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Posted by PH Cody on October 24, 2002 at 12:37:09:
In Reply to: I am afraid of riding now posted by SaschaParent on September 26, 2002 at 14:06:02:
:I fell of during a dressage class at my old stable. the horse i had was a jumper, and because i am not a good jumper i was unable to hold on. so i fell and he steped on me 4 times. i am afraid to ride now. please help me. im 17 and i don't want to give up my life dream.
Its easy enough to say what was wrong with the picture before your fall - you were overmounted (on a horse that was too much for you), under trained and asked to do something you weren't ready to do. If this was instructor error, I'd suggest starting with a new instructor! But if it was just a typical bad judgement error on your part, don't feel bad, we have ALL done that (some of us more than we would like to admit!!!) What's important in all mistakes is that you learn from them and move on. Find someone who has a very calm, child-safe horse that will tolerate a lot of fear from the rider without getting upset themselves. Have someone just lead you around at first, until you find you can breath without thinking about it continually. Then, do minor control exercises - walking circles, walking in and out of cones, stopping, walking on, etc. As your confidence grows back, so will your abilities to move on. Trail rides are also great confidence builders because they give you things to do - looking for problems on the trail, enjoying the scenery, talking to friends who are riding with you - besides thinking about staying in the saddle. Your body will remember how to stay on, you just have to overcome your mind's insistance that you can't! It won't be easy, especially since from the sound of your post, its been while since you came off. There's also truth in the saying of if you're thrown, jump right back on. The longer you let that fear grow, the harder it can be to get under control. It can be done though, never let anyone convince you otherwise. I once had a very young friend, I was teaching him to ride on my old gelding and he had a very promising seat and hands, great kid. Well, one weekend, after he had ridden maybe twice mind you, the neighbor down from his house was riding his horse, and offered to let my friend ride. Promised his mom that the horse was safe, etc. My friend wasn't all the way in the saddle when the horse bolted. He hung on though, until the horse came to a sudden stop a few feet from the fence. My friend broke both wrists in that fall. Needless to say, he was terrified of horses by the time those wrists healed. I finally convinced him to let me lead him on my little app mare, she was small and would have died before letting harm come to him. The only reason I was able to get him on was he trusted me. I had to remind him to breath every few steps for the first couple of circles around their yard but then he began relaxing. It just took time and trust. Good luck, follow those dreams!
The old saying of "where there's a will, there's a way" is true. If you truly want to ride, you can overcome your fear.