Tips and exercises to improve confidence please

[daveismycat]

Please could you suggest some hints, tips and exercises to help me get mine and my horses confidence back please?

We have a bit of a whoopsie in the show jumping at Strathallan BE80 last weekend, where my normally very careful mare slid into and demolished a spread pulling a shoe off in the process.

I've just had a lesson and she's lost her mojo a bit. Not really looking for or locking onto the fence and being a bit sticky, having a look and nipping in extra strides here and there which is really awkward for me to sit to, and doesn't instil me with confidence that she's going to take off. She's a funny one in that she's not overly bothered by fillers and she's more likely to 'over think' it if we come from a long way away; we're much better with a short turn to a fence.

BTW at this height I don't even try to 'see a stride' - I just try to meet the fence straight and with a good enough canter. I leave the rest up to her!

So please can you share some words of wisdom for us to get our confidence back up as we are entered for another BE80 in a couple of weeks, but will withdraw if all is not well. I am planning on doing plenty of little courses and just concentrating on rhythm but any specific tips or exercises welcome please.

 

[kez1001]

hmmm bummer about the lesson not being so great
how about trying some grid work, try to pop izzy through a grid once a fortnight, nothing difficult, and all different varieties like, my fav confidence boost is cross pole one stride upright two stirde to oxer, or for getting them up in the air 3 big cross poles one stride between each? or four tiny bounces?

for course practice i like setting up two fences six strides apart in a straight line, yopu can start with poles in the ground if it relaxes you, then set up a dog leg four strides from one fence on the straight line and another dog leg five strides from other upright, so sort of a fence on each diagonal? does that make sense? i like it cause you only need four jumps and you can land and jump straight or dog leg or if you jump dog leg first you can curve in kind of "C" shape to other dog leg?

looks a bit like this

___________




-------------------------------first dog leg fence on diagonal here where text is







---------------------------------second dog leg on other diagonal here















________________

sorry i am rotten at explaining things

plug away and im sure you will be grand, it can sometimes be ring experience/stage fright too! know i get that! rescue remedy helps too!!! even the pros use that, including medal winning Andrew Hoy

good luck

 

[kerilli]

well, if she feels different now, i'd definitely get her back checked by a McTimoney Chiropractor or similar, it may be that in sliding into the fence and pulling a shoe off, she's wrenched herself a bit. if she's chipping strides in, and didn't before, i'd want to check that first.
exercises: grids are great for horse's confidence, as long as the distances are spot on and you have someone there willing to alter the fences etc. nice related distances too, just popping a little fence then riding on a known distance of say 4 or 5 strides to another fence, so you can just ride forward in a good rhythm.

 

[VRIN]

Try some canter poles on the ground -start with three and build up to five. Then make a cross pole out of one. Do nothing different, the poles should start to give her confidence.. let the poles help her to find her stride