Who is a confident rider?

I'm confident 90% of the time, especially out hacking and on the flat, but I have a bit of a wobble every now and again when jumping, mainly as I don't really do it enough. My boy ruined my confidence with lots of very last minute slamming on of anchors (which we now know is because he was in pain and he doesn't jump any more, so not his fault bless him, but it is what it is) Even though my share horse is an absolute saint and even though I know it wasn't my fault in terms of riding (I do blame myself for not picking up on the signs) I can't get the stopping out of my head even 7 years later. If I jump week in week out I'm fine, but now he's 19 we're limiting it to about once a month and although he's fine with that it takes me 15 minutes to get up to speed and I really worry about it before I get going. I don't jump over 3' as I know that's when my nerves get the better of me and I start hindering him and he's too good to have that done to him.

When I was young my mum told me I was a really fussy eater and, compared to the rest of my family, I was. When I got to uni, I realised I wasn't fussy at all, there was a girl I shared a house with whose list of things she would eat was shorter than the list of things I wouldn't. When I think I'm having a confidence wobble I always think of this to put it into perspective. There are people terrified to get a horse so I can get over my jumping wobbles!
 
I would say that I am confident riding my old boy FFin but then I have built up my knowledge of him over the years. I know where I can canter him and also where he would go splat( arthritis, trips over his own feet!) I know him inside out and so am comfortable with him and him with me. With my new youngster I am slowly getting to know him and I am therefore less confident with him currently. He has thrown in some very stupid spooks which have dented my trust in him, so we are building that back up. Am I scared of him, no, I just think I am being sensible, I am nearly fifty years old, it is close to GCSE exams and I have young people who need me to turn up everyday, not be off with injuries. He is in the Kevin stage and I know that if I work through it I may end up with more grey hairs.....but I also will end up with a great little horse......so we keep working on it.
 
I would say I am very confident on a horse (however as a person I lack all self-confidence)..I will pretty much ride any horse/pony, have a go at doing anything, will jump anything (within the horse's ability) and more than hppy to jump just as high and as confidently minus saddle/tack.
 
Chan said:
It annoys me when people mistake sense for confidence (or lack of)
Click to expand...

I like this :)

It’s funny – I was never a fearless teenager. I’ve always been the type who’d rather jump a 3’ fence in good style than fall off over a 4’ one.

I’m generally a confident rider. I’m happy to hack, school and jump most horses, at home and in new places. I’ve shared and exercised several horses accurately described as needing a competent and confident rider as well as owing a fairly sharp WB.

If I have to do something that’s outside my knowledge or beyond my skill-level though then I’m justifiably nervous! I’d be nervous about going team chasing, or riding a horse that’s unpredictable in traffic on a busy road. I might push myself to do it with suitable preparation or I might decide the risk isn’t worthwhile.
 
My confidence has increased hugely over the last year or so as I work for a show jumper and have to hack out lots of his horses. When I first started I was too scared to get on most of them, but now I have ridden more or less everything on the yard apart from the ones no-one is allowed to ride! I even went through a very brave phase, when my boss was jumping abroad, of hacking the very naughty four year old and was surprised by how unfazed I was despite his tendency to do large rears or leap on the air when spooked. I'm not a good rider though, just more confident than I used to be!
 
I am confident in that I will ride any horse that does not have big problems but I will not get on anything that bolts or stands up all the way or that rodeos any more as I dont bounce the same as I used to not sure what that makes me with regard to your question though
 
I'm an utter wimp when it comes to hacking, I always seem to be imagining horrific acccidents as I ride, despitet he fact that my lovely Highland is an angel and my big, cuddly comfort blanket.
 
I am not confident, infact I look back at what I used to do out on hacks etc and shudder as I would not do that anymore (particularly out on huge open plain with a bear to the right of me and a herd of cows and the bull on the left...and my dog doing her best to round them up)- I am not sure if knowledge and age makes you wary but there are a few horses I would happily sit on and lots I would not..

Just wondering, turning this round a little, would you let other people on your horses? for me, as I have well-trained dressage horse there are very few people I would let on him...confident or not! my other horse, pretty much retired although not as fancy I felt the same about, my horse, I will ride him..
 
Was super confident, would jump on anything, till I met my match. Being tanked off with repeatedly and jumping over/being thrown at 5 bar gates against your will took its toll.

Then I met my lovely boy, and the confidence has all but came back. I have total confidence in him, however I now wouldn't get on something which is absolutely massive and broncs/tanks. I have found out where I draw the line!
 
I lost all my confidence when I was around the age of 8 due to a little madame of a pony who was way to big for me and liked to bronco when she had enough work done! Gradually got it back to the point where I was the crash jockey when working at a breakers yard (I was the one that had to bring the breakers on their first hunt,x country ride etc and was the one who got thrown up on the new horses on the yard to 'see how they rode')
Its funny though, I would have no problem waiting for the whole field to jump a double drain, watch half of them fall in and then just kick on over it while riding a green 6yr old,but when jumping anything over 1.10m I either have to go first or just not watch anyone else jumping it. When riding a horse I'm not familiar with, heading towards a 'scary' or just a massive jump, I always have to ask someone 'do you think he (the horse/pony/donkey/whatever I've been thrown on) can do it?' As long as they say yep I have no bother even if they tell me I won't be able to jump it myself(as a rider).
 
I'm not the most experienced rider but the one thing I do have is confidence (95% of the time) . I would be perfectly happy to jump on pretty much any horse and gallop across a field etc.. and I'm very comfortable out hacking. The only exceptions are I get slightly more anxious when the jumps start going over 3ft if I haven't jumped in a while, but I will always do it even if I am nervous. The only time my nerves turn into a complete wreck is riding down the main road when it's busy because my horse hates lorries and I have to ride down a main to road to get to good hacking spots. I just worry what will happen if he runs in front of a bus, and there are so many idiot drivers on the road that don't slow down!
 
I'm confident but I'm not stupid. I'll ride most horses but there's some I'd not get on, as they currently are (I'd want to get to the bottom of their behaviour first).

I'm more cautious now than as a teenager. The thought of a 1.10m jumping course doesn't fill me with fear but I'm not going to try taking a green broken baby round it as I'm far too aware of THEIR confidence and safety. Ditto going for a gallop up the hills. I'd love to but it ain't happening because I know it's rough ground and I prefer my horse to be in one piece. In fact my only real 'fear' is my horse falling and hurting itself.
 
I'm a freelance instructor and teach many people with some form of confidence issue. This surprised me as many of these people appear confident but then in a one on one environment they would begin to tell me about the things that they're worried to do.
I'm just about to start running some confidence clinics covering everything from groundwork, flatwork, pole work and low level jumping and I've been genuinely surprised by the interest.

I think many people feel like jumping or dressage clinics are for people 'better' than them and many people have said how they're already a little nervous about just loading up and riding at a new venue.

I think many of us are confident doing our day to day routines on our own horses. I also think we're almost all guilty of thinking the people around us are more confident.
 
OwnedbyJoe said:
Confident on my horses (after all I do regularly ride 50 miles, some of it in the dark, over unfamiliar tracks, in company, at an average of 8-10 miles an hour).
Utterly unconfident on other people's horses. Been damaged too often. Just don't do it any more.
Click to expand...

Ditto this
 
I'm not a confident rider...
but I have point to pointed, evented at novice level and currently am breaking in 2 year old and yearlings for racing.
I break in and ride problem horses for a living, but its all about managing nerves and making them work for your advantage. I would say when working with young horses my reactions are quick, my balance is good and I am constantly 'aware'.

Oh and I am probably a bit mad!
 
Funnily I 'm currently the most confident I've been for many years. I'll do most anything with my boy and I trust him implicitly even when he throws in a few bucks. I'm confident enough to happily ride other horses and I actually prefer sharper horses anyway. But I'm not stupid enough to get on anything that could become dangerous i.e confirmed rearers or the sort that only stop bucking once the rider's come off or the ones that bolt blindly.
 
I am confident on my horse, although the highest I have ever jumped was a 3'9 vertical and it was terrifying. Horse took it fine, very well, in fact, given that I was hanging off the side in sheer terror and we had a few attempts that were utter crap before I was willing to shut my eyes, grab some mane, let her do it with me following in some marginally balanced manner, then promising to never do that again. But other than that, dressage, hacking alone or in company, little jumps, no bother.

I'm usually happy to ride other people's horses, but how I feel depends on the feel of the horse. I was working with a challenging 14hh Welsh D and that could throw some great spins and bucks, and I just laughed at her. But another horse, a 17.2hh warmblood, when his poll came up to my face and I felt my leg, seat, and rein had no influence on what he was going to do, I was not happy. Horse did not actually do anything, but it was far more disconcerting than the squirrely Welsh.

If I know it's bonkers, I won't get on it. I know Alainax in 'meatspace,' and I did not volunteer to ride the five-bar gate jumper.
 
depends on the situation but in general I am not confident at all - I can cope with what Roo decides to chuck at me but going faster than I'm comfortable with really scares me - I had a really bad fall 7 years ago when I was bolted with and I'm not very confident at speed now esp in the school
 
I'm weird... I will happily get on most horses if I've seen the owner ride enough / know enough about the horse to know it's not a loony that's going to throw me on the floor (I do NOT get on anything that is a know bucker / rearer / general temper tantrum thrower cos I like living and my work would murder me if I injured myself on someone else's horse!)

My own horse can be a bit of a drama queen... He will buck if he's excited or if he disagrees with my riding style that day, will shoot backwards, come to a dead stop or leap sideways when something scares him (normally rustling or movement where he can't see the source clearly) and if you push him when he's having a "moment" he will rear. He has also bolted once with me and made several attempts at taking off when something scares him.

I will hack in company past roadworks, on busy roads, in large groups and across open fields and will now take him on quiet roads and around the fields on him own (he's much more spooky on his own and has a habit of planting and spinning that is not a good idea on a busy road).

It took me a long time to be confident on him to do the above as he can be very jumpy and stressy and there was a period when I refused to hack him at all. That I started to again was out of necessity (and we started with hand walking as that was all he was fit to do and I needed to get him to a point where he couldn't easily lame himself by messing about). The one thing he still does that bothers me is that when he's terrified of something he will come right back on his hocks, bunch up and prepare to launch himself forwards. Once or twice I can handle but if I can't quickly get him to calm down / remove him from the scary object then I will get off in that situation to avoid him running off (he is a lot calmer when he has someone on the ground to hide behind)

From a combination of his behaviour and my previous horse who could be very strong in fields and could also be spooky sometimes I seem to be reasonably ok at sticking on and reacting when things start to go wrong. (Even if my reaction is sometimes to tell people I am with to stop their horse a moment when they've left me behind a bit because mine is expressing a desire to run off away from something scary in a situation where this would not be safe... eg last week crossing a busy road) People seem to sometimes think I am a better rider than I am in reality just because I can sit the odd spook without ending up on the floor. I just don't like falling off!

So yeah to sum up I'm a bit of a wuss at heart, especially on horses I don't know but on a horse I am confident of controlling (even if to gain that control I may have to hop off for a moment) I'll give most things a go
 
Last edited:
Thinking about the question of confidence - I'll have a go with most horses/ ponies less than 16.2hh as long as they are reasonably forward: I'm not confident on obstinate, "sticky" types as I feel I have no capacity to communicate with them. Consequently, I worry that I will get carted/squashed, or otherwise trashed!
 
Just to add I think the thing that has made me stick it out with current horse (and there were times I considered throwing in the towel) is that when he's pratting about he's not actively trying to chuck me off. He's had me hanging off the side before when he's done an unexpected sudden teleport sideways when all he'd need to do to totally get rid is drop a shoulder or put a buck in and instead he's stopped and waited for me to regain balance before spooking is resumed. If I get the feeling that a horse wants rid of me I won't ride it even if it's not actually doing much
 
I'm fairly confident on my own horse now, in familiar situations where I know exactly what she will behave like. I am wary of getting on other horses that I don't know, and to be honest very rarely ride anybody else's horse now, and don't really wish to take the risk. I do find I am a lot more confident when I have lessons on my horse than when I ride alone, because I don't question what I am told to do or what may happen - I just do it without over thinking it first.
 
I think I'm pretty confident. I'll ride just about anything, there's only a couple of horses i've said no to. Sometimes i'll be riding and think i'm screwed if they do that but I tend to carry on regardless. I might be on my guard a little if they're known to have a dangerous habit. E.g vertical rearing and flipping over, but i'll still ride
 
I am very confident and capable and could ride most difficult horses and probably improve it. However I have reached the stage in life where I do not want to ride those horses any more. Not from lack of confidence but from an increase in self preservation!
 
I am a confident rider because I am well trained and that gives you confidence , I am also cautious I manage risk and that makes you confident .
 
Last edited:
Kallibear said:
In fact my only real 'fear' is my horse falling and hurting itself.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've been reading this thread and thinking that what worries me is breaking my horse, or breaking her confidence. I'm much more concerned about that than anything happening to me.
But I think we give and take confidence with the horse - each party bolsters the other in a long term partnership.

I've always trusted Millie, right from day 1, and been completely confident to do anything (that is safe for her). She's a pickle, but she has a good sense of self preservation (& rider preservation ;))

Years of positive experiences on my own horses has made me confident to ride other people's. Though having witnessed a good friend having a terrible accident, I will now say 'no' to riding some fruitcakes now. Life's too short, and confidence is hard won and easily lost.
 
Kallibear and Milliepops - I fear the same!! As Ned was bolting, the thoughts going through my head were "Please don't fall or trip over! I'm not ready to lose you yet!" As I turned him sharply, I was dreading him tripping over a grass mound, not only because I know it'd hurt me, but he may also get hurt!

And I find it's not Ned that I'm afraid of, it's situations. Ned is usually a VERY predictable horse. I could tell you exactly what he'll spook at and what he'll be ok with. However, I can't predict when scary things will happen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top