Post by elise on Apr 3, 2007 11:21:38 GMT 1
Ive been having a few confidence issues over the past week or two.
I had a bad accident two years ago on my previous horse and broke my hip. Eventually after various other problems with her (last straw was when she bolted with me), i sold her and eventually in august bought my current Horse. In due course we started hacking out and he was great. Going past lorries etc. Over the winter we hardly went out hacking at all partly due to strangles at my yard and also the weather.
Last week, i started taking him out again and its become a bit of a nightmare. He is napping quite a bit - spinning round in the road etc. Sometimes it happens if he is scared of something and othertimes its just him being naughty/testing the rider out. At the moment its just really a case of having the confidence to ride him through it. My problem is that due to all the problems I had with my previous horse, im scared to use my legs strongly, use my stick etc for fear that he is gonna bolt/rear/buck etc. Even though he has never done anything to make me think that he is going to do it. On saturday i took him out with one of the instructors and he was napping a bit but not as bad. On sunday we went out for a hack - me riding one of the riding school horses and one of the grooms riding Bianco. He tried it on even with her but she quickly told him off with the stick and a couple of strong leg aids and that seemed to help. I think he just needs a confident rider
Anyways, to help build up both mine and his confidence ive bought two books off amazon
1) Ride with Confidence!: Practical and Inspirational Advice to Help You Deal with Your Fear and Enjoy Your Riding
2) Bombproof Your Horse: Teach Your Horse to Be Confident, Obedient and Safe No Matter What You Encounter
I had a bad accident two years ago on my previous horse and broke my hip. Eventually after various other problems with her (last straw was when she bolted with me), i sold her and eventually in august bought my current Horse. In due course we started hacking out and he was great. Going past lorries etc. Over the winter we hardly went out hacking at all partly due to strangles at my yard and also the weather.
Last week, i started taking him out again and its become a bit of a nightmare. He is napping quite a bit - spinning round in the road etc. Sometimes it happens if he is scared of something and othertimes its just him being naughty/testing the rider out. At the moment its just really a case of having the confidence to ride him through it. My problem is that due to all the problems I had with my previous horse, im scared to use my legs strongly, use my stick etc for fear that he is gonna bolt/rear/buck etc. Even though he has never done anything to make me think that he is going to do it. On saturday i took him out with one of the instructors and he was napping a bit but not as bad. On sunday we went out for a hack - me riding one of the riding school horses and one of the grooms riding Bianco. He tried it on even with her but she quickly told him off with the stick and a couple of strong leg aids and that seemed to help. I think he just needs a confident rider
Anyways, to help build up both mine and his confidence ive bought two books off amazon
1) Ride with Confidence!: Practical and Inspirational Advice to Help You Deal with Your Fear and Enjoy Your Riding
2) Bombproof Your Horse: Teach Your Horse to Be Confident, Obedient and Safe No Matter What You Encounter