In need to help after a bad accident

[emmamcc44]

Hi I had a bad fall of my young horse which resulted in me needing a metal plate and nine screws in my left knee. I have had a number of bad falls before and I normally just get straight back on. The accident happened in November 2011 and my knee is only starting to get strong enough to ride now however I am have real difficulty finding the confidence to get back on him. I am fine lunging him or walking with him when he messes around but the thought of getting back on and him doing it again sends me into a real panic. I no if I hadn't of been close to the fence at the time I would of been fine. I really want to get back on him as he was such a good horse before all this happened. Any Idea on how I can get my confidence back with him???

[kidsmum]

Keep in your mind that he was "such a good horse before all this happened". He's still that good horse! You need to take little steps, can you just sit on him to begin? Have someone with you and just sit there, then gradually you will find you can maybe take a few steps in walk, have someone with you at all times, someone you can trust not to push you beyond your limits for that day. Very best of luck and am so glad you have recovered from your horrible fall.

[fth]

Hi there

first of all -- this is normal, so your feelings and lack of confidence are perfectly usual after incident like this

my first suggestion is to read through a lot of the threads in this section - -there are lots of discussions about confidence which you will find really interesting

the second thing is buy Kelly's book Perfect Confidence -- it will help you understand where your lack of confidence is coming from AND give you lots of ideas for things to do to rebuild it

the third thing - -is think seriously about getting a confidence coach to come and chat with you -- there are many of us about, I do confidence coaching but so do MANY other people -- if you do a search on the net you will find many people out there who offer specific horse related confidence support -- and someone will bein your area! feel free to pm if you want more info or ideas -- but you will get a LOT of great ideas from this section

good luck

Cathy

[rifruffian]

hullo emmamcc44 I just read the original post; good news. I write that because you are scared to get back on. Fear is good; you've just taken a serious injury; the next fall could kill. Take it seriously.
You've taken a series of bad falls. It's time for some analysis. At the very least you may not adequately be .....'reading the horse'. There's doubtless other issues arising from you and/ or the horse that we cannot explore by internet; but they must be explored, with help.
I suggest it's time to address a lot more than self confidence. Your whole approach to the way you approach riding and horse handling needs to be assessed, with help.; then techniques; then confidence.
You're hurt; it's got to be 'safety first' from now.

[emmamcc44]

Thank you for all your replies, I should of explained how it happened in my original post to enable you's to understand what happened better. Oscar was born on a quiet farm and broken in their, I then moved him to a yard to get him more sociable as he would get really excitable at shows and would not concentrate. I started of my riding him in the more quiet indoor school where there would only ever be one other person riding once he got really relaxed a couple of weeks after being there we went down to the outdoor school a lot bigger a lot of scary fences , and he was fine but at that point it was only us did that for a week until he was really relaxed in there then we tried it with another horse and thats when I ran in to difficulty he started by taking of round the paddock then leaping into the air then bucking i stayed on for the 1st two times then two dogs appeared from know where running into the paddock barking and play fighting and he just went crazy and turned himself inside out until I was off and of corse as I had broken my knee I couldn't get back on and no one wanted to get on him so he hasn't been ridden since then or been back in the outdoor school. This has been my 1st bad fall of him I have had a couple of bad falls of breakers but nothing where I had seriously injured myself.

[Mellymoo]

Would it be worth doing ground work in the outdoor for a while so that he is bored of it and has no need to be behaving badly there? It sounds like you could do with doing a lot of bombproofing exercises with him to get him really able to cope with everything around him. Then, when you get back on he will be super chilled and nothing will bother him, so you will have more confidence in him?

Hope that helps. It's horrible being scared, but it is a protection mechanism.

[rifruffian]

Constructive, varied and interesting groundwork is good. We do not want to have a horse who is bored. Better he is bright, interested, curious and keen.
emmamcc44 it's good that you do have a good recollection of events that have led to your damaged knee. Sometimes these things happen so quickly that the rider cannot accurately recall the sequence of events, but you do have this information.
There is a phrase that is sometimes bandied about.......'set yourself up for success'.
You could ponder this for some considerable time with reference to.......which details did I fail to get right in the past.....,and.......how can I set up my situation to succeed in the future ?
You need to consider your own physical and mental fitness, the age and experience and character of the horse, the physical details of the area in which you will handle and ride the horse, the ambience of the surroundings, a modest handling and riding programme to be followed.........amongst other things.
When you are convinced yourself that you have set up all circumstances for the best possible chance of success.......you can feel confident.

[emmamcc44]

Thank you , I just dont want to give up he was brilliant in very way up to then very curious always wanted to try something new and was very willing to learn. I think if a focus on that and remember for only being 4 now 3 when it happened is was very well behaved until then. What ways would you suggest I go about making him less spokey and reactive to situation where there is more than one horse being exercised at the same time?

[emmamcc44]

Thank you , I just dont want to give up he was brilliant in very way up to then very curious always wanted to try something new and was very willing to learn. I think if a focus on that and remember for only being 4 now 3 when it happened is was very well behaved until then. What ways would you suggest I go about making him less spokey and reactive to situation where there is more than one horse being exercised at the same time?

[helenj]

Hi emmamcc

Good for you for wanting to so this, and don't beat yourself up, every accident that happens, we think "If only I hadn't..."

It may be helpful to think of your situation as 2 separate issues to deal with, and only consider them both together (you back riding him), when you are both a lot more confident and comfortable.

For yourself, please consider getting your initial riding mojo and fitness back on something quiet and staid (something that you have to work on a bit will get your fitness back quicker), even if it means going to a riding school and having weekly lessons for a couple of months.
Recognising that your current wibbles are just the survival parts of your brain telling you that the last time you rode that horse it hurt, a lot!, as others have suggested, some cognitive coaching around your accident and riding generally could be a big help. Kelly's book is a great starting point.

For him, take the time to do the groundwork. The more different sitations that you can expose him to the better he will get. There are some basic principles with new things:
:)Only one change at a time, so, jumps in the school, OR a new school, OR another rider in with you, OR 2 fighting dogs (I know you have no contol over that!), but not all at once.
:)Keep the timescales short - think about new situations the same as you would schooling a new movement, ie initially you reward a good approximation of what you want by going back to something simpler.
:)Finish on a good note. If something has gone well, even if it isn't exactly what you wanted, stop.
You may want to consider getting an RA to get you started. In a couple of sessions, they could teach you some tools for despooking and maybe put together a programme of activities for you to work through, whilst you get your own riding ducks lined up.

Above all, don't rush - your boy is only 4, another 6 months of him growing up won't do either of you any harm. Best of luck.

[mynutmeg]

I would suggest starting by riding a different horse you know is steady and reliable. I had a really bad fall from my tb and ended with two broken ankles. It was about 4 months before I was allowed on a horse again (I wanted to earlier but still had casts on so kinda had to listen) and I started by walking round on my sister's cob as he his fab and really looks after you, I built up my confidence on him before moving onto anything else.
If your horse hasn't been ridden since the accident then I would also take several steps back with him before riding him again.
Good luck

[clipclop]

You've had some very good advice above.

The other thing I will mention is you need to be sure it was the situation that caused his reaction and not pain in any way. For example, sometimes a horse can tolerate a poorly fitting saddle when working quietly but if they suddenly raise their head (eg to look at something new), they can get a twinge from the saddle and react to it.

That's only an example and I'm not suggesting you have a poorly fitted saddle but you just have to be sure of why he reacted in order to work on it and resolve it - no amount of groundwork would make a lasting difference if the underlying cause is pain.

My mare reared over on me out of the blue last year, injuring me. She's got a stressy/over-reactive nature anyway but this really was out of character even for her. It turned out to be a combination of ulcers and saddle (it was made to measure...).

All the best with him and let us know how you get on :-)


Sent from my ST18i using proboards

[ladynowak]

Excellent advice from everyone! In your shoes I would personally find an instructor you know and trust, to get you back to where you both need to be and so they can get on and ride him too. I personally wouldn't risk the fixed knee by getting on if his still fresh!

You will get there!

[rosief]

I'm the last person to criticize, but one thing jumped out at me in your first post -quote "I am fine lunging or walking with him when he messes around" Only my opinion but if he's messing around" on the ground I would go back to, or start, if you haven't already done any, groundwork to get everything in place. If you haven't got control of his feet on the ground, you're not going to have it on his back! As I know, only too well!! x