Menu

Stay in Touch
Sign up for ENews
Subscribe Now

Unlimited access >

Menu

Jumping anxiety

Eventing
#1

Posted this in the hunter/jumper forum but figured Id post it here too as it’s the main thing really standing in the way of pursuing eventing which sounds like a blast.

So I’m having a struggle with which direction to go with my riding. I don’t own a horse so I’ve always used well behaved trainers horses for lessons. I love jumping but I also get horrible anxiety over it, about what could go wrong (yet hasnt!). However when I think “ok this is just stressful Ill quit jumping and find something else” then I end up missing it terribly and nothing else feels as exciting and rewarding for me. I am a very strong rider but my confidence has never been on the same level as my actual riding ability. Any advice?

#2

What heights are you getting anxious about? Are there any heights you aren’t TOO anxious about? And what is your anxiety like? Is it like, panic attack levels, “omg I don’t know if I can do this” levels, or just a slight feeling of nerves/unease heading to the jump? The last one I think is about where the good schooling zone is.

Example: Say you are getting SUPER nervous and tense about jumping 2 feet from a canter, but just slightly nervous jumping a crossrail at a canter and no problems at all trotting a cross rail or cantering ground poles. You can ask your instructor to take you through some good flat exercises like two point at all three gaits, no stirrups, one stirrup, etc as a warm up, then do “jump” exercises over ground poles and get instructor to build you a grid you can trot into, jump an X from a trot, canter a few strides to another X. Once that’s easy, instructor can raise the X to a vertical.

It really is all about first making sure you have the strength to be able to physically do it (and being strong enough, core and leg wise, will go far in helping you feel secure), then starting with what you are absolutely comfortable with and pushing it juuuuust a little. When you are bored at a height, you know you are really ready to go up a bit. And it’s totally normal to feel just a bit of anticipation or nerves coming up to a jump, too. You just don’t want to be so tense that it affects your riding.

Other exercises that might help: lungeing with no reins on the flat, building up to lungeing over small jumps with a neck rope.

Jumping with no stirrups or no reins.

Lots of gymnastics.

Even games on horseback that get you more focused on having fun so you aren’t so worried mentally about what could happen.

2 Likes
#3

Your jumping anxiety is completely valid. As others have or will point out, making certain your equitation is rock solid to keep you in the tack during trouble is one way to really mitigate unplanned dismounts. Wear not only a helmet, but a vest when schooling.

Bear in mind, a vest won’t protect your hips and guess what most women land on when they come off? Yep, your hips!

As an older adult who has had several successive hip injuries, consider wearing padded hip protector shorts over your breeches, at least for schooling because your vest and your helmet, won’t protect your hips! Equestrians are quite archaic when it comes to body protection doing risky endeavors like jumping over obstacles. Cyclists, figure skaters, snow boarders, roller derby skaters, skate boarders, etc., often wear better body protection for their hips, if they’re smart, than equestrians.

I don’t expect there will be much traction out there from this post, but all injuries are cumulative and start coming home to roost as you age. Ask me how I know. Be careful, have fun.

3 Likes
#4

I used to be in a similar boat as you - I peeled around courses and xc as a child with no fear, went to college and had an aging heart horse that I couldn’t jump but also couldn’t bear to get rid of. Graduated college, could afford a second horse and wanted to get back into eventing. I had a fear of jumping that I never had before - I realized it was because my eye was off - I had to re-train it. I did that through endless ground poles and cavaletti - nothing over a foot - I and my saintly horse could step over them. When I wanted to jump things that required standards, I only did it in lessons - we started with x-rails, up to 2ft verticals, 2ft oxers, to 2’3", 2’6", 2’9" and now back up to the 2’9"-3’ range. Just having a trainer there to reassure me that all is good, things are fine, you’re leg looks great, etc. really helped build up my confidence. Years, and I mean YEARS, later, I’m now heading off to a HT this weekend with just my husband, who is literally there to peel my body off the ground and put the horse on the trailer if I fall. Will I still get a little nervous when I hear, “3, 2, 1, you’re now on course…”? Yes, but a small fear is healthy - keeps you sharp and focused.

At the same time, if jumping really turns you into a dysfunctional nervous wreck, try really focusing on dressage. Not just puttering around dressage, but real dressage. Through the years that I couldn’t jump, setting flatwork goals and plans really kept me focused and not bored. As a trainer told my snotty teenage self - “If you’re bored doing dressage, you’re not doing it correctly”

6 Likes
#5

RainWeasley- So it’s definitely not a panic attack, it’s more like I get the butterflies and tense up and end up staring down at the jump the whole time instead of looking ahead where I’m going so the tenseness is enough that if effects my eq. When I rode regularly this started happening I think with jumps over 3 feet, but now that I’m getting back into it after being off it’s seems like it’s any jumps right now. I think you nailed the fitness part of it, when I recently got back in the saddle one of the first thing I noticed was how weak my core was, so I’m working on that now to hopefully help my balance/security in the saddle.

FatCatFarm- I wonder if just wearing a vest would make me feel a little more comfortable with the “what-ifs”…And I know what you mean, I haven’t hit 30 yet and I often think I have no business being as ‘creaky’ as I am already lol.

EVneo- exactly! I used to be more confident. I don’t expect to be be fearless but I at least want to have confidence in the level and ability that I know I have, and needing to be more confidence in distances to set up a successful jump would be a big help.

1 Like
#6

You will get it! It might take longer than you think it should, but as long as you are compassionate about the anxiety and what’s causing it and keep chipping away, you will make progress! The fact that you really want to is a good thing, it will keep you motivated to work at it. And you aren’t alone, I’m trying to get back into jumping after two years off, I get butterflies just trotting my 4 year old over a cross rail currently even though he barely puts any effort over it. It’s just that possibility in my mind that he COULD way overjump or buck on the other side, and I don’t know if my muscle memory is there enough for me to stick it. It probably is, but my brain still wants to psych me out. I do think we all go through something like that in one way or another!

#7

What about finding one of those how to fall clinics? I forget who presents them, but that would be one way to address your fear.

#8

vineyridge- I hadn’t thought of that, to be honest the very thought of it makes my stomach turn lol

#9

RainWeasley- had been around 2 years off for me too! high five fingers crossed for us!

1 Like
#10

There you go. Facing down fear is often the best way to address it. Those clinics are likely to be the safest place one can imagine to experience fallingl. If you can do that and learn how to fall as safely as possible, you’ll have faced and beaten your fear.

1 Like
#11

I used to be very nervous about jumping, but I’ve slowly been creeping up in height over the past year and even had a couple falls, but I still feel more confident than I used to because my position is so much more solid. With both of my falls, I could pinpoint exactly where I went wrong which made it easier to move on from them. Jumping in a vest did make me feel more confident, I borrowed one from a fellow boarder a few times.

I think staying at whatever level is pushing yourself but not overwhelming you is a good plan. Where you are feeling butterflies but not so tense that you are losing effectiveness as a rider. That’s the space where you can improve your jumping skills while learning the skills to overcome your nerves.

Another thing that might help - treat your anxiety like anxiety. Do breathing exercises as you start a course or approach the fence. Pick something other than the fence to be looking at over the jump. Give yourself a moment after a jump to slow your heart rate and recover before the next one. It might feel like babying yourself, especially if you were used to much bigger jumps in the past, but you are teaching yourself the skill of controlling your fear. Those are the skills I used to get over my fear of heights as I started skiing more serious slopes, and when I first started cantering as well.

The falling clinics are called LandSafe, I believe, if you are interested in them.

1 Like
#12

I get nervous jumping but it does get better. I always warm up on cross rails and then up from there. You feel more confident when you are hitting your distances with the low stuff. I have just started working without stirrups and really developing my seat. It helps to be more secure. We’ve all been there. We were laughing with a rider who just finished a 2 star at Rebecca Farm this weekend. She told us how she always threw up before a jumping round. I promise it gets better but takes a few years.

#13

And get you the good sticky breeches. I like Kerrits Grip Tek .

#14

MissCoco- Thank you for all the tips! I think one of the harder parts is knowing what kind of rider I used to be before I had to take a couple years off which makes it feel all the more disheartening when it seems like i’ve taken ten steps back. So I what you said about focusing on making progress on the fear/confidence because I think if I can really tackle that I could get better than I was a few years ago in no time.

CindyCRNA- I actually just bought some sticky full seat breeches so I hope that will help. Seems like flat work/no stirrup exercises and things to improve my seat on the flat have been the most common recommendation across the board so I will definitely be doing that.That’s so funny about the rider at Rebecca! Makes me feel better that I’m some crazy outlier lol

#15

You should good look up Wimpy Eventer, read her blog from the beginning. Her anxiety made mine feel like absolutely nothing :lol:

1 Like
#16

I think it is very important that you have a trainer who really understands how to address and tackle anxiety. I went through a few years of being relatively fearless, but had a couple bad spills this year which has resulted in me feeling way less confident over jumps that I never would have looked twice at. Luckily my trainer understands this and is firm but empathetic and does a good job explaining why a particular exercise will help reduce the chance of “failure”. If continuing to ride safe and reliable horses is still an option, I think you should stick with that until you come less anxious.

2 Likes
#17

My fear of jumping rears its ugly head at any height whenever any new variable is added: new horse, new arena, new fence, less than perfect footing, less than perfect weather, etc. For me, what I find has helped the most is riding a confident horse that loves to jump. The kind whose ears prick forward when they see a fence, the kind who can charge at it with confidence. The best thing that ever happened to my jumping skills was an average looking Paint who took care of me. A horse like this will allow you to get comfortable with the action of going over a fence and can also let you experience some “less than perfect” moments in a safe manner ( long spot, short spot, the best horses will try). Perhaps consider the horses you ride in lessons and figure out which is the best confidence builder for you.

One last thing to consider, a little mantra I keep in my mind, is “If it scares me, I have to do it. Otherwise I will always be scared.” See if good ol’ stubbornness can help you trump your fears.

Everyone else has offered great advice as well.

5 Likes
#18

As someone with similar anxiety issues, there are a few things that worked for me. For reference,I went training level a good few years ago on a nice horse and am just now (after 4 or so years showing with my current horse) getting to Novice again. Just started jumping 3’ again two weeks ago.

1 - pick something to look up at and practice practice practice. Start with crossrails, line yourself up then make sure you are staring at the window/post/trainer/cat that is in the direct line. Once you are good over one jump, make simple courses so you have to remember time and again.

2 - Well fitting tack. When I was in my old jumper saddle that no longer worked for me, I unconciously spent most of my time staying in the middle and not with my horse. New saddle…huge difference.

3 - Again…practice practice practice and no rushing life! Once I got my new saddle, I spent an entire winter going to a jumper show at 2’3". We were a hot mess at first, but then we started to click after the 7th or so show It was 2 shows at 2’6" in early spring so I started mixing in some BN Events. We moved to 2’9" last August but hung out there for a year and like I said, just started jumping 3’ last week. For some reason 2’6" was a small step but I needed to plateau again at 2’9" and will probably spend all winter at 3’.

4 - Don’t worry about being a hot mess at a new level! Like I said…just moved to 3’ and had an opportunity to go to the jumper show at the local county fair. My horse did NOT like the banners on the fenceline (not even a breeze, they were just hanging there mind their own business). So, trot first fence because to busy spooking, squirrely turn to fence 2, start to get it together on fence 3…wait…that wasn’t fence 3, off course! I requested to finish the course, which was allowed and there was this “scary” liverpool fence. It was at an angle so the right turn were were supposed to make was the sharper turn but I was staring straight ahead at the post. We jumped it beautifully but I had to do a left turn 270 to get back on track. Got lost again, told the judges I was going to jump 1 more and call it a class.

Second class went better but for $20/class definitely worthy being a hot mess on that day.

4 - Mind over matter. Every time I my brain starts to point out the disasters, I high light the successes - like scary liverpool. We had never jumped a jump like that before. Or remember that time I was feeling froggy last summer out cross country schooling and jumped a training level jump. Or the fact that my horse jumped everything great when I had my eyes up. Or…Or…just don’t dwell on the bad things visualize the GOOD that happened. Even if you have to chant out loud to yourself, “we did this exact course last week without issue…we did this exact course last week without issue” or “We jumped that scary jump in a lesson that’s higher than these…we jumped that scary jump in a lesson that’s higher than these…”

5 - related to that…quit while you are ahead. Sometimes, after I jump a new height or a scary looking jump, I just do it once. I did it once, it went well, move on. My trainer was always bit about this cross country schooling and it works in that you don’t get that sucess performance anxiety and screw up royally the 5th time and have to get over that. Let’s say 2’9" is the new height. I may set up one jump to 2’9" and the rest at 2’6". Warm up, jump a small course of 2’6" with the 2’9" one being last, untack, go home…so what if it was a 10 min ride, it was all that was needed that day.

Fingers crossed, I will do at least one Novice level HT by the end of the season!

5 Likes
#19

Time again for the jumping clinic with “George Morris” :smiley:
http://www.hillbillyfarms.org/critique_arc5.html

#20

http://www.hillbillyfarms.org/critique.html

Get your Digital Subscription here - only $21.95 / year

Subscribe here
See gift options

Sign up to our monthly newsletter!

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.

Copyright © 2023 The Chronicle of the Horse