Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[Dragongirl00100]

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks again for all of the tips! Hopefully I will be able to get another lesson this week *fingers crossed

[Kestrell]

@HorseLover!
There are a few different fabric types that would work, but keep in mind function comes before color XD. I've heard of very thin cotton being used, lyrca (stretchy swimsuit type of material) seems to be better however.

[ryukrem]

So I'm having some serious issues with confidence while jumping. I've been riding 5 years now, probably jumping 3-4 and I still can't get over my fear. I want to be able to jump high and be able to get through a jumping course without wanting to puke, but I am terrified. Even jumping a 1ft caveletti terrifies me. I feel like a wimp and a failure and I just want to get over this fear.

[Wolf Prints]

If you're not comfortable jumping, look at your flat work. There's so much you can do to improve your seat and get better control of your horse! Fear is the body's natural response to danger. So if you can eliminate some of the danger, you can feel more confident! Plus, it's great bonding time for you and your special horse!

[ryukrem]

I loveeeee flat work, but I can't avoid jumping. I ride twice a week, one group lesson one semi private and we jump in the semi private every second week because my friend loves it and it's not fair to her if we don't. I shouldn't avoid it either I mean the ponies I ride are schoolies so having their rider fear doesn't do much to them. Quincey (in my signature) is my saviour from heaven and I trust him a ton, but the problem with him is he's lazy and responds best from the seat and I'm not supposed to use my seat much while jumping so it's a struggle.

[PFDC]

what my old trainer did to us when a member of our lesson was fearful of jumps was made us close our eyes a couple strides before the jump(she has guide polls so the horses wouldn't duck out) it helped with her fear and the rest of ours implusion as to how to feel out when to go into two point ove a jump.

[spring.]

I loveeeee flat work, but I can't avoid jumping. I ride twice a week, one group lesson one semi private and we jump in the semi private every second week because my friend loves it and it's not fair to her if we don't. I shouldn't avoid it either I mean the ponies I ride are schoolies so having their rider fear doesn't do much to them. Quincey (in my signature) is my saviour from heaven and I trust him a ton, but the problem with him is he's lazy and responds best from the seat and I'm not supposed to use my seat much while jumping so it's a struggle.

I ride a hose that needs a lot of seat too, otherwise she breaks. So I know how you feel. What I do is I sit up until one stride away from the jump then I get into my half seat. Then after the recovery, I ride a light seat so I have the push of my seat but I can rise out of my seat for the fences. Also, my trainer talks a lot while I jump, so listening to her helps because she counts strides. So when I ride with my other trainer, I hear my other coach in my head counting strides. Just try different things in your jumping lesson. Ask if your trainer can help you count strides before each jump and see if that helps. See if Quincey will respond from a light seat so you can stay off his back when you need to and keep the push.

If the ponies are schoolies, trust them. My lesson horse has been really helping me with confidence because I have been trusting that when we jump into the corner I fell off in, I trust she won't let me lose balance, but I also trust myself that I won't fall.

So, trust the horse but trust yourself. Nothing will happen, you won't fall. You have done 5 or 6 years of perfecting flat work. You can trust that your balance is pretty solid on a horse and you won't go anywhere.

[ryukrem]

Okay thank you c: I always approach the fence in a deep two-point because he will just dolphin dive over it if I don't use my seat to keep him going. I'm working on getting him to move from my leg only, but he's stubborn haha. He also need the seat and hip through warm up or he won't go at all.

I get very paranoid about striding. So paranoid to the point where I try fixing it and that usually ends up with him taking long spots or awkward chips.

I have the base of death lol. My butt hardly ever leaves the saddle because I'm too nervous to not hold myself there. Too many bad experiences. No bad experiences on Quincey while jumping, but other schoolies yes.

[.:shiver:.]

Just going to throw my two cents into this discussion because why not.

Anyway, with the striding, if he's a schoolie you shouldn't have to worry too much about fixing his striding. My horse is an ex-school horse and he can pretty much sort himself out- I'm pretty sure most schoolies can do the same thing. I know it must be hard to stop playing around with the striding, for simple jumps you shouldn't really need to- let your horse do the work, especially over a single upright or cross pole (which is what I assume you're jumping). When it comes to big combinations you may want to fiddle a little, but if you just start to let your horse do the work when coming into the jump, it may help you feel a little more at ease, as you were saying when you fiddle he jumps awkwardly?

As for not moving very much to get up into two-point, is it because you don't trust yourself to be able to keep that position or is it because you feel like you're going to fall? If it's about keeping it, the only thing I can really say is practice. A lot. One of my old instructors would make us do laps of the school in our jumping position in walk and trot to make sure we were stable and able to keep it. Although it aches to start with, it really helped and if you keep practicing your two-point often it should make you feel more secure.

You don't have to take anything I've said, but there's my opinions. If you're still feeling nervous, why not tell your trainer? You said you have a semi private lesson, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind changing the lesson up a little so you jump something smaller and your friend jumps something bigger. Your instructor knows your ability and riding style, and they will probably be able to give you some more advice about how to become more confident.

[ryukrem]

Quincey is pretty decent at striding but he does take a ton of long spots. I mean it doesn't matter right now because we are only jumping small. I had a schooling show at my barn and it was all crossrails and it was long spots upon longspots lol.

Yeah it's not about physically being able to keep it, I just don't trust myself to be able to actually control him or control myself when I am out of the tack. Especially on Quincey. He can be a bratty pony, but I know he would never do anything stupid over a fence or after a fence, so it's just me I don't trust.

My instructor does know my fear of jumping and we are working on it together. We don't jump high unless I'm riding a pony that's forward to the fence and she knows I am okay with that. I just wish I could avoid it all together, but I can't and it's not good for me if I do.