scared

[luigi2]

I fell of my horse a couple of weeks ago and scared i m going to come of again as my friend came of to and broke her leg . I fell of as i got bucked of and broused my ribs can you give any advice please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

luv luigi2 x x x x x

[marysmerrycats]

as the saying goes, when you fall off a horse, get right back on!

I mean once you are healed, if you love horse riding, you should not let one time scare you from ever trying it again.
what made you fall?

[Vermontcat]

I think that once you are healed you will want to ride again and you should. I know from my own experience of getting bucked off of a horse on a trail ride. Did something spook the horse? Were you riding in an arena? What I did was start out in the ring with this same horse and got my confidence back and even got to riding him at a canter without stirrups! It may help you get your confidence back if you start out with a different horse, like a calmer, older horse until you feel ready to get back on the same one again. You can do it!

By the way is this your horse, or your friends or a lesson horse? Can you give more background about the horse and what happened to make you fall off?

[luigi2]

The horse is my own and is a plod anyway and I was in an arena he is a shire horse but i have lost my confidence before and will never forget it. I was in canter when i came of which i went down with a bumb and hurt . all the people at my yard have said just try and get on but i go pale and practically stop breathing. I do have lessons but not since i fell of.My horse is lovely and I LOVE HIM TO BITS but it s just getting on and ridding . my horse is the most sensible horse at my yard I am just very scared please help.
luv luigi2 x x xx x x x x x x

[Vermontcat]

I am going to send a PM to Equinebehaviorist who posts on this board. She has a lot of experience with horses and I think she will have some good advice for you. I will ask her to post in this thread.

[Tweety_Pie]

I horse back rideing and 2 weeks ago(I take lessons) and I fell off a horse. It can really spook you out but I have a few tips for you.. I hope they can help.

1. When you feel you are about to fall off a horse DO NOT sit forward in the saddle because you will lose your ballance and most likely fall off.....so sit back in the saddle and pull and give on the reins.....if that doesn't work...

2. The emergancy jump off- Take both feet out of the saddle (do you know when you get off a horse how you take both feet out of the saddle , swing a leg over and jump off?)<--- and do that . Once you have calmed down go get the horse.

3. DO NOT HANG ON TO THE HORSE ONE FALLING OF OR YOU CAN GET REALLY HURT!

Thats all I know right now but if you want I can ask my riding teacher about falling off...I am going horse back rideing on Saturday.

[Equinebehaviorist]

Luigi2,

Vermontcat told me you were having some trouble from coming off your horse recently. It's okay, you can get through this. The biggest thing you have to do is help yourself stay calm and do not invision the worst. You need to remember to breathe, deliberately, and get yourself centered and relaxed. And I mean do this now, while you are reading this. I can almost bet you are tense just reading this post because you sounded so upset by the idea of getting back on. So right now, practice breathing and deliberately feeling it go in and come out. Feel your rear end sitting deep in that chair, feel the bones in your seat, and settle down, down, down, while you take long deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Long deep sighs......


Okay, now.... lets take this one step at a time. When a horse gets frightened, the best thing to do is let him stop when and where he needs to to get his bearings and try to understand. It is also important to not let him turn away from what he is afraid of, or he will be more prone to bolting and reacting instead of learning to think his way through scary stuff. The very same goes for you. You have to stop and think as soon as you become scared, but don't turn away from what you are doing. Take a step back if you have too, but don't turn away. But be careful not to push yourself too fast and expect too much too soon.

Okay, so find the point when you begin to get nervous about riding again. Take yourself just a little over the point of when you begin to get nervous, say even just leading your horse to the arena. At that point, stop, breathe, feel yourself center. Imagine that you are settling down into your belly button, and there is a warm, gentle pool for you to sit into that is so relaxing. Remember to breathe. When we get nervous we forget to breathe, and often don't relize we are holding our breath. Holding our breath makes our muscels tense, which makes it hard to be supple, balanced and coordinated as we need to be to ride well. It also tenses up the horse if we stay too tense too long.

You may be able to go farther than this before you get nervous, say you are fine til you put your foot in that iron or stirrup. That is when again, you need to stop, even in an awkward position as holding that foot up there while you get relaxed. Once you get somewhat relaxed, then take a break, take a detour away from the arena, or let that foot down, and just move about for a few minutes without thinking of riding. After the break, move yourself into going back to where you just came from. You will find that you can go even just a smidgen more than the last time.

Now, don't expect to get on the first day you work on this. You may, but I doubt it. Just work on getting to the point were you feel like you made progress. If you go too fast and push it before you are ready, you may end up in a situation where it will make things worse for you rather than better. It is always better to take the time to do it right than to have to start all over again.

Something else, break mounting down into steps, like the first one is getting your horse to the ring, the second positioning him where you want him, third holding your iron or stirrup, fourth, getting the foot up there, fifth bouncing round to face the head with your inside hip against your horse, sixth hop, hop, bounce up and stand in the iron or stirrup and take a breath before you, seventh, swing over. Take the time to detail each step out and feel out your feelings on each one. And do it from both sides Yes, because this helps you and your horse become balanced.

Once you are able to get back on, have someone help you for a bit by holding your horse while you sit up there and do your breathing exercise. Lift and stretch your arms, do some twists from your middle, lay back on your horses rump if he will let you, and sit up and lay on his neck. The goal is to loosen yourself up and help you remember your balance. Once you can do this at a stand still, have someone lead or lounge your horse for you while you do these things. Just remember all the while to breathe, and let yourself focus on your belly button and that deep warm pool beneath you.

Tweety Pie had some good points. When we get scared, instinct makes us want to take the fetal position which forces us forward over the horses neck. You have to fight hard to counter this by sitting down on your seat, find your butt bones, and open your legs, let yourself go down and out, to the ground through your horse. Get as deep into that pool as you can, and relax and breathe inspite of your fears.

You would do well to learn and emergency dismount from your instructor or someone who can safely teach you this, and practice. It is actually empowering knowing that you can come off a horse and not get hurt too badly, and be able to get back on.

Print this out if you want, take it with you to the barn, read it and read it to help yourself remember to breathe and sit in that deep warm pool. Remember to break it down, and go slow. Don't canter again until you feel good again at the other gaits. Don't worry, you will get it. Oh, I wish I could be a million little people and go out and be there for each one of you who become scared like this. It is so much better to help in person, but I hope that this helps some. If I can do this on my own after being flipped over on by horses, you can too. I will be praying for your recovery.

[kingrattus]

My ex-friend bought an abused & neglected horse. Of course the horse didn't want anyone riding him & would run off in fear & do tiny tiny bucks, My exfriend & I came up with a good idea, we would remove the saddle & blanket & my exfriend would hop on the horses back while I held an extra rope attatched to the halter (no bit was used for this). We would do this for hours everyday until the horse stoped trying to run away, which took a few month... but was worth it... a year later she sold the horse to a younger shorter owner & the horse was good for that owner too...

if u don't want to go bareback then atleast get someone to attatch an extra rope to the halter & control the horse for u... u'll feel more at ease & relaxed, remember when u get nervice the horse get even more nervice

[luigi2]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I got back on and was all down to you lot it took a long time to gather all my courage up but i done it mind you only in walk thank you all very much and wish me luck !!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU.


luv luigi2 (chloe)

[Jessica12345]

HORRAY!

congrats!

[Equinebehaviorist]

Oh, YEAH!!!! Good for you! You are on your way back!

[Vermontcat]

Equine, thanks for helping her.

Luigi2, Good for you! I knew you could do it!

[luigi2]

thank you very much equine you are a lot of help ! Today Iam supposed be going on a hack but I dont know nut I will definately try my best I will keep you all up to date of what is going on .

luv chloe (luigi2)