Loss of confidence . . .

Copperpot

Copperpot

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My horse is 6 years old (almost 7), last year when I got him we had a great year, hacking out, jumping etc. I felt I could do anything on him. He's got a buck in him and had me off quite badly towards the end of the year. Since then I just don't enjoy him like I did
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I've lost all confidence on him. When we hack out I'm nervous and if he does a little buck I get worried. He was always very laid back (was recovering from injury) but now he is full of life and I can feel the power underneath me.

In reality he is the horse of my dreams, fantastic and gentle in the stable, very affectionate. He's very brave and will jump anything. I would trust him to get me over anything I put him at, but just not on the approach or landing! He was used to whip in from out hunting. I just sometimes feel he is too much horse for me but desperately want to get on with him.

When I ride anything smaller (he is 16.3H, I'm 5ft 3") I feel confident. They can buck, rear, leap about and I do not care.

Do you think lessons are the answer? Or sell him and get something else? Trouble is I love him so much!

Thanks!
 
I have had a similar experience with my horse and im out at the other side now with 100% increased confidence. Mine was fear of jumping...... I took regular lessons and gradually together our confidence improved.

My girl can also be silly and put in big bucks when she is very excited.... it is always worse at this time of year as she needs more exercise than I can provide and has less turn out than is offered. Which is far from ideal but I now manage this by cutting down her feed and occasionally extra loose schooling sessions.

Have you tried increasing turnout time and reducing feed? i find loose schooling helps to get the bucks out of her before i get on if I know she may be a bit fresh???

Some lessons may help if you really want to make things work. Good luck
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it sounds as though your issue is with your horse and not about riding in general.Given he is 16.3 and you are only 5'3 it does sound like you have over horsed yourself somewhat although alot depends on how well you ride.It could be a case of you just aren't able to hold him together and lessons may help with that but given you are more confident on something smaller I would think you would be better off to sell and buy something that is smaller.
 
I think you may have overhorsed yourself tbh. Once your faith in one horse has been knocked it is really difficult to get it back,but it can be done.

If I were you,I would consider sending horse off for some schooling,to try and get buck out of him. If not,it may be heartbreaking,but I would sell and replace with something a little smaller,without the buck. There are also many gentle souls out there without the buck in them that you could regain confidence with and enjoy riding again. After all,it IS meant to be pleasurable!
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Don't give up! everybody loses their confidence once in a while and IMO its worse when its your own horse because you keep thinking 'oh my god what if i'm too scared to ride, what am i going to do??'.

Both my mum and I have gone through the same thing. My mum owns the safest, most genuine horse in the world but one day he had a spook and got her off and from then on she was scared. She could go to a riding school and get on anything though. She persevered and now has an even better relationship with him because of it.

With me, I lost confidence on my horse as he did prat around a bit and test me sometimes, and this scared me. It didn't mean I couldn't deal with it, I was perfectly capable, but it still scared me. Again, I could get on anything else and was fine! We've kept going and hed regular lessons and are now doing great. Yes there is the odd moment I get scared but i've learnt to deal with what he does and believe in my own ability.

My advice for you would be get a good instructor that you really trust. They will help you to see that when your horse bucks its ok, and you can deal with it and you will stay on. I would also advise checking the horse is ok- teeth, back saddle etc to make sure its not bucking for a reason and in pain.

I really do wish you the best of luck. You sound like you love your horse a lot and therefore its worth a try. Hope that helps.
 
I'm in the same predicament, I've had y boy about 3 months now. He bucked someone off a week ago and now to be honest I am scared of him. I feel a faliure, I've had his backed looked at and it was an issue but I feel with him he needs more regular work than I can offer. I can only Fri/Sat/Sun at the moment, with the darker evenings. My friend was riding in the week but as she's been bucked off him I think she's rather reluctant to get back on as she's damaged her ribs and can't even ride her horse at the moment. He's the most loving horse I've ever owned and I'd got to a point with him that felt amazing. I honestly just feel like giving up totally - sorry to hijack your post but just to let you know your not the only one with those feelings. You'll know what the best thing to do is, just sit and think and talk it over. Maybe try some lessons, it certainly helped with me but now this bucking has started it makes me worry more!
 
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Don't give up! everybody loses their confidence once in a while and IMO its worse when its your own horse because you keep thinking 'oh my god what if i'm too scared to ride, what am i going to do??'.

My advice for you would be get a good instructor that you really trust. They will help you to see that when your horse bucks its ok, and you can deal with it and you will stay on. I would also advise checking the horse is ok- teeth, back saddle etc to make sure its not bucking for a reason and in pain.

I really do wish you the best of luck. You sound like you love your horse a lot and therefore its worth a try. Hope that helps.

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Totally second this very good advice, we can all lose our confidence, I think a good instructor is in order here.
Best of luck with it.
 
Don't give up, especially if this horse seems right for you in so many other ways. I lost my confidence big time not long after getting George (he is 16.3, I'm 5'5), I fell off on a hack and then he bucked me off at a show. I came very close to letting him go, but with the help of an extremely understanding instructor, and helpful friends on the yard we have made it and he truely is the horse of my dreams.

Sometimes I found that just having a friend standing in the school whilst I rode gave me confidence, and if I was planning a hack I would walk the route with George in hand first (so long as it wasn't too long!) and then my OH would either walk or cycle along with me,and just having someone with me made all the difference. George and I now hack out alone, go to shows, jumps etc. I still get nervous, but the blip seems to have made my bond with George stronger.

Good luck.
 
Don't give up!
If they are big "get off my back" bucks he is probably trying to tell you he is in pain somewhere, and you will be able to get a vet/back person/dentist to sort that out for you.
If they are cheeky, full-of-himself bucks you should be able to alter his management to solve that problem.

My boy's bucking affected my confidence too... He did rodeo impressions for the first few months when I got him, and I was black and blue. He did it jumping, in competitions, and schooling.
I had his feet, tack, teeth and back sorted out first - there were several problems. Then I worked on schooling and my own riding/jumping position.
After nearly 2 years with him he still throws the odd naughty buck (which I can generally sit to and doesn't frighten me) so I have learned what the triggers are and simply avoid them. There are a few things I do which keep him calm, so you could try these -

Feed less and only low calorie feeds.
Increase turnout
Feed hay not haylage
Lunge him if he's fresh
Adopt a forward seat when cantering/galloping out on a hack
Give him plenty of varied work
Plenty of hacking to clear his head
Stick a neckstrap on him and a body protector on yourself(this gave me tons of confidence)
Have regular lessons on him in flatwork and jumping!

I would try all of these first, then if they don't work you can sell him knowing you did your best to get along with him.
Good luck!
 
Thanks for your advice everyone! I have had his back looked at several times as he had a pelvic injury when he was 4. Perhaps I'll get it checked again.

Rode him today and all was great for first half hour, then head down into canter and a huge buck. Luckily I kept my stirrups, so managed to stay on.

He is on livery so will talk to them re food etc, they only feed haylage, so can't change that.

Tbh I think they are now more excited bucks, but they tend to come for no reason. I have a body protector (bought after the last bad buck incident) so will put it on!

I have a friend who is a very competant rider, he has offered to ride him and see if he can help. Think I will set myself a time limit and if I am not confident on him by then will either sell him
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or probably keep him in a friends field to live out his days, although at only 6 that seems a waste.

It's also good to know I'm not the only one feeling this way. I get annoyed with myself as have hunted 4 different horses this year for others, when I have a hunt schooled horse sat at home I daren't take!

Thanks again
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If he had a pelvic injury he might be bucking because he is expecting pain... maybe?

Also I would recommend an equine chiropractor for his back if you haven't already used one. One put my horse's back right, she did massage and clicked him all back into place, and he really enjoyed it too! He was uneven in the lumbar region which our regular back man hadn't noticed.
 
Wow just found this i'd posted from last year!!

Well things have changed - still have him and love him more than ever. Moved yards where he had more turnout time which he really needs and helps settle him.

Then decided to bite the bullet and take him hunting. Was a make or break thing really as week before I daren't even jump him over a tiny log out hacking.

After ten mins hunting on him I knew i'd never sell him lol. He was superb and ended up doing whole last season on him and even went out drag hunting too. He never bucked once out hunting and after the first time we went he seemed happier, I think he had missed it.

He still does the odd buck but not big anymore and the more he did them and I managed to stay on, the better I felt about the whole issue.

I hope everyone else who posted manged to get thru their issues too and I'm so glad I didn't give up !!!
 
Really well done to you!! I am so pleased everything worked out for you....I didn't see your original post, but have great empathy for anyone who loses their confidence at some point, having been there myself.

I did pick up something I found very interesting from the replies you got originally: there seems to be some common theme of losing confidence on one's OWN horse, but able to ride anything else (which i found too)!! This is rather odd don't you think?
 
That is weird and yes it seems to be what usually happens!!

Can only think its cos we ride and do more with our own horses.

I know as far as I'm concerned that if I get on a horse and am not told it bucks/rears etc then I don't even think that it will.

Maybe its the expectation that dents the confidence cos we know exactly what are our own horses are capable of lol :)
 
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