Cat_08
Member
To give a bit of background - I have been riding weekly for nearly a year now, my progression has been slow (I can only walk and trot) but I still absolutely love it and want to keep progressing.
At the start of September I had my first fall - it wasn't bad in terms of injuries, however, it affected my confidence awfully. The horse bolted off with me when I fell, and so now I am halting when I don't mean to (and don't know I am most the time) out of fear of another bolt. I have real trouble trusting horses.
Since September I have been riding a lovely horse called Pie and he has helped me so much to regain my confidence. But I had a lesson today on a different horse, he is an OTTB and I found him much harder to steer and ride. I wasn't doing very well getting into trot as I was unintentionally halting as I told him to trot on. My instructor started to use a whip to encourage him to go forward - I am ashamed to say I burst out crying because I was so terrified he might bolt off in response to the big whip. I feel extremely embarrassed and annoyed at myself for feeling so overwhelmed in fear. The horse done absolutely nothing wrong, I was just scared because he was new and I didn't have any trust with him yet.
I am now wondering if I have come into riding too late (aged 23) and so don't have the nerve that I might of had if I was learning as a child. Or if my personality is too soft and I am not brave enough for the sport.
So really I am looking for any advice or positive stories about people who have regained their braveness they used to have after a fall, as I really don't want to quit and hope to overcome this.
(My instructor has said she will make sure Pie is available for my lesson next week, but I realise that it is not a normal or reasonable response to cry out of fear when given a different horse.)
At the start of September I had my first fall - it wasn't bad in terms of injuries, however, it affected my confidence awfully. The horse bolted off with me when I fell, and so now I am halting when I don't mean to (and don't know I am most the time) out of fear of another bolt. I have real trouble trusting horses.
Since September I have been riding a lovely horse called Pie and he has helped me so much to regain my confidence. But I had a lesson today on a different horse, he is an OTTB and I found him much harder to steer and ride. I wasn't doing very well getting into trot as I was unintentionally halting as I told him to trot on. My instructor started to use a whip to encourage him to go forward - I am ashamed to say I burst out crying because I was so terrified he might bolt off in response to the big whip. I feel extremely embarrassed and annoyed at myself for feeling so overwhelmed in fear. The horse done absolutely nothing wrong, I was just scared because he was new and I didn't have any trust with him yet.
I am now wondering if I have come into riding too late (aged 23) and so don't have the nerve that I might of had if I was learning as a child. Or if my personality is too soft and I am not brave enough for the sport.
So really I am looking for any advice or positive stories about people who have regained their braveness they used to have after a fall, as I really don't want to quit and hope to overcome this.
(My instructor has said she will make sure Pie is available for my lesson next week, but I realise that it is not a normal or reasonable response to cry out of fear when given a different horse.)
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