How to get my RIDING confidence back?

Ok... months ago I had a fall (New years day) . My foot is still messed up, but useable. Won't heal anymore without therapy and then its just a maybe. I was galloping my sis's horse and we still don't know what happened, did a back flip off the horse and made the worst mistake of my life, i panicked and went to land on my feet like i would at a slower gait. the horse fell on my leg and my head hit a rock its thought, now... i was left alone while my sis went to catch the horse i was dizzy and disoriented, the first thing i tried to do was get up... i HAD to get the horse and make sure she was ok, bad idea i fell back down. but i still had to get the horse so i crawled as far as the creek and finaly my sis had come back and saw what was going on told me the horse was fine and already back to the carrol. after getting the boot off the foot i panicked a bit when i saw the size of my foot and soaked it in the creek while my sis went for help, i rode after the accident but now have issues

How to get my RIDING confidence back?
l completely understand where you are comming from, l had a beautiful horse that would bolt, it would just come out of the blue, we could have weeks of great ridding and then bam no fence would stop him over he went, what made it worse was l too did not want to let my mum down, we went to a show and off her went thru the bunting lucky the other rings were empty or there could have been more than just me in Hospital. l eventually over come the problem by spending hours, weeks and months just walking and trotting in a small fenced arena, just spending time together. Years later l ran into his breeders and they told me how he was mad and they could not get a jockey to ride him (tb) but l did and he took me all the way thru pony club and to EFA and in the end we complete trust and many incident free years. HANG IN THERE
Reply:I don't know anything about riding, but I know about school. I used to be number one in my class. Then for some reasons I started lagging behind. I lost confidence in myself. But now I study harder and work more in school and I am one of the top again. So I guess the answer is to keep riding. Keep doing it because you don't want this one incident to stop you.
Reply:I just kept riding that same horse over and over ..she was a nasty horse didnt like me. But I showed her I wasnt going to let her be the winner. We became good friends after that. Just always use you instincts watch the horses reflexes and ears..if they go back you know she is mad. Look ahead for thing you know spook her..takes thinking ahead of the horse
Reply:hey the best thing to do is to start at a walk and move on to trot then canter gallop all when you are ready and trust your horse that is when you can ride again good luck
Reply:Well this is almost the same as if you are in a car accident. When you crash in a car like I have you are nervous and scared because you had such a rush of adrenaline fear that you dont want to feel that stress again. Well the best thing I would do is take riding a little at a time. Baby steps because your body is afraid of creating that stress and injuring yourself again. So you may trust the ride itself conciously but you need to make sure your sub concious is ready because murphys law will state that if it can go wrong it will. I believe in ya man.
Reply:Have you tried lunging him until he tires, before you get on him? or turning him out in a pen and make him gallop around until he's exhausted. Then see if you have more cooperation when you ride him.





Also, you may want to go with more of a bit. What are you using now? What style do you ride? English, Western, bareback?
Reply:You are definitely doing the right thing by getting back on the horse. You are a lot braver then me and many, What you have been through would have put me off for a very long time. The only sad thing is you have lost the enjoyment and are riding more to not et your mum down. Firstly you really need to think about yourself. I think with what you have said time will be a healer. You know the saying once bitten twice shy well that's what it will be like for you, you will have more cation about yourself and this is a good thing. Give it time and talk openly with your mum how you fee. Your horse sound lovely try to get some help with his bollting and You ll make a great team again.





Good luck





And well done so far for how confident you have been.





Hang in there it will get better. x
Reply:listen i know it's going to be really scary riding again i know from experience i have horse but it was a four wheeler accisent i was driving really fast and saw a small hill of sugar sand and panicked then slammed on the brakes which was stupid well i had other passengers but they were ok but i had been knocked out but my brother had to stay with my friend becase she hurt her side when she fell so me and my brothers friend had to get help about an hour later i had to drive it home by myself in the dark after that i didnt ride for almost 3 months and i'm just starting to ride again i was so terrified that i almost had a pannick attack when i drove out of the yard.its not wrong to let ur mom down because she has to experience what you did to fully understand don't worry if you don't show and if you decide to i'll be praying for god to keep you save and to give you courage.
Reply:ouch. ouch, ouch, ouch. the worst fall i've had so far was when i was riding my stepmum's horse, Meg, and she heard a scary noise and bolted (and let me tell you, this horse is FAAAASST...well for me it is. =] ) and then she tripped on something and i flew over her head and broke my arm in three places. My elbow was twice the size of me KNEE for a week, so I know how you feel about that...


Anyway, what I did was go back to having lessons on a school horse. School horses are normally fairly quiet and won't pull too many tricks on you. So my best bet is to head down to a riding school or stables or whatever, explain your situation and go from there. If that's not your thing, find a very quiet horse to ride for a few rides and that might help you.





Good Luck.
Reply:You should get on another horse that doesn't have issues. Build your confidence, then after you feel completely self assured, then take on the issues with your horse. A horse can sense fear in a human and you need to make sure that all that fear is gone. They only react to what you are feeling. You can do it! Good Luck! If all else fails get a good horse handler to help with the problem.
Reply:Its not a thing where your going to get it over night. Believe me, in that kind of a situation. I've had one. I was doing trail, while riding english at a show. I walked over the logs and then cantered, I had to curve left, the judge didn't like me that day and I wanted to show that the judge the tricks up my sleeve. My saddle started to slide. I brought the wrong girth, this one, couldn't stay tight if its life depended on it. Anyway I stood in the saddle, trying to counteract the tilt. But it was to late, all I remember was I said something very inapporate and then laying on the ground with first responders next to me, about to rip my english boots off b/c they couldn't figure out that there was a zipper in the back. So from what people told me, my mount reared and went sideways trying to catch me, but it was to late. People thought he was going to fall over trying to catch me. I slammed into the wall with my right hip, my knee snapped and then landed on my right hip. The horse went running to me, and he would't let anyone near me until my best friend and my mom we in the ring. He nearly bit a guy. The EMT's were there and I was starting to go into shock, they rushed me to the hospital fearing that I had a broken hip, and knee, shock and possible head trama. At the hospital, the doctors concluded that my knee wasen't broke but they weren't for sure about my hip. Apparently I hit the wall so hard, it was so brused that they really couldn't see the bone in the X-ray. But after me insistanting that I wanted nothing more than to go home, they let me go on crutches. The met with an orthpedic surgen who said it wasn't broke but I needed physical therapy and a chiropractor and not to ride for a while. My trainer banned me from the barn, hiding my saddle. After that when I could ride again I wasn't for sure about riding.


I started out grooming the horse, then over time, I tacked up, but I'd only use one girth and brand new one that I bought durring recovery. For a couple of weeks my friends would lead me around while I rode just at a walk. Then my best friend rode her mare and "ponied" me on a trail, they put a bridle on the horse and I would touch the reins a bit. After a while I finnaly got the courage to start trotting and cantering again. Its hard but keep it slow. have your sister lead you around for a while, it helps in ways that I can't describe.



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