Nervous little rider after fall

[zip]

Hi,my son has been riding for about a year now. He is 7 and is riding a 12.2 Welsh pony. He has been having regular lessons with an instructor and started cantering a few weeks ago but fell off a couple of times in his last lesson resulting in a few tears but he always got back on. Anyway,we went down to the yard this mng all ok until Louis asks william to trot and Will starts to canter resulting in tears and Louis panicking, pulling Will up straight away. We tried again and Will again attempts to canter and Louis just lost it and wanted to get off so I suggested we go for a little ride up the lane which we did. He says he's not sure bout riding now and I don't know what to do now? There is a small pony at the yard that we could try ? What do u think? I don't want to push him but at the same time he is such a lovely little rider a d has won a few rosettes recently. Shall I persuade him to have his lesson next week and see how he feels afterwards?? Thanks for reading...

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Could you find a very local, low-key show that he could go on the lead-rein to? Perhaps a novelty class if he is no longer eligible for lead-rein, another rosette would probably boost his confidence and then I would stick to w&t hacking until he asks to canter again. Make sure that his RI knows that no cantering is the order of the day for now, she will have to use some ingenuity to keep him interested in doing other things instead.

 

[joosie]

I would suggest removing the pressure from his riding - not just the pressure to canter, but pressure at all. Take it back a few steps to help him get his confidence back, and IMO, if he's worried about cantering then don't try to "make" him canter - if he's already scared this will just make him even less willing to keep riding. I would keep him on the same pony, but just focus on his walk and trot for a while - because I doubt it's the actual cantering that scares, so much as the fact that he's lost a bit of his trust in the pony. How about focusing on hacking for a few weeks, or in lessons he could do some fun stuff like mounted games (most games involving canter can be adapted to cut it out) or riding around obstacle courses. Does he have private lessons or group lessons? - if he's normally in a group then maybe a couple of private lessons would be the way forward, bit of 1-on-1 attention could really boost his confidence, equally if he's normally taught on his own then maybe riding with other kids will help, they tend to get a bit more competitive then and competitive usually means confident.

 

[putasocinit]

Forget trot and canter for awhile just walk, hacking and let him enjoy and get his confidence back, he will suddenly say can we trot when he is ready, and the same with canter. Dont push him.

 

[zip]

Hi thanks for your replies, very good advice, I will keep him on the same pony. We are on a private yard and Will is a loan pony and I usually get an instructor in every two weeks to give him a lesson. His Instructor is very good and has a good reputation so I will give her a ring and tell her what's going on as his lesson is this week and he is reluctant to ride! Not sure what to do, maybe ask her to take him for a little hack out? He listens to her!! Also great idea about a little show to go to will have a word with wills owner and see what's coming up!

 

[p87]

My three year old son had a fall and now isn't too keen on riding, although he still likes leading, brushing, feeding, cuddling them etc so its not put him off completely thankfully!

He's recently been asking if he can ride but when he is just about to get on he changes his mind, so we are slowly getting there. I'm just leaving him to it and he will come round in his own time, he's so young I don't want to put him off, so by leaving the decision to him and not stressing him is the way to go I think.

 

[showpony]

strip everything back to basics - bring him up to the yard, don't even suggest riding, do some grooming etc... and let him be the one to suggest riding, if he does could you ride & stick him on a lead rein to give him some reasurance?

 

[Goldenstar]

Why is the pony cantering when being asked to trot ?

 

[mightymammoth]

agree with others take the pressure off, make it fun again so taking pony a carrot, grooming, leading and handling, in hand grazing etc. Then I would do a few weeks of in hand hacks/pottering about then off the lead rein then in the school maybe walking over poles building it up very very slowly. Loads of praise for both pony and little lad.

I feel for him it's horrible when you fall off but happens to us all

 

[showpony]

Also OP is there any Kids lessons where you are loaning the pony??? I find it really boosts my daughters confidence when she is riding with others the own age.

 

[ellie_sherbs]

you should try walking him around on the horse again to build his confidence up. If he doesn't get back in the saddle he might always be afraid to try again, remind him of all the good times he has had and tell him to forget about the bad. Just tell him that he won't be hurt and he shouldn't worry about falls it happens to the best of us even the Olympians!!