Jumping nerves but desperate to BE

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pickwickayr

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2 years ago my pony died very suddenly, I had owned her since a foal, backed her myself and done BS and BE80. I was devastated to say the least. I have since struggled with a loss of confidence and anxiety, when jumping on my new horse. Last year we did lots of fun things together, riding club stuff and loads of training. We sj and XC schooled up to 70cm. This year I am determined to start BE80, but despite psyching myself up all winter, now as the first BE approaches I am feeling more and more anxious! I am due to do our first SJ of the year in a couple weeks and need to push myself to do the 80 class. But the thought of it terrifies me. My horse is young but very capable, we are both more than ready to jump higher and I finally feel like we have a good bond. But I seem to have a mental block saying I can't do it! My mare looks to me for confidence so I really need to sort my head out! I have weekly lessons with an understanding instructor but am looking for any tips and advice that may help my anxiety problems!
Thanks!
 
You are trying to re create a bond with your new horse that took a lifetime with your old horse. And you are feeling rushed. So lets look at it in an entirely different perspective.
To win or get in the rosettes at BE is hard at any level,so we are not really doing it for that. We are doing it for team pickwickayr. So,.. do the dressage ....and see how you feel . no pressure! so maybe do the showjumping , if it was good maybe you will feel like the xc. But if you dont feel ready, so what ! leave it . Enjoy what you are ready for.
I have a great horse ,a real xc machine who loves to showjump. Sadly I got seriously bust up a few years back in a rotational fall and have lost my nerve ,but I am tempted to try just doing the dressage and sj because I miss the buzz. I hope my rather muddled thoughts may have helped.
 
What heights are you jumping at home? You need to be jumping a level higher than at competitions so when you go out, the jumps all look small!

I suffer very badly from nerves when jumping, but they have improved immensely over the last few months. There are several factors to this,
not least of which is my strength and fitness have improved from hard gym sessions with a personal trainer. Also my instructor has been very strict with me at keeping the jumps low. Week in week out he kept them at 50-60 and got me to deal with bad strides, cat-leaps, ducking outs and all the other things that go wrong. Only when I was better prepared to deal with things going wrong did he put them up. Now when he puts a jump up to what I think looks huge, I know that he trusts me to deal with any errors, and clear the jump.

I think changing my mindset from trying to get a perfect stride in every time, to just dealing with any problems that arise, has helped a lot. You're not going to get a perfect stride in every time, but how you deal with that is what matters.
 
I think you are rushing yourself for no reason, forget BE for this spring/ summer and possibly aim for an 80 later on so you have time to get your confidence, her confidence and both of you have more experience training and competing in the individual phases plus a few unaff events at 70 then 80, I would not do a BE 80 until you have jumped happily round a 90 SJ and schooling over 1m at home confidently.

Your anxiety is due to putting pressure on to achieve something that you are not yet prepared for, once you are fully prepared the anxiety will not be such an issue, if I were training you I would advise getting plenty more outings under your belt before even thinking of BE.
The horse on my yard that is aiming to event this year will not go BE until he is at the stage mentioned above, he is jumping today at 70 then 80 and will do a few more at this level before he will be ready to do the 80 without warming up at 70, his rider is not nervous but knows that he is too nice to rush and put off at this stage, if he doesn't do an 80 until next season it is no problem, no pressure to do any more than they are ready for.
 
Sorry to hear about your pony

Are you as nervous in competitions? I find I am more anxious at home but at a competition I just have to get on with it. You say you feel underprepared so what could you do to make yourself feel prepared; xc schooling, hunter trial, two dressage comps, double clear sj?? If its an anxiety thing you might never feel prepared and just have to bite the bullet.

I am about to do my first BE too and I know I feel underprepared. Several training sessions have been hampered by bad weather, lost shoes, trailer problems etc. so I am going into it as a schooling exercise and do what I feel happy with. Just as Mike007 suggested.I'm on an older horse though, who has competed BE90 previously.

Does your instructor feel you are ready?
 
Why are you putting this pressure on yourself?

Go out and do some small unaff competitions and have fun. Once those jumps look small, do bigger ones.

I am jumping 1m in lessons but there is NO WAY I am ready to do any BE and I won't do so until I am.

You've nothing to lose by waiting and everything to gain.
 
Thank you for all the replies! I think because I had intended to event last year but put it off I feel like I need to just get in with it now! I schooled round the BE course I want to compete at several times last year, got 2nd in our first ever ODE at riding club. So I feel i need to push myself to get on with it this year!! I was schooling over 90 sj last year but have had a break for winter, so not up to that height this year yet. I have a BE training camp at the end of the month so will see how that goes before deciding whether to compete this spring or not! Some more mileage sj is a must tho, and I'm going to make the effort to get out sj as much as I can! Thank you for all the replies, really appreciate it
 
claracanter said:
Sorry to hear about your pony

Are you as nervous in competitions? I find I am more anxious at home but at a competition I just have to get on with it. You say you feel underprepared so what could you do to make yourself feel prepared; xc schooling, hunter trial, two dressage comps, double clear sj?? If its an anxiety thing you might never feel prepared and just have to bite the bullet.

I am about to do my first BE too and I know I feel underprepared. Several training sessions have been hampered by bad weather, lost shoes, trailer problems etc. so I am going into it as a schooling exercise and do what I feel happy with. Just as Mike007 suggested.I'm on an older horse though, who has competed BE90 previously.

Does your instructor feel you are ready?
Click to expand...

Yes my instructor thinks I'm ready and need to just get on with it now! I had been planning a BE80 at the end of last year but an abscess got in the way! I am disappointed with myself for still having anxieties about competing 2 years on
 
be positive said:
I think you are rushing yourself for no reason, forget BE for this spring/ summer and possibly aim for an 80 later on so you have time to get your confidence, her confidence and both of you have more experience training and competing in the individual phases plus a few unaff events at 70 then 80, I would not do a BE 80 until you have jumped happily round a 90 SJ and schooling over 1m at home confidently.

Your anxiety is due to putting pressure on to achieve something that you are not yet prepared for, once you are fully prepared the anxiety will not be such an issue, if I were training you I would advise getting plenty more outings under your belt before even thinking of BE.
The horse on my yard that is aiming to event this year will not go BE until he is at the stage mentioned above, he is jumping today at 70 then 80 and will do a few more at this level before he will be ready to do the 80 without warming up at 70, his rider is not nervous but knows that he is too nice to rush and put off at this stage, if he doesn't do an 80 until next season it is no problem, no pressure to do any more than they are ready for.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advise, that all makes sense! Definately need to get some more mileage jumping at a higher level. Problem is I'm such a woose I go with good intentions to enter 80 and 90 then wimp out and do the 70 lol
 
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