Tips when riding horses that you are anxious on? Not really quite a health issue, but sometimes on quick, large horses I can very anxious. Tips on calming myself?
Jane Savoie’s book It’s Not Just About the Ribbons really helped me with some anxiety issues I had after a bad fall. I had fallen off a Percheron that I had at the time, I was on her when I was nervous, made some dumb mistakes and fell off breaking my wrist in two places. I was so nervous I couldn’t ride, or even think about riding for a bit. Playing a video game where I rode made me nervous. I learned a lot of great techniques from her book.
I also learned that if you are nervous about riding a horse, don’t ride it. I should not have been on my mare that day. I did start riding again, but after I did a lot of work to over come nervousness.
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Long slow exhales! Make sure you’re sitting up straight, not curled forward. I also periodically try to touch my saddle with my pinkie fingers to make sure my reins aren’t too short/hands too forward.
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Long slow exhales are great, but they assume you are actually breathing because you need to inhale first. So BREATHE is what I need to focus on. Also think about blowing out candles so you have a long slow exhale through your mouth. I also sometimes hang onto the grab strap for a few strides, which also helps.
When I had anxiety issues with my horse, my trainer and friends kept having me either sing (bad idea) or engage in some kind of a talking game. Since I don’t sing well, we would do things like naming states, state capitals, or run thru the alphabet with names of animals (… name an animal that starts with “a” …). That kind of stuff was just enough to keep my brain engaged and away from thinking about the worst that could happen.
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I love these tips! Sitting up straight is one I definitely need to work on more.
I can’t sing either, so I just talk nonsense to my horse, or whistle/hum a tune, which helps keep my breathing normal and keeps me from focusing on my fears.
If I start getting really nervous, I start concentrating on taking really deep breaths and projecting confidence. It is kind of the idea of “fake it till you make it”. I will breath deeply and try to “feel confident” or project the energy of a really self-assured, authoritative person. In the back of my mind I am still feeling scared and a lot of times my heart is still rabbiting away, but it does help me stay calmer, and it keeps me in the mindset that I am in control and in charge of keeping my nerves from rubbing off on my horse.
I sometimes breath in and out to the rhythm of a few canter strides to keep my breaths evenly long.
When I was working through a fear of going fast I used to do lots of halts and downward transitions during warm up. As soon as the speed would pick up a bit and I could feel my heart start to beat faster, I would do a nice downward transition or practice a one-rein stop, then continue on. That set me up to feel confident that I was in control and I could stop if I got scared. I still had to work at speeds that made me nervous, but I could stay in a zone where I was anxious without being overwhelmed by fear.
Good luck!
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To keep yourself breathing, I found it useful to explain to the horse what I was (trying) doing. To extend this I would tell the horse the book I got the knowledge from, and the qualifications of the author, and if I needed to talk to the horse more I would explain how this knowledge fitted in with my riding philosophy.
So, before a movement I tell the horse the sequence of the aids and what I wanted the horse’s response to be, and then I would try the movement. If the horse responded correctly I would praise the horse a lot, if the horse did not respond I would again go through telling the horse the aids I was going to use and how I wanted the horse to respond before reapplying the aids.
Believe it or not, several horses I ride ended up understanding what I was saying, and I knew the horse understood because sometimes, with a new movement, I would describe my aids and find the horse obeying even before I moved my hands, leg, or seat.
I found out that the horses who apparently understand spoken English take great comfort in the fact that I’m telling him how I want him to respond to my aids before I apply them, and are a LOT less excited if they somehow mess up in obeying me.
I do not know it this will help you, but it WILL keep you breathing! It also helps in developing a true partnership with the horse.
If the horse gets antsy and I do not have something new to work on I just tell the horse about the philosophy behind my method of riding (Forward Seat for me) until the horse calms down. Again this keeps me breathing and it keeps my mind off all the scary pictures that pop up in my mind when things start to get hairy.
I used to drive to the barn saying outloud, “I love big bouncy forward trots” over and over and over again. Eventually I did come to love big, bouncy forward trots.
I like the reframe that goes like this: I’m not nervous, I’m excited! I’m so excited to be on this horse…
