends are determined to jump the plane. I never think like that since I don't want to be disappointed. I go with the goal of jumping my two scary jumps (which is 2 foot for mega-wusses like me) and then anything else is a bonus.
 
Yep Hunting works!

I had a few years off riding whilst I was at uni and bred myself a lovely event horse. But obviously she was a right cow and we were very very wobbley for a year or so and then I got my act together and went out with the bloodhounds and we have never looked back. Now eventing happily at PreNovice and looking to go Novice soon
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[ QUOTE ]
WOW star I remember when you first went and had braking issues, not long before I took my boy hunting for the first time and we were both asking how to stoooop!

That is AMAZING! Even attempting those sorts of obstacles would leave me ecstatic, let alone clearing them and coming home!! How did you do it? How did you feel yourself change? What made you change?

[/ QUOTE ]

it's just the rush of everyone else doing it and knowing the horse will do it because everyone else is going too. i've had a few falls but got back up and carried on - it's not the end of the world to fall off and that's also helped my confidence!
 
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