Jumping a green horse when you're not the bravest rider

FestiveFuzz

FestiveFuzz

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So... having conquered most of my confidence demons I've now hit a point where I want to start jumping H a bit more. The trouble is I'm used to jumping bold horses where my only concern is where the hell I put the brakes, so a green horse that picks up on my every concern isn't ideal when I'm no longer as brave as I once was.

I mentioned to a few people that I thought it would be best all round if I paid someone to jump H so he gained some confidence whilst I had some schoolmaster lessons to do the same but they've all said they think it would be best if we worked through it together.

We've jumped the odd xc jump or log whilst hacking but these days even a 2ft jump leaves me feeling sick and I hate it as I used to jump 3ft+ without a second thought.

Obviously we'll be having lessons but are there any other tips on how I can lose the fear and do it anyway? H is super genuine but due to his greeness as soon as I hesitate he does too. At the weekend this resulted in him ending up way too close to the jump and then cat leaping to get us both over.

We're off to another sponsored ride in 4 weeks time and I'd love to jump a few more jumps, so I really need to get a handle on my nerves.
 
I would start with simple poles on the ground until you are both confident and then work up very slowly.

You could also lunge/loose school him over jumps to help his confidence.
 
I've had the same problem. I took the plunge and have been having lessons on a schoolmaster to help regain my confidence and it's worked a treat (albeit the expensive option!) :)
 
Hi OP , have totally been in your shoes !!! What has made me do a total 360 is having a friend help ride my horse - no cost to her at all.. she rides my Mare twice a week depending including one lesson from my coach & has taken her out competing... It has done my Mare & me the world of good, its a no brainer really... Im really visual so seeing her out competing etc is super reassuring... She started helping me good few mths ago & we havent looked back, in fact I bloody well took her myself around our yard XC course for FIRST TIME EVER at the weekend over 20 odd jumps & was confidently flying over everything & actually acting like a pilot as opposed to a passenger by the end of it!!! My coach after seeing that says we are ready for Hunter Trialing in 2 wks despite me defo not being ready a month ago.. my confidence has really come on 10 fold & I really put that down to someone more experienced helping.

My coach also stripped everything back, no jumping at all for a while, worked on poles on the ground, seeing & adjusting stride by ensuring I could get that proper SJ Canter before starting on simple Cavaletti & then onto grid work which was a massive confidence builder - so much so we ended up winning our yard high jump class during summer over 1m10!! You will definatly get there BUT highly recommend taking the pressure off yourself & getting someone to help & a coach that is willing to help you through it.
 
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I've been there and please don't do it if you aren't confident. Once you have 'taught' a horse to stop or run out, it's very difficult to undo. Get someone confident to ride but make sure you see them jump first, and look at stills. If they are throwing themselves over the jump or grabbing the mouth, choose someone else. I went on recommendation without checking first and had to tell the person they weren't required any more. I got a more sympathetic rider and everything went swimmingly. By the 3rd session I was hopping on and having a go myself :)
 
Thanks all!

Fides - that is my biggest concern. I like to think I'm pretty good at faking it and not letting H realise I'm *****ting myself and just keeping my leg on most of the time but deep down I know this isn't the correct way to do things and in all honest I miss the carefree days where I'd pop over anything and a field of xc jumps would be a perfect day out.

Showpony - I saw your post the other day and it really was inspirational. I guess I'm just putting too much pressure on myself but I came away from the sponsored ride at the weekend being a bit frustrated with myself for not jumping more which is silly as the friend I went with said she hadn't thought we'd jump anything. I just felt bad as H was really up for it and I just felt I let him down. Silly I know!

3Beasties - I think you're right. I feel like I've put a ton of effort into our flatwork as dressage is where my heart lies, yet when it comes to jumping I guess I haven't put as much work into it. Will definitely start lunging/loose schooling over jumps and introduce some pole work into our schooling sessions.

MileAMinute - thanks this was exactly what I thought would be the best option for us. I don't mind the investment if it means we get to where we want to be eventually.
 
I've been here. Very recently, in fact.

I started small. Doing trot poles in lessons, then building up to raised. Then a line of poles with a VERY small jump at the end. I'm talking 1ft cross. So they don't actually 'jump', just a more elevated stride (more so than the cavaletti). So you get used to approaching in a rice rhythm.

Eventually take the trot poles away so you're just coming up to the single 'fence' (still a 1ft x at this point). You should be feeling pretty confident by this point, I know I was, as you know the horse will be thinking nothing of it at all.

Jump goes up so it's now a 1ft upright. Do the same thing. When you've done it a few times, end it there. Then next time, you can start with a 1ft upright and build up from there.

Rhythm is key here. Stay in trot for as long as you want to. It's easier to sit to a stop or run out if they're only trotting, so keep it slow until you're confident your horse will just go. If horse starts to canter, let him, go with it and BREATHE!!

I think this is preferable to getting someone else to do it, as you will be working on trust at the same time (most of the time, we need more trust in our horses in situations like this). And you will feel so chuffed with yourself once you've cracked it, and so proud of the horse. It's a good feeling.

This was me, beginning of August. Petrified to jump at all, let alone my wibbly wobbly 5yo.

End of August, I was jumping a mini-novice course (One of the fences was easily 70cm! Or at least looked/felt like it lol) and doing a 60-70cm clear round the week after, which they put up to 70-80cm without telling me haha!!

You can do it. Doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there. Go at your own pace and BREATHE! Very important advice, that :)

Good luck!
 
Fides said:
I've been there and please don't do it if you aren't confident. Once you have 'taught' a horse to stop or run out, it's very difficult to undo. Get someone confident to ride but make sure you see them jump first, and look at stills. If they are throwing themselves over the jump or grabbing the mouth, choose someone else. I went on recommendation without checking first and had to tell the person they weren't required any more. I got a more sympathetic rider and everything went swimmingly. By the 3rd session I was hopping on and having a go myself :)
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Agreed. I think the best way with a green horse is to ensure that the first few times are done with calm confidence, and with someone who can reassure. No matter how brave or hard your youngster is, nerves can affect both you and horse in ways you would not expect, especially if it is something they have not tackled before.

My first horse came to me as 'green' and I was a confident and experienced rider, who would happily tackle most fences. What I think was really the case was that someone had done a royal job of messing him up with his training, because he was very quick to throw in a stop or drop a shoulder, and it was very hard to undo. In fact we resigned ourselves to the fact he was never going to be a jumper because of this, because you never knew what was going to be a good or bad day, even though he was, and still is, one of the most genuine and kind horses I have ever met in every other respect. I trust him to the bone in every other way (now belongs to someone else but on same yard), but having a horse like that has really rocked my own confidence with jumping, and it is just not worth it!

There is nothing wrong with ensuring your horse gets a good start in their training, in fact it is totally sensible! And why undo all your hard work with building your confidence, when you have come so far? Don't be scared, or feel embarrassed to ask for a helping hand!

Have lessons and practice on horses that will build on your confidence. Once your confidence is high enough, I would start with pole work, then raised poles, then small cross poles with your own horse- under the guidance of an instructor (as others have said, start simple and build on it!). Take is slow, and at a pace that builds both your trust and confidence in each other.

Most of all enjoy it and good luck with your sponsored rides too! :)
 
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I had the same over the winter and spring with my youngster - he hadn't done any jumping really other than the odd cross pole and is a terror for stopping last minute, thus making me very cautious about jumping him!! I have done BSJA in the past with my mare and would confidently jump round a course of 1.10 and not think anything of it, however the thought of jumping a 2ft cross on him had me feeling sick!

I got myself a good, kind and understanding instructor. She has been working with us since Oct last year, starting off with trotting poles, raised poles and canter poles. We then moved on to a tiny grid (I'm taking no more than half a foot at the biggest), then progressed on from there.

We are now jumoing a small course (only at home), in canter and jumping it sensibly 98% of the time. We still get the odd stop but I'm confident enough now to kick him on and making him jump it from a standstill as I'm still not jumping anything over 2ft 6. We still have a long way to go in regards to fillers and finally getting to an actual show to do clear round, however I've been on several farm rides over the summer and jumped a varity of smallish cross country jumps - something I wouldn't have thought I'd be doing this time last year! :)

Good luck and just take your time - there's no rush so just build up slowly. That's the biggest tip of all. x
 
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Fides said:
I've been there and please don't do it if you aren't confident. Once you have 'taught' a horse to stop or run out, it's very difficult to undo. Get someone confident to ride but make sure you see them jump first, and look at stills. If they are throwing themselves over the jump or grabbing the mouth, choose someone else. I went on recommendation without checking first and had to tell the person they weren't required any more. I got a more sympathetic rider and everything went swimmingly. By the 3rd session I was hopping on and having a go myself :)
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This, look at it this way. Better to let someone help and take over the reins for a few weeks/months now so that you can spend the next several years enjoying your jumping rather than trying to undo any mistakes and not enjoying or even wanting to do it. It will be better for you both in the long run.
Get someone you trust and knows their job to ride and find a good instrutor to help you along side the rider so when you see you horse jumping then you can work with that and both progress as you are both gaining confidence.
Good luck :)
 
Can't believe someone seriously advised you to push on and do it yourself. You lose more confidence, you will undoubtedly give the horse a poor start as well. Get your trainer or a professional to start your horse off. Once you see he is becoming established and you have confidence he will behave, that's when you start doing poles etc. Knowing your horse is more established will really help your confidence.

End of the day, this is your horse, your time and it is supposed to be enjoyable!
 
Hi OP

If you get a little help from someone else maybe once a week or so, and can see that things are going well, then in between you can build up from poles on ground/tiny cross poles when you are by yourself. I am not the bravest either, but instead of worrying about having a jumping session or lesson, I use teeny fences when schooling to keep the horse interested and activate the canter (or trot!) in the school- as long as you aren't aiming for any scary fillers where you might need to get super-determined, just casually popping the odd wee fence or cross pole in the school as though it is no big deal will really help. If you have your legs on, a good contact and steer for the middle, if the jump is teeny tiny most horses are smart enough to work out that it is easier to step over it than try and go around it. It means you can practice riding straight towards them, and practice riding lines after them too- it will really benefit both of your jumping in the long run too.
 
I think that your original plan of getting someone to ride him initially and get him going/enjoying jumping while you have a few lessons on a schoolmaster was excellent, I can't believe people talked you put of it, they're not people who's advice I'd take.. Then have some lessons together (even better with the person that got him going if poss) and start with pole work and easy grids etc. build it up..
 
I am in favour of getting someone who has no nerves to get him started well so that no bad habits can develop through your mutual lack of confidence.

However, it is important that you build your own confidence too and one way to do that might be to take him back a step from what he has done with a more confident rider. So, say you find someone who starts him slowly and is jumping, say 45cm, with the odd scary filler, then when it is your turn to ride (preferably with an instructor), you only tackle poles on the floor or teeny little jumps that you have already seen he can more than cope with and is used to seeing. Use a neck strap too - they are a great confidence giver even when not necessary.

Then you can build up height, width, scary fillers etc but always a step or two behind what he has been doing with confident person. You will know he is capable and that will help you to work through your own wobbles.
 
I agree with your first idea - confidence is difficult to gain and easy to lose, so why take the risk?
 
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I think your initial plan of getting someone else to jump him first is an excellent one. I anticipate being in a similar situation myself in a few months and intend to get my instructor to jump my horse first. I don't intend to have lessons on a schoolmaster as true schoolmasters are so few and far between and I reckon once I've seen somebody else jump my horse I'll be fine.
 
Thanks guys. My trainer was actually one of the ones who thought it was best to push on rather than pay someone else to help. Her rationale being I'm apparently capable and will only realise this by doing it myself. I think the fear comes from what may happen rather than anything H has actually done, so she doesn't think riding a schoolmaster will help in the long run as the trust issues with H will still be there until I face them head on.

I'm not sure if any of this makes any sense aside from showing me to be a total weirdo.
 
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That does change things if it was your trainer, who knows you and the horse well. Perhaps just go for the second half of the plan then, start with pole work,build up to grids etc and see how you do?
 
I'm in the do it yourself camp… I had a terrible accident doing XC as a teenager and after that never jumped much again as got into dressage and polo (as my jumper was sadly PTS shortly after our accident due to colic) and had really lost my nerve. When I got my 4yo ex flat racer/polo she had literally jumped a cross pole and a small filler to prepare her for sale to a 'normal' home and I felt I owed it to her education to continue and get her to the point of at least doing a small SJ course.

We just started small like others have said; tiny (like tiny!) cross poles etc that didn't fry my brain or hers and very gradually over 2 years we have increased the height to 2ft+ - she is now 6. I also did XC schooling and jumped the tiniest ones (1ft) and gained more of her confidence in me with fences I was happy with (like small steps and water etc) and now we can go a bit higher as she loves it all and I trust her.

You really need a sympathetic and confident instructor who won't push you out of your comfort zone too much and don't get carried away with trying to keep up with other people. Someone I know has soured her horse as got pushed into doing a class height they weren't comfortable with yet in the heat of the moment and now struggles to get the horse over things they were quite confident with before. I think doing it together and not over facing yourself or the horse builds a connection with each other and Rome wasn't built in a day so just take your time! Just my opinion anyway...
 
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