Nervous riders

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Lucy_Ally

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How do you view/treat nervous riders? Are you sympathetic or do they just irritate you? Are you a nervous rider? How are you treated by other riders?

Just curious as Spring and I are trying to help someone overcome their riding nerves on her lovely bombproof horse - so a little poll
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I think nerves can mean different things - some people are nervous of jumping for example, or hacking, and others may be nervous of people watching them and laughing at them. I don't really care if people see me ride, or laugh at my bad riding but I'm nervous (as in scared) of hacking on the roads, hacking alone and jumping.

Different people also need different ways to get over their nerves. For me, taking the pressure off myself and not pushing myself if I don't feel I can cope has helped, other people may need a little push.

In answer to the type of horse they should have, I think the relationship they have with their horse is important. Your horse can be completely safe, bombproof and sensible, but if you just don't click the trust won't be there. That's the way it's been for me anyway.

I think everyone suffers from nerves one one level at some point - so it surprises me that people would say nervous riders shouldn't bother riding, I'd be interested to hear why they think this...
 
I'm a nervous rider.

the majority of people are helpful, but you do get those who get irritated and a bit rude about it.

A nervous rider should ride anything as long as it's suitable for them. A Tb may be as calm as a laid back cob, or a cob may be the type who needs someone who can give it confidence. It's about the horses personality, not breed /type.
 
I'm quite nervous in certain situations. I believe in the adage "horses for courses", as long as the horse is suitable for you. I have a n exrace horse who on paper would be unsuitable, but who suits me down to the ground as he is so laid back. I find most people helpful, and avoid those who are not.
 
im not a nervous rider but i would help anyone out, my sec A is a git if he knows your nervous and the girl thats riding is novice and having lessons, he puts his head down and canters back to the gate!!!! she has had a few lessons but not really improved, last week i was up there but blackberry picking and she took him in the grassy patch AKA Arena!!!

and i heard her shout at him so i popped my head round the hedge and she had got off, i told her to get back on but she said she was going to take him out for an inhand walk,

i said no get back on but she wanted me to get on him, so i did, i did lots of transistions but no faster than trot!! just walk to halt etc etc etc.. and then she got back on and he was good, i gave her a 5 min lesson, and since then her confidence has gone up and buddie behaves 9/10, the funny thing is the teacher thinks it was her!!!!

i'll let her think that!!!! just because she's a friend!!

i'd like to think if i ever was nervous that i would have people to help me. hope they would!!

sophie xxxx
 
I'm not a particularly nervous rider but my family sailed alot when I was younger and I was a very nervous crew! Because of this I feel I can relate to nervous riders as I have some idea how it feels. I do a little teaching and I find it one of the more rewarding aspects- gradually building up confidence. In fact, they are often very good to teach as they truly appreciate, and often are ecstatic about, acheiveing a tiny milestone. Makes everyone's day.
 
I had to put other for how I view nervous people, because I do feel for them, I know how they feel but I don't no how I can help them so tend not to. My mum is a nervous rider, I ask if she wants to trot etc and if not then thats fine but I don't really no how I can make her less nervous.
 
I had a fall about 9 years ago and lost all confidence. About 3 years after that I started riding my instructors old mare and started jumping again, but sadly we lost her. I decided it was time I bought my own horse and 3 weeks to the day that she died I found my own horse, (with the help of my instrucotr). He has done the world of good for myu confidence and I will even pop him over the odd small jump occassionally. He is a TB who had done nothing but p-2-ping before I had him, but he wasn't cut out for it. He really looks after me.
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Other riders have always been good. The only one who gets sharp with me is my OH as he hunts and jumps and nothing frightens him. He doesn't understand my fears when I wobble, although, he does on the whole try to be understanding!!
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I am a nervous rider in many situations i.e. if I don't trust the horse I'm riding, when jumping or when I compete, no matter how low key the event so I can empathise with other nervous riders. Just because you are nervous in some situations doesn't mean that you shouldn't ride. There is a lot of bravado in the horse world but it is not always backed up by talent. Some nervous riders are actually more competent than the "I'll get on anything" brigade in my personal experience - not all, obviously, but some nervous riders just lack confidence not ability.
 
I can be nervous at times, or at least I think I can, faced with the tiniest jump I get all agitated (but then really pleased / excited when I've done it!), and yesterday I had to canter over one pole on the ground and the first time George tripped and I got all nervous about doing it again. But then again I will go out hacking on my own without too many worries!
 
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There is a lot of bravado in the horse world but it is not always backed up by talent. Some nervous riders are actually more competent than the "I'll get on anything" brigade in my personal experience - not all, obviously, but some nervous riders just lack confidence not ability.

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well said !
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i would say i'm quite a nervous rider, but wouldn't go for a cob/native or a plod (not saying that cobs are plods, i just wouldn't want one) i'd be happy on anything so long as it didn't buck or rear, i'm just nervous about jumping huge and galloping in open spaces with no control over the pony. i'm not like those kids that will do anything...
 
I'm going to put the cat amongst the pigeons and say that I get irritated by nervous riders. I dont think they shouldn't ride, though ones that whinge and moan make me wonder why they do it. No, what irritates me is when they blame the horse. And the horse afflicted by their nervousness is misbehaving/has developed behavioural problems directly related to their nervousness. But its always the horse's fault. Or the person that sold them the horse. Or the previous owner's fault. Its such a shame for the horse, which generally just wants to please, but is getting mixed messages from the rider, who should after all, be a calm and confident leader.

To illustrate this, I had a potential sharer up to ride my mare recently, one of the best behaved horses you could imagine. She was too scared to ride beyond the end of the drive, even in company, announced my mare was "spooky" and "difficult" and "terrified of dogs" (she hunts regularly!). I have never had the slightest problem with this mare and neither did my previous sharer, who wasnt that experienced, but wasnt nervous. A clear case of a nervous rider blaming the horse.

I actually think nervous riders are very dangerous to horses and their wellbeing and I actively avoid letting them near my horses.

That said, there is of course a place for them in the equestrian world. There is no set type of horse that would be best suited to a nervous rider. But if they find a safe horse that suits them then they can have a lot of fun. Or enjoy riding in a good safe riding school environment.
 
I am a nervous rider, usually when jumping (2'3" = huge!) but also on the flat and hacking. For example one of the horses at work is whip shy and I wasn't told until I got on it with a whip, and was carted off with at a very fast walk and had no brakes or steering. That scared me, until my boss/instructor came over and told me to drop the whip, stop being a baby and hack the damn pony out. I did and was fine, and that was that! I think with me, confidence is up and down and once I trust a horse I'm usually fine. I totally trust one of my rides, Cracks, who is a 19yo Anglo Arab nutcase who loves nothing better than bouncing like a kangaroo and tensing up every time she sees an open space. Nothing has happened so far (in about three years) therefore I trust her, therefore I have confidence on her.
I had my confidence wrecked by my first pony who used to buck me off regularly and would bolt after jumping even tiny fences (we checked everything, back, teeth, had vet out etc. and nothing was wrong). I was then terrified of jumping anything over 2'3" (well 2' really, if I'm honest) for six years. This summer I have been jumping my friend's ex-BSJA horse and we are regularly jumping 2'9" courses at home. This is entirely down to my support team: an owner willing to risk me ruining her horse, an instructor with the most patience in the world but also the knowledge of the appropriate time to give me a kick up the backside, and all my more confident friends who have helped me and guided me. I've not yet come across an irritated or unhelpful person (not outwardly anyway) and as such have improved dramatically over the last six months with very little practise TBH.
As for other riders, it's not the nervous ones who are annoying, it's the ones who can't be bothered to improve themselves once they have got past the walk-trot-and-canter-on-lunge stage. I had the motivation to improve myself and overcome my nerves, but if you can't be bothered to try then don't bother riding!
And on the subject of horses, the pony who wrecked my confidence was a neurotic Welsh Cob, and I will never buy one of those again unless it is a VERY special horse. My current ride is a true confidence-giving gem, and she's ID x (supposedly TB). My two rides are the Anglo Arab (not a confidence giver!) and a Dutch-bred warmblood (I suppose he's a confidence giver, but not for a novice rider). I also sometimes at work get to ride my boss's Trakehner eventer, whom I absolutely adore. I only hack him out but he's shown me that it is possible for me to be confident on a "proper competition horse" and that in itself has given me confidence.
I think the key is, patience and forgiveness for all those nervous riders who want to improve themselves and get over their nerves.
(PS - eep sorry it's so long, I waffle too much!
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Im not a nervous rider but when my horse first came to me I was a bit scared of her. Id heard all the stories about what she'd done to other people and how she broke her owners collar bone. She had a big trot and would thow in a spook without any warning. In the end I just got on with it and learnt how to stay on! Now I am so confident with her and I trust her completly.
I was always put on the naughty horses at college as no-one else could ride them.

I think for most people its the fear of falling off. Once you realise you wont fall off if your horse steps sideways you become so much more confident.

Not all people need a super safe horse to build their confidence, but something that will test them and make them realise they can do it.
 
Having sat through broncing and vertical rearing from when harry's back was sore - I was very nervous about getting back on him. My good friend bless her has been with me every step of the way, with the result that I am now hacking him happily and loving every minute of it. I am sure that, without her help and sympathy, it would have taken me months if not years to get to the same point.
 
I'm not a particularly nervous rider, although I have been through a nervous phase and come out the other side, so I can relate to nervous riders. I am usually sympathetic, but only to a point. If someone is nervous about cantering for example, but wants to do it and takes advice/has lessons and puts effort in, then fine, I can be sympathetic. It just annoys me when people harp on about how nervous they are, but don't have lessons and continue doing the same things and not getting anywhere for months, still whining
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I have no patience for people who won't help themselves... (makes me sound pretty impatient but it's probably a true reflection!
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Are there a lot of nervous riders who won't take lessons and spend all their time moaning then? I have never met one so maybe I've been lucky? I love having lessons and I am fortunate that I can afford one every week. I don't think you ever stop learning (if you want to learn that is).
 
i forgot to say that im a nervous wreck before i do XC!!!!!!!!!!!!
i agree that sometimes nervous riders aren't nervous they just dont have confidence, and sometimes dont get given confidence by people around them.

sophie xxx
 
I'm a nervous rider and generally for the most part I'm treated indifferently by others. I have come across those who just can't understand why you're nervous etc so treat you like you can't ride at all
 
I echo those that find nervous riders that do nothing about it are a pain and downright dangerous. I teach on and off and really enjoy getting people through problems but when I loaned Murphy out to my old lecturer while I went on my year in industry I came across huge problems. Murphy is not a novice ride in that while I can sit 5 years old child on him and send him loose around a showground and he'll always bring them back, if you get on him, and are nervous and that includes myself, he goes into shut down. It is like he trying to protect himself from the nervous thing on top, he either becomes very sluggish or plain difficult. I thought I had assessed my lecturer well enough, she came from a p-2-ping family, kept him at her knowledgeable parents home and promised to have lessons. I trained her a little on how to ride him before I'd let her take him away and even in the first weeks there were warning signs I missed. For example I gave her his cheltenham gag for cantering in fields with in company if she didn't feel confident about his occaisional bucking, she rode him in it all the time. When I went to go and ride him for the last time before going abroad I took him out on his own along a busy road and across some fields for a good gallop in no more than a half bridle and snaffle, no noseband or martingale. Her mother commented on how she though Murphy looked completely different when she saw me hacking along road. To the point she even said, 'I knew it wasn't Debbie riding him as he looked so relaxed.' Needless to say despite saying he was going ok for her, she turned round to my mother who was managing him while I was away after five months and said 'you'll have to have him back he keeps bucking me off and striking out at me when I'm on the ground.'Cue worried mother, me in Ireland and a homeless Smurph. When I got him back I was appalled at what a so called expert in Equine Science had done, he was thin, bolshy and looked depressed. My farrier had warned my mother that he didn't think things were going well and my instructor had offered to make the 30 mile round trip to give her lessons for FREE but this was turned down. Proving some people can't be helped. Murphy has since helped a lot of nervous riders under my instructor learn to canter as he has a smooth canter and is now on loan to a Paralympic junior rider so he's no rogue. But I love to help people, but only if they want to be helped and I have seen, during the running of my yard and since, a lot of people that are nervous but just don't do anything about it apart from to use the latest calmer or bit or whatever is in fashion.
I get nervous myself and at work am treated quite badly but if you saw what we rode then you have to be mad not to be a little nervous. I got a bollocking for lungeing a horse before I got on it the other day by a non riding member of staff. I was told by a more experience rider there that if in doubt lunge and then you wont get buried. So I can see it from both angles but I have got help for my nervousness and helped others.
 
I think it's quite possible to go along way to getting past nervousness with education and good instruction, rather than just braving it out - usually if people CAN just suck it up they already have. I've found most people are nervous for good reason, usually because they are in over their heads and/or lack the knowledge to manage the risks in the situations they get into. That's not nervousness, it's good sense.

That said, nervousness is VERY hard on horses and potentially makes many situations even more dangerous than they are intrinsically. I'm curious at people who go on about how nervous they are but seem unwilling to get help in getting over it. Surely no one LIKES to be scared? Riding doesn't have to be that way.
 
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