I lost my nerve! Found it again - lesson reports & Vale View Dressage - There is hope

coreteam1

coreteam1

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Well I haven't posted for some time. I have had a rough time with my boy the last month or so. I reported a while back about him spooking and thought we'd found a solution by keeping his mind on the ball so to speak, but no, things went from bad, to better then worse!!

I mentioned previously that he can be quite sharp in his attitude and I'd been having trouble with spooking. I'd been having a new instructor and all she'd ever seen of him was this awful behaviour!
It came to a head one day when I got on him in the arena during one of the lessons and he walked about four strides then just stopped and tried to turn around sharply. I'm not stupid and I know that he knew, he had me, and he could tell he had won! I just lost my nerve, as easily as that!!?? :eek: I use to do Pony Club evening and showjumping when I was younger and all of a sudden I couldn't ride him? :(
The more I thought about him spooking the less I wanted to push him on and ride him forward, so I got off. I was upset and really couldn't think about anything other than not riding him, ever again!! It was an awful feeling (the only feeling I can compare it to was when I lived in Australia and got 'seriously' home sick! :))
My instructor got on him and worked him for 40 minutes, although he was tense she said his bark really is worse than his bite.
I decided to leave the schooling until my next lesson a week later. We hacked out, which I felt totally comfortable with and I turned him out 24 hours a day so he could chill out with his mates!

My instructor came back the next week and rode for 45 minutes and the boy was as good as gold. I continued to hack him out and rode him once in the school for 15 minutes then hacked him out. My instructor came back the next week and again he was good. I rode him a couple of times in the school for short periods (approx 20 min) and then took him over to PS's for a lesson at her place.
I felt far more comforatable taking him out than I did riding him at home in our arena!

He was brilliant and we had no issues at all. He worked well in every corner with no napping or spooking and seemed to enjoy the session. It could be that he felt proud to wear his new 'blue matchy' ;)

This is him working in

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Working on self carriage
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Shoulder in
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I seemed to be gaining back my confidence and felt totally back to 'normal' (:D) when I was out that day. The beast was behaving at last and I looked forward to the next day when I was competing at Vale View

Warming up and being a very good boy. We decided to go out alone and not take my sisters horse along which is a bad distraction for him. He behaved and listened and was overall very good in the warm up.
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Just checking we are all secure 'in case' he felt like being a beast!! :)
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We then decided to warm up in the other arena just to see how he went and keep him on his toes and listening to me. He became slightly more tense but soon relaxed once more
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I went into the indoor arena and the judge gave me a few minutes to settle him in. For some reason the letter 'C' was very scary so she gave me chance to ride him around. He was good in the test, only very slightly tense and we got 62% (Novice BD)
We then had the same arena and same judge for the next test (and 7 trainee judges all in their cars! :eek:) which I was pleased about because I felt his improvment which she obvisouly saw because we got 64% I did however loose 2 points for being a total idiot on the first centre line halt and saluted with my whip!!!! lol :D

So since then there has been no spooking, no napping and I've been able to hold his attention the full 100% - I just wanted to say though that I wouldn't have been able to do this without the help of my brilliant instructor Laura Jarvis (she's just won young professional 2011 with British Dressage) who has shown me my horses true potential when she rides him. She has shown me that he isn't quite the devil I thought he was and that with some hard work and determination he might just do well after all!

It's been an uphill battle to get my nerve back and I still don't feel 100% about riding him in our arena (but feel 100% when I'm 'on' him in there now. It's just the thought of what he might do, if that makes sense?).
My horse was never overschooled, we probably only schooled in our arena for a maximum of three times a week for approx 35 minutes each time. The rest of the time we spent hacking etc. Laura says he is a big horse (17.2) with a big attitude which needs to be put it it's place and hopefully fingers crossed, we have him in his place, for now! lol
 
Beautiful photos and lovely to read how things are coming together again. Keep at it, he is certainly worth it he is gorgeous :D
 
Well done you!!! It sometimes doesnt take much to knock our confidence sometimes!! When I brought my mare 2 1/2 yrs ago she started rearing and refusing to go forwards, I wanted to send her back and refused to ride her for a couple of weeks, I got someone else on her and my instructor held my hand, now we are out eventing and I wouldnt swap her for the world. She is still silly sometimes but I now find it funny as she doesnt have a bad bone in her body, she is just a stroppy woman who likes to try my patience!!!
 
Oh herrow.... :D

I recognize that arena lol!!

Glad he was a good boy for you, congrats on marks. He was so so so good at the clinic, enjoyed watching! He is a big boy (and a gorgeous one at that!!), but he seems to really try hard for you - just need to harness his enthusiasm and translate it into usable, trainable and workable power in his schooling. Easier said than done...
 
Well done for sticking with it. It is hard when we lose our confidence and sometimes a different rider can just help get them back on track. They can easily tell when we are feeling a little unsure so thats why its important that we stay positive. Well done for your scores too. :)
 
nikkimariet said:
Oh herrow.... :D

I recognize that arena lol!!

Glad he was a good boy for you, congrats on marks. He was so so so good at the clinic, enjoyed watching! He is a big boy (and a gorgeous one at that!!), but he seems to really try hard for you - just need to harness his enthusiasm and translate it into usable, trainable and workable power in his schooling. Easier said than done...
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It's a lovely arena, one of my favorites!!

It's all going ok still! :)
 
Thanks for the nice comments. He always gets looked at but mainly due to him being an idiot! :D He certainly knows how to show me up but hopefullly it's all going on the right track at the moment.
Booked into some dressage at Feild House on a Thursday so it should be quieter and no other horses coming with us either!

Sometimes I think it's hard just admitting how you feel.
 
It's reasurring to hear it's not all plain sailing for other people too. So glad you're feeling good again- you look great in the competition photos- very handsome horse!
 
janey said:
Thanks for the nice comments. He always gets looked at but mainly due to him being an idiot! :D He certainly knows how to show me up but hopefullly it's all going on the right track at the moment.
Booked into some dressage at Feild House on a Thursday so it should be quieter and no other horses coming with us either!

Sometimes I think it's hard just admitting how you feel.
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Used to get this with MG he was a spas, and now still can throw one, but people did used to watch us "work in", I think to see how many times I got chucked off! Good you'r working through it!
 
What a lovely positive post and a stunning horse. Have you thought about getting some help with your nerves> A sports psychologist or something?

You instructor sounds fab, I think the mark of a truly good trainer is the ability to know when to push and ignore the riders windieness and when to step in and ride the horse.
 
Hi janey, if the sports psycologist doesn't work I can always give you a kick up the backside and tell you that you are perfectly capable of doing it! Just need you and Otto to show us how it's done now :)
 
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