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Overcoming Riding Fears
by Faith Meredith
Director, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre
Anyone who has ridden for any length of time would
be dishonest if they told you they have never felt fear. If you have
any common sense at all, you should have a certain level of “healthy
fear” whenever you get on a new horse. Call it “respect” if you
prefer, but there is always an awareness that the 1000-pounds or so of
bone and muscle you are sitting on is, physically, more powerful than
you are.
Horses can jump sideways in the blink of an eye, rear, buck, or reach
speeds over 25 miles per hour in a matter of seconds. They are also
capable of using that physical power to perform incredible athletic
feats like jumping, dressage, cutting, or reining. Our desire to
become partners with our horses in those athletic endeavors makes us
willing to take the risk of being thrown off or finding ourselves on a
panicked runaway.
A bad experience, usually something that could not have been avoided
no matter what the rider did, can turn healthy respect to fear. Once a
rider has been physically hurt in an accident or even just really
frightened it can take a while to rebuild confidence. The old
rough-and-ready, cavalry-style philosophy promised that if you just
got right back on again, everything would be fine. However,
suppressing fear seldom works. Neither does it help to tell someone to
“just get over it.”
Fear is usually related to the rider’s skill level. The best way to
overcome riding fears is to work on developing a completely
independent seat. An independent seat gives the rider the confidence
the he or she has the ability to ride through just about anything the
horse might do. Riders also need to develop habits that allow them to
stay mentally and emotionally centered in a rhythmic and relaxed way
when their horse becomes excited or frightened. One of the partners
has to stay calm in order to bring the other back to that state.
It is hard to get past your fear when you work by yourself. Finding a
competent instructor who acknowledges your confidence crisis without
either belittling it or catering to it is important. You need someone
who understands how to back up and find the point where you are
comfortable riding and how to help you work forward again from that
point in a logical progression to regain your confidence.
Having the right horse or horses available can also be critical when
you are trying to rebuild confidence. People who are afraid of riding
often have good reason to bethey may have realized that they are over
mounted on their own horse. Trying to work through fear on the same
animal that caused your fears can be very difficult. We are fortunate
here at Meredith Manor to have the luxury of 130 to 150 horses to
choose among when our instructors sit down to make weekly horse
assignments for individual students. When we get a fearful student, we
can put them on goldie oldie school horses that give them a lot of
positive reinforcement and gradually rebuild their confidence by
moving them onto horses that take greater skill.
Fear around horses is not limited to riding. Many people feel
intimidated when they have to catch, lead or groom an unruly,
ill-mannered horse. Even if they manage to dominate the horse using a
chain lead shank or other artificial means, they may still have a
queasy feeling because they know they are not really in charge of the
situation. Here, again, a good instructor should be able to help a
fearful student learn how to confidently and safely work around and
re-school a spoiled horse with bad ground manners.
Training methods aimed at making the trainer “dominant” work only as
long as nothing scarier or more dominant than the trainer is in the
horse’s immediate environment. Handling techniques that depend on
chain shanks or war bridles do not result in permanent changes in the
horse’s attitude or true confidence on the part of his handler. We use
a groundwork system we call “heeding” because it teaches the students
to pay attention to their horses at all times and teaches the horse to
pay attention to its handler at all times. Through consistent handling
with rhythm and relaxation from the moment they enter a horse’s stall
until they put him away, they learn how to develop a rapport with
their horses. The goal is to make the horse feel like the trainer or
rider is always the safest place to be whenever exciting or unusual
things happen.
Learning how to approach and work with horses on the ground in a
rhythmic and relaxed way not only keeps the horses calm, but also
teaches the students how to relax and stay calm. Using rhythmic
breathing and rhythmic movements while they groom or lead their horses
becomes a habit they can carry into their riding. The habit of staying
rhythmic with their breathing, their seat, or their reins when things
start falling apart helps both rider and horse relax and become calm
again more readily.
Every rider must eventually face fear and overcome it. Fear is not
something to be ashamed of or to hide. When it happens to you, find an
instructor with the right attitude, the right program of progressive
skill training, and the right horses to get you back on track again.
© 2001-2007 Meredith Manor International Equestrian
Centre. All rights reserved.
Faith
Meredith has successfully trained and competed through FEI levels
of dressage during her more than 30 years as a horse professional. She
currently coaches riders in dressage, reining, and eventing in her
capacity as the Director of
Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre 147 Saddle Lane,
Waverly, WV 26184; 800.679.2603;
www.meredithmanor.edu ), an
ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution. |
