Fear to ride? | Page 1 | Temple of Equus - A horse Guild | Guild Forums

Nite of Storms

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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:40 am

I've recently started to ride my mothers ex racehorse....she is extremly well trained and has great gates.....I just have this fear of cantering*i always have* I want to improve though so I need to canter....any advice?

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:47 am

Jane Savoie has a really great set of books for overcoming riding fears,
'That Winning Feeling!' 'A winning attitude' etc.
You can try finding them at your local library,
or see if any horsey friends own them.

Another thing that might be useful is to have someone knowledgeable or an instructor lunge you on a line when you first start cantering.
That way you can focus on your seat, your breathing, etc and have someone else focus on controlling the horse.

If the thought of cantering really strikes fear into you, just keep trotting!
Trot is ant important and hard to master gaits for dressage,
so work on perfecting your trot, (posting, sitting, posting w/o stirrups, sitting w/o stirrups etc)
You can also do cavelleti work at the trot, and pole work.
and canter when you feel you are ready,
sounds like you have a nice horse to ride!
Spend lots of time bonding with her,
perfecting your walk/trot work, trailriding etc, and don't rush,
all good things come with time and practice.

Groovy Spleen

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Nite of Storms

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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:14 am

Groovy Spleen

Jane Savoie has a really great set of books for overcoming riding fears,
'That Winning Feeling!' 'A winning attitude' etc.
You can try finding them at your local library,
or see if any horsey friends own them.

Another thing that might be useful is to have someone knowledgeable or an instructor lunge you on a line when you first start cantering.
That way you can focus on your seat, your breathing, etc and have someone else focus on controlling the horse.

If the thought of cantering really strikes fear into you, just keep trotting!
Trot is ant important and hard to master gaits for dressage,
so work on perfecting your trot, (posting, sitting, posting w/o stirrups, sitting w/o stirrups etc)
You can also do cavelleti work at the trot, and pole work.
and canter when you feel you are ready,
sounds like you have a nice horse to ride!
Spend lots of time bonding with her,
perfecting your walk/trot work, trailriding etc, and don't rush,
all good things come with time and practice.

Thank you so much smile I'm now taking lessons and we've been working on laying out a plan to get me to ride smile

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:57 pm

All I can say, is that you should not be cantering this horse if you have a fear. The BEST connection a horse has to it's rider is emotional and mental. A horse will EASILY feel and sense your fear if you let them know it is there. You should practice your cantering on a different lower level of horse until you feel confident enough to canter her.

EQuestrian_343

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Nite of Storms

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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:16 am

EQuestrian_343

All I can say, is that you should not be cantering this horse if you have a fear. The BEST connection a horse has to it's rider is emotional and mental. A horse will EASILY feel and sense your fear if you let them know it is there. You should practice your cantering on a different lower level of horse until you feel confident enough to canter her.

Well she hasn't been on the track in queit a while and she really loves to work. I'm taking lessons with an instructor who wwns horses that are off the track so we're not having problems with that...When I first rode her my instructor said she looked like she was walking on eggshells and that she was taking really good care of me 3nodding

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:15 am

it sounds like you have just the right horse then, cause it sounds like instead of picking up on your nervousness, she's trying to help you through it and take care of you. sounds like a wonderful horse! she'll help you out tons.

Pianoangel1

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stargazer42

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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:36 am

Best advice I can give is the same as Groovy Spleen's, Get on a lunge line with a knowledgeable person at the other end and Start on a well trained horse who is very well trained to voice commands. Work from there

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:31 am

stormysgirl13

EQuestrian_343

All I can say, is that you should not be cantering this horse if you have a fear. The BEST connection a horse has to it's rider is emotional and mental. A horse will EASILY feel and sense your fear if you let them know it is there. You should practice your cantering on a different lower level of horse until you feel confident enough to canter her.

Well she hasn't been on the track in queit a while and she really loves to work. I'm taking lessons with an instructor who wwns horses that are off the track so we're not having problems with that...When I first rode her my instructor said she looked like she was walking on eggshells and that she was taking really good care of me 3nodding

Thats sweet! I had a horse like that... Thoroughbred gelding, ex-racer and polo-player. He'd do anything for me.

EQuestrian_343

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Nite of Storms

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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:49 pm

THanks to everyone so much! I've started cantering much to everyones delight! My instructor has a amazing thorughbred as well and I cantered him. He's older so he's been there and done that. He has wonderful gaits and is very responsive to his rider*me* even though my instructor was lounging. I'm going to work on him a little bit to help focus on my seat and such and to get the aids correctly so as not to confuse my horse! heart

I'm so lucky to have such nice horses and people to work with 3nodding

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