Jumping Nerves

[Halfpass]

First of all a little bit of history.

I have been riding since I was 9 and I am now 30. I have owned horses since I was 18 and competed at open local level in Show jumping and have hunted a fair bit.

5 years ago I fell off out hunting and fractured and dislocated 2 vertebrae in my neck. Didn't ride for 4 months then when I got back on the same horse I realised why he fell and I retired him ( he was 28!!!).

Had various other horses then bought a 17hh ID x TB in 2004 who was strong and very forward (more of a mans horse) and had a nasty fall show jumping where we had a near miss with a rotational fall.

I sold him in July 2006 to buy my youngster. I got her in Nov 2006 when she was 2 1/2 so then didn't ride properly till she was 3 1/2 when she was lightly backed. She was turned away over the winter and came back into work just before she was 4. Sadly she was PTS in December last year after injury and accident so I never got chance to get her going properly.

Since Jan this year I have been loaning Ollie a 17.2hh WB x TB, he is a dressage horse but has won at intro level eventing so he can jump but apparently isn't overly confident.

Now he has given me huge amounts of confidence. I love hacking him and have competed him at Prelim and Novice dressage and have qualified for Trailblazers finals.

I took him XC schooling to Coombelands and had a ball. I really want to improve my jumping and do enjoy it ..................but........................................

I get soooooooo nervous. I think too much about what might happen. I went to jump him today and popped him over some x poles. He jumped everything but my head was just thinking what might happen. I watched someone else jumping her horse a few times and then went to have another go and by this point had thought so much I had scared myself and just popped another x pole and left it at that.
I really really want to jump him as I do enjoy it but I just can't control the nerves.

Can anyone help?

Chocolate and wine for those of you that read this far

 

[hippiechick]

I know how you feel as I also suffer with nerves despite the fact in my youth I used to hunt and team chase regularly!!

My advise is - remember you do this for fun, i think you are putting too much pressure on your self. Tell yourself you'll stop if you don't enjoy it and that there's no pressure to continue at any time. If you can think like this - you'll find you forget the nerves (a bit)!!

Go on.......go for it!!!!! x

 

[scrumpygus]

Hi there - i can really symathise with u on this - i used to jump pretty high level then once out of ponies - had a few bad falls on a youngster i was bringing on and bang went the confidence! It took me about 2 years to get it back but i remember at the time if i went to jump i could hardly breath with fear and my back would be so tense id be in pain for a few days after - horrendous. I just stopped pressuring myself. What i did which may help you was every few days popping over tiny cross poles or tyres in the field while nobody was watching -then eventually thats quite boring and you feel like you want to try a little bigger and a then maybe do a few more - just dont pressure your self with competitions - theyll still be there next year! I think we all sometimes lose sight that this is only a hobby and a chance to have fun x

 

[marmalade76]

I feel just the same as you even though I have never had any nasty falls/ broken any bones, in fact I haven't fallen off for 7 years (touch wood!!) I used to team chase and go bloodhounding regularly and there was not a lot I wouldn't jump. But now I have two children (3 years & 17month old) and have very little time to ride. I am terrified of jumping and only jump small ones even though my horse is a complete hunting/jumping schoolmaster and jumps safely no matter what you do on top. He is a bit too strong for me and he dose go a bit faster than I would like but he never stops and is never naughty. I would really love to hunt and compete again and I do think that if I was able to ride more often and have some lessons over grids my confidence would probably return eventually. I suggest you do some grid work, starting small and do some fun rides as you only jump what you like. This is what I would do if I had time to get my horse fit!