Help me get some motivation to ride! :(

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starry94

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My horse has had pretty much all winter off apart from the odd bit of work here and there, mainly due to me working long hours & not having the time to work with him.
He has never been schooled properly or consistently, people would start & stop. Now i really want to get him going well but i just can't find the motivation to actually start riding him again! My confidence is very low at the moment, i think it is because i just haven't ridden in quite a while, and because he has had me off a few times as well as hearing lots of stories about him throwing others off which means i don't completely trust him when i'm on him.
Anyone been through this? Or can anyone help me get some confidence and motivation back?!
 
Oh dear this could have written by me except the falling off bit, don't ride enough to fall off.:rolleyes: I am in exactly the same position, I know my Cob will improve with lots of work and I have the time to do it just can't get the motivation to start. Perhaps we should make a promise to each other that we will ride at least twice between now and Sunday? I am planning to get him out tomorrow so you take your's as well and we can compare notes.:)
 
Crugeran Celt said:
Oh dear this could have written by me except the falling off bit, don't ride enough to fall off.:rolleyes: I am in exactly the same position, I know my Cob will improve with lots of work and I have the time to do it just can't get the motivation to start. Perhaps we should make a promise to each other that we will ride at least twice between now and Sunday? I am planning to get him out tomorrow so you take your's as well and we can compare notes.:)
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Good idea!! I am planning on riding tomorrow as it is my day off, even if i get on & walk around a bit, that's a start right?! I'm annoyed at myself for letting my confidence get so low & not riding him enough over winter. Been meaning to contact my instructor to book in a block of lessons too- hopefully that will help!!
 
Horrible when you feel like this but it can be improved I promise.

I started by committing to riding everyday for 1 month. The deal was if at the end of the month I still didn't want to ride / was scared etc then I would make a new plan on what to do but thankfully it never came to that.

The first week is horrendous and I felt sick just at the thought. I would wake up and the first thing on my mind was that I had to get on. By the 2nd week the ill feeling was less and week 3 I rode and felt fine.
Week 4 I was actually having a rubbish day at work and realised I couldn't wait to get away from the office muppets and go for a ride! :-)

Also make things simple if you can. Tack up, get on and just walk quietly round the school twice if thats what it takes and then get off again - it isn't a race and the hardest thing is getting on. If you think before you start that you have to survive 30 mins + you'll come up with a hundred reasons not to ride.

Do you have someone who can help you out at the yard just by being there?
I'd really lost my nerve with my mare after a crashing fall last year that resulted in a lay off so my bottle was a serious factor. Luckily we have a brilliant chap at our yard who would wander down to the school with me and just chatter away whilst I walked around on a 20m circle and tried to remember to breath. Literally all I had to do was get on and walk a circle on each rein. Then trot a half circle on each rein before coming back to walk. Then trot 2 whole circles on each rein before coming back to walk etc. When we started I rode for just 10 mins and felt like I'd been hit by a train but after the 2nd week I was happily going down to the school by myself and just playing around.

The big thing for me was working on Saturday just gone and realising that I was looking forward to finishing so I could go and ride her. That was exactly 4weeks and 1 day from the start of my 1 month of riding so it really can be done.
Because we've taken it quietly as well I am now adding more positive rides to my memory than the negative ones so now I can get on and think I'm going to have fun instead of getting on and hoping I won't die ;-)

Good luck x
 
Good luck, I will ride tomorrow early and will post to let you know how it goes. I will just do a bit of gentle road work and hopefully he will remember what his job is.:) Let me know how it goes with you too.
 
Baileybones said:
Horrible when you feel like this but it can be improved I promise.

I started by committing to riding everyday for 1 month. The deal was if at the end of the month I still didn't want to ride / was scared etc then I would make a new plan on what to do but thankfully it never came to that.

The first week is horrendous and I felt sick just at the thought. I would wake up and the first thing on my mind was that I had to get on. By the 2nd week the ill feeling was less and week 3 I rode and felt fine.
Week 4 I was actually having a rubbish day at work and realised I couldn't wait to get away from the office muppets and go for a ride! :-)

Also make things simple if you can. Tack up, get on and just walk quietly round the school twice if thats what it takes and then get off again - it isn't a race and the hardest thing is getting on. If you think before you start that you have to survive 30 mins + you'll come up with a hundred reasons not to ride.

Good luck x
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such good advice- thank you!!
 
Crugeran Celt said:
Good luck, I will ride tomorrow early and will post to let you know how it goes. I will just do a bit of gentle road work and hopefully he will remember what his job is.:) Let me know how it goes with you too.
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will do. if it's quiet at the yard tonight i might have a little walk around. i don't like riding when the yard is busy :o
 
Hope you managed to ride last night. It is pouring with rain here this morning so won't be riding as he is out unrugged and very wet and muddy.
 
I havent read this properly but i find after i've watched vids (either an event on tv or youtube) the motivation is there! I recently watched a tutorial on bitless riding and decided as my mare chews the bit id pop her headcollar on a tad tigher and attatch the reins to it and i rode round like that for an hour when id previous said i couldnt be bothered to ride due to the heat
 
Crugeran Celt said:
Hope you managed to ride last night. It is pouring with rain here this morning so won't be riding as he is out unrugged and very wet and muddy.
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weather is lovely here today. and yes i did ride! only for 10 mins in walk but it's a start :) and for now i think short rides are the best for the both of us
 
starry94 said:
weather is lovely here today. and yes i did ride! only for 10 mins in walk but it's a start :) and for now i think short rides are the best for the both of us
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Well done I am proud of you. Keep updating on your progress and with a bit of luck the weather will improve for me tomorrow.
 
Hello scardycat. I made an RS-tor type thing, and it has given me the confidence I needed to ride my young pony again. It has not been put to the test yet. But it is nice to have something to hold that still leaves both hands free to hold the reins. My pony was backed last year and then I came off him 3 times, he moves faster than me, I did not ride him for several months. I feel better using it. I will buy a proper one when finances allow. We have just started going out for very short rides, 3 so far. so I have found most of the confidence that I lost.
 
Well managed to get out yesterday only for a short bit of road work but it was something and as usual when he has had months off he was a star.:)
 
Hi guys.
Annoyingly I haven't been able to ride since because every time I've wanted to use the school there's been people having lessons! But I'm not working tomorrow so will ride them, and hopefully more this week :)
 
Well done! I've been following your posts. Once you've done a few more and built up to a bit longer, why don't you make arrangenents to ride with a friend on a quiet reliable horse. I find having company makes riding much more fun and it means you can't back out as you'd be letting someone down.
 
I knew someone recently who wanted to get back riding their horse, but just didn't have the drive, it went something like this:

Sat: "I will ride this afternoon"
Sun: "didnt ride yesterday, will try today"
Mon: "It was a little cold yesterday, might ride later if the sun comes up"
Tue: "I dont have the time to ride today, I could fit it in, but...."
Wed: "I will ride later"
Thur: "Didnt get a chance, will ride tonight"
Fri: "Had Vet down today, lost Boy'o to colic"
Sat: "WHY THE HELL DIDNT I RIDE ALL THOSE TIMES"
 
well I have ridden again this morning and again he was a very good boy if a little lazy.:( He did have a little fright when he came across a few rubbish bags for collection, there was obviously some horse eating monster in them.:D He is a little footy so if I am going to continue down the barefoot route I think I will have to invest in boots for him.
 
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I can sympathise so much. My daughter has a TB Ex Racer so, not a plodder. He was hardly ridden over the winter, she was studying like mad with her A Levels and had a Saturday job for extra pennies. Sundays would come and go and nothing was done. I realise that unless I help out much more with the ridden work, then he shall have to go out on loan or perhaps be sold. It was a bloody awful winter and I really did feel like throwing in the towel, I work part time every day to pay for his upkeep and it was like ground hog day. The stupid thing is that I am a good rider, I used to ride at a high level when a teenager and competed for the county, came away from horses when I begun work after school and then took a long break to bring up 3 children. But, I taught two of them to ride and one to Novice level at dressage so, I am not a novice. But, because I have been on the ground for so long now, my confidence just totally disappeared. Every night, I would say to myself, tomorrow you will ride him, and each morning I would then come up with an excuse not to, i.e. too windy, looks like it might rain, etc. Then 3 months ago, when watching a documentary one morning about race jockys and all the falls they have had etc and looking at them riding in the snow at 6am on the gallop tracks, gave me a kick up the arse, I thought surely I can just hack to the end of the road and back? - I must admit that I was so nervous tacking him up that my hands were shaking and also there is no one else around at the yard when I am down in the morning, so I keep thinking of the 'what ifs' - I literally hacked him to the first telegraph pole and returned! -The next day, I went to the next telegraph pole and so forth. Each day, I would try and put the riding off and come up with excuses but I had made sure that I have ridden whatever. And on Saturday, I rode a different route, a bridleway along the edge of a field and through an orchard, I sung to him all the time and chatted away to try and cover my nerves but, we done it and I was griming from ear to ear when I got back. So, I know how you feel, when you have taken time off, your confidence can take a bashing. I am sure that someone on H&H quoted nerves don't stop you from falling off, so going and enjoy yourself, and that is so very true. Good luck. Sounds like you are getting there already.
 
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