Showjumping advice

[Lexie01]

Hi, I'm desperately looking for some help/advice/suggestions. My daughter has SJ for quite a few years - up to Newcomers on her various ponies over the years. She doesn't suffer with nerves before jumping - or not noticeably. She can happily eat & drink for example before entering the ring. However things have got progressively worse over the last 12 months to the point where she has totally lost her confidence.
It started with a few nasty falls from her pony - who could put nasty stops in if the stride to the jump wasn't perfect. This resulted in my daughter getting overly obsessed with 'seeing a stride to a jump'. And if she couldn't she would simply pull the pony out. She has now moved onto horses and the same thing is happening.
She will be fine for a few jumps and then just pull him out. Its almost an unconscious action - she can't explain it - it just happens if that makes sense.
She has always loved riding and its been such a massive part of her life - but she is thinking of giving up because she can't see a way through this. She wants to attend shows and stay aways and have some fun.We have tried different instructors to no avail.
Thank you x

 

[AmyMay]

Sounds like a job for a sports psychologist

 

[Glitter's fun]

She wants to attend shows and stay aways and have some fun.

Sounds like a good plan to me!

 

[paddi22]

sports psychologist all the way. also a break from arena work and sj would do her a world of good.Can she go on stuff like endurance rides, trec and fun rides? a few months of forward cantering outdoors to just help her relax and just enjoy riding. getting her happily cantering forward in a field on a fun ride, and not having to overthink stuff and just ride by feel.

 

[Birker2020]

I used to suffer from dreadful competition nerves after being thrown off by Bailey who would put in some dreadful stops or run outs and I'd end up being carted off to A&E a few times in the back of an ambulance. It was about every 2 1/4 years I'd have a bad fall like this, really not too bad odds when I competed every weekend literally without fail but it didn't feel like that at the time.

I lost my confidence completely. Waiting to go into the ring I'd sit in the holding area next to go into the ring and watch the horse and rider before me jump. If they encountered problems at that fence you could bet your bottom dollar that would be the one I'd fall off at or Bailey would refuse at. I'd go into the fence with my leg on but my hands holding back so the handbrake was constantly on, hardly fair to either of us.

I had zero confidence and would come out of the arena having held my breath the whole way round. In one particular competition when I was pushing myself and jumping Discovery with a view to booking into the Newcomers class after for the first time ever (because she jumped better the bigger they were) my partner said I was as white as a sheet. I could hear the blood pumping in my ears I was that nervous and felt dizzy sat on board.

In the end I went to a sports phycologist who did CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and given a keyword to remember every time I felt nervous. It worked very well for a few months until I fell off again but if you can make it work then it might be a good solution for your daughter. From a website:

CBT falls into these structures:

• pragmatic – it helps identify specific problems and tries to solve them
• highly structured – rather than talking freely about your life, you and your therapist discuss specific problems and set goals for you to achieve
• focused on current problems – it's mainly concerned with how you think and act now rather than attempting to resolve past issues
• collaborative – your therapist will not tell you what to do; they'll work with you to find solutions to your current difficulties

My chap got me to play the video in my head of us jumping clear and being clapped by hundreds of adoring onlookers (he had clearly read to many Jilly Cooper novels).
It was that video in your head full of positiveness that made you feel confident in any given situation.

 

[Lexie01]

Thank you everyone. This may seem a silly question but are there specific sport psychologists for horse riding or are they generic? We have discussed this as an option but didn't pursue it as my daughter is only 15 and was nervous about discussing things with a stranger. We had hoped that training would suffice but I agree that this might be our only option now.

Paddi22 - definitely agree with your comments. I wanted to take a step back - maybe join a local club - attend fun rides, camps etc. But my daughter sees this as a step back - that really all she wants to do is SJ. We aren't a competitive family at all - she puts all the pressure on herself which doesn't help. I just want her to enjoy it and come back with a smile on her face

 

[Lexie01]

I used to suffer from dreadful competition nerves after being thrown off by Bailey who would put in some dreadful stops or run outs and I'd end up being carted off to A&E a few times in the back of an ambulance. It was about every 2 1/4 years I'd have a bad fall like this, really not too bad odds when I competed every weekend literally without fail but it didn't feel like that at the time.

I lost my confidence completely. Waiting to go into the ring I'd sit in the holding area next to go into the ring and watch the horse and rider before me jump. If they encountered problems at that fence you could bet your bottom dollar that would be the one I'd fall off at or Bailey would refuse at. I'd go into the fence with my leg on but my hands holding back so the handbrake was constantly on, hardly fair to either of us.

I had zero confidence and would come out of the arena having held my breath the whole way round. In one particular competition when I was pushing myself and jumping Discovery with a view to booking into the Newcomers class after for the first time ever (because she jumped better the bigger they were) my partner said I was as white as a sheet. I could hear the blood pumping in my ears I was that nervous and felt dizzy sat on board.

In the end I went to a sports phycologist who did CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and given a keyword to remember every time I felt nervous. It worked very well for a few months until I fell off again but if you can make it work then it might be a good solution for your daughter. From a website:

CBT falls into these structures:

• pragmatic – it helps identify specific problems and tries to solve them
• highly structured – rather than talking freely about your life, you and your therapist discuss specific problems and set goals for you to achieve
• focused on current problems – it's mainly concerned with how you think and act now rather than attempting to resolve past issues
• collaborative – your therapist will not tell you what to do; they'll work with you to find solutions to your current difficulties

My chap got me to play the video in my head of us jumping clear and being clapped by hundreds of adoring onlookers (he had clearly read to many Jilly Cooper novels).
It was that video in your head full of positiveness that made you feel confident in any given situation.

Thank you so much for this detailed reply. I have just started googling sports physiologists in my area.
My daughter does the not breathing thing as well - coming out the colour of an over ripe

 

[MagicMelon]

Id get her a really trustworthy horse, pop her back down to tiny courses again like x-poles so she can work out that even if shes on the wrong stride it doesnt matter. Hopefully thatll build up her confidence? Maybe lunge her riding a real safe type over a jump and tell her to let go of the reins so she doesnt have a say in pulling horse out? If she does it a few times and gets used to it that the horse wont chuck her off if on a wrong stride then she'll be ok about it? Def needs a really honest horse though

 

[RachelFerd]

If you've got time to pull them out of a jump, then you also would have had time to change the stride pattern to meet the fence in a better place. Usually when I've got that feeling of wanting to pull them out (only usually happens to be in busy SJ warm-up arenas - the added stress!) it is because the horse isn't in front of the leg - so I can feel I want to make a correction else we'll get to the fence in the wrong place, but instead they're not in front of the leg and I end up resorting to needing to use the hand (and the more extreme version of that is using the hand to literally pull them away from the fence). Not that it necessarily solves the problem, but helps me to think like that.

Grids are helpful - where you can't stuff up the stride pattern, particularly with a trot placing pole approach. Also doing some jumping in groups - so teamchasing, drag hunting, or just riding around a XC schooling course as a pair and taking a lead, riding forwards to meet a stride.

 

[Snowfilly]

Get a decent sports psychologist and go from there, there are ones who specialise in riding.

As mentioned above, jumping in groups might be a good way to go - even as far as an old fashioned chase me Charlie with friends at the yard. Otherwise, jumping out hacking and going round courses behind a solid lead horse would help.

If she can do some grid work without reins and therefore doesn’t have the option of pulling out, would that help?

And any chance she’s feeling intimidated by jumping in the adult classes? It’s a big step and might be subconsciously playing on her mind. Not that there’s a way round that with a horse but it might be a line to explore.

 

[Cragrat]

i've heard good things about Dawn Britnell and other Centre10 coaches - might be worth a try? Dawn Britnell is a riding instructor as well, so gets it from the rider POV

 

[LEC]

I have used jo cooper very successfully. You need to write a list before speaking to her of everything that makes you anxious or worried. It’s amazing how it works. I am so calm on a horse all these years later even now - the nerves not on a horse are still very much there but I have got better at telling myself it’s excitement.

Jo Cooper

Weirdly now I get much more stressed training than I do competing!

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Thank you everyone. This may seem a silly question but are there specific sport psychologists for horse riding or are they generic? We have discussed this as an option but didn't pursue it as my daughter is only 15 and was nervous about discussing things with a stranger. We had hoped that training would suffice but I agree that this might be our only option now.

Paddi22 - definitely agree with your comments. I wanted to take a step back - maybe join a local club - attend fun rides, camps etc. But my daughter sees this as a step back - that really all she wants to do is SJ. We aren't a competitive family at all - she puts all the pressure on herself which doesn't help. I just want her to enjoy it and come back with a smile on her face

Maybe ask her to look at it in a different way, by doing the fun rides, camps local clubs etc. She is widening both her and her horses experiences and also training different aspects of the horses body and making them bodily more well rounded.

I know someone to SJs, but she also does unafd dressage up to elem, goes on fun rides, pole clinics etc as she doesnt want her or her horse to become stale.


Also years ago at Canter for a Cure at MK event center i was helping my sister get ready and a abit of a run down ifor pulled up next to us and a really nice lady unloaded her daughters pony and then this beautfil stamp of a horse....turns out he was Suprime Rock. His owner was having a fun day out with her daughter. So just because its not SJ doenst mean its a step back.