ImmyS
Well-Known Member
I posted a bit about this in C & T but thought I would post here as more foot fall. I am having serious confidence crisis and I don’t know why and I don’t know how to get over it!
It’s totally irrational and I can’t figure it out. I grew up always dreaming of being able to have a horse I can take out and do stuff with. I finally have a horse I can do that with and a trailer so all these opportunities have opened up but struggling to make the most of them due to my nerves.
My horse Arlo is only 4 but he is brilliant and has never done anything to knock my confidence. I’m completely confident and relaxed out hacking but as soon as we do anything new or different I turn into a complete wimp and I feel like it’s holding us both back. For example instead of building on experiences to gain confidence I seem to go two steps forward and five back. A couple of weeks ago I went to a XC clinic and it went really well, by the end we were jumping a sequence of fences and left feeling great and excited for our sponsored ride the week after, planning to build on the xc clinic by jumping some fences on the sponsored ride but I completely chickened out. I popped a couple on teeny tiny logs and couldn’t bring myself to do anything else despite Arlo being foot perfect and just generally a saint.
I had a nasty accident about 6 years ago where my previous horse fell and My leg was crushed, maybe this has knocked my confidence more than I thought? Even though it was just a freak accident.
I also know I am not an amazing rider, I am mostly self taught and until Arlo I only had ever really hacked. I feel I am very ‘aware’ of my riding if we go out anywhere which as result makes me ride even worse and the cycle continues!! Ahh!
Here’s a couple of videos today from my first ever jumping lesson, where we built things up slowly. You can see Arlo is just so honest and such a trier. It went really well today but I know come the next ‘outing’ I’ll be back to square one. Anyone else had such a confidence crisis and how did you get yourself out of it?! It’s so depressing having a lovely horse to enjoy, but my nerves are holding us back. Sorry for the ramble, any advice/experiences gratefully received!!
It’s totally irrational and I can’t figure it out. I grew up always dreaming of being able to have a horse I can take out and do stuff with. I finally have a horse I can do that with and a trailer so all these opportunities have opened up but struggling to make the most of them due to my nerves.
My horse Arlo is only 4 but he is brilliant and has never done anything to knock my confidence. I’m completely confident and relaxed out hacking but as soon as we do anything new or different I turn into a complete wimp and I feel like it’s holding us both back. For example instead of building on experiences to gain confidence I seem to go two steps forward and five back. A couple of weeks ago I went to a XC clinic and it went really well, by the end we were jumping a sequence of fences and left feeling great and excited for our sponsored ride the week after, planning to build on the xc clinic by jumping some fences on the sponsored ride but I completely chickened out. I popped a couple on teeny tiny logs and couldn’t bring myself to do anything else despite Arlo being foot perfect and just generally a saint.
I had a nasty accident about 6 years ago where my previous horse fell and My leg was crushed, maybe this has knocked my confidence more than I thought? Even though it was just a freak accident.
I also know I am not an amazing rider, I am mostly self taught and until Arlo I only had ever really hacked. I feel I am very ‘aware’ of my riding if we go out anywhere which as result makes me ride even worse and the cycle continues!! Ahh!
Here’s a couple of videos today from my first ever jumping lesson, where we built things up slowly. You can see Arlo is just so honest and such a trier. It went really well today but I know come the next ‘outing’ I’ll be back to square one. Anyone else had such a confidence crisis and how did you get yourself out of it?! It’s so depressing having a lovely horse to enjoy, but my nerves are holding us back. Sorry for the ramble, any advice/experiences gratefully received!!