Thursday 16 June 2011

Nerves again and a shakey ride

Today was another nervous ride but I didn't set an aim for the ride, just to have a walk round on my own until I feel a bit better. As I went into the indoor another rider joined us, so I waited for them to finish before riding myself, as I didn't want a repeat of Tuesday. Diesel stood very nicely watching the mare walk round, however this 10 minute wait just led to me becoming anxious again and working myself up. In hindsight I should really have got on, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

After the mare left the indoor I mounted and Diesel was very tense from the start as he just wanted to follow the other horse out of the arena, and he spent the entire time I rode him shouting to the others on the yard (several horses were kept in for the farrier). As I was feeling anxious again I just rode for a few minutes, on a 20 metre circle between E and B, with a ground pole at both letters, working on halting square as I crossed the centre line and stepping nicely over the poles without changing the speed or rhythm of the walk.

I really do wish I could get over this nervous block so I can do more work with Diesel and enjoy riding him again. It is my lesson in 9 days, and I am really looking forward to it! Any tips or advice are still appreciated!
There won't be any posts for a few days as I am away at my boyfriend's until Sunday evening, I aim to ride on Sunday, so I will post if do.

Thanks for reading! 

2 comments:

  1. When I was first going through all my nervousness (my horse started trotting really fast and big one day, and I couldn't get him to stop, and my confidence took a nosedive), my trainer told me to just get on and walk while taking deep breaths to relax myself. Even if I spent 30 minutes walking, I was on my horse at least. And once I got bored with just walking, I'd be wanting to do a little bit more. Then, just do one trot circle and walk again. And each time, challenge yourself to do a little bit more than you did before. And as you do more, you'll realize (and it took me a while to really get it) that you CAN handle it just fine, and it's all in your head.

    You can do it!

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  2. Thank you so much for the lovely comment and the advice, I tried the deep breathing today and it really did help me feel better. Thank you for reading my posts and taking the time to help, it is much appreciated!

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