Re: RE: Fear--long

["C. Osborne" <whiteokarabians@email.com>]

I've found myself in the same place as most of the posters on this topic
from time to time...and the one thing I think I've found to be universal is
that it's a self perpetuating thing.  I get nervous/afraid and get tense, so
the horse gets tense, so I get tense,....

My cure...and I swear this is the truth....liquid courage :).  A beer or a
glass of wine and then a pep talk for myself.  And ya know what?  I'm
relaxed, so the horse is relaxed, so I relax more....no wrecks from being
over tense :)

A crutch?  Sure :) but so are my stirrups when my mare decides to go stage
left on me without warning!

Corrine
----- Original Message -----
From: Kathy Mayeda <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>
To: <RhndLev@cs.com>; <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 8:08 PM
Subject: RC: RE: Fear--long


> Having just started another horse, I have plenty of fear, too.  He has
> dumped me only once, but every time I get on the horse I take a long
> time to mount.  I play Parelli type games with him first, make sure
> he's focussed on me, and then take him to the mounting block.  Then I
> take a deep breath, get centered, pray, then tug on the stirrup leathers
> a couple of times before mounting.  If he moves, I stop him then repeat
> before I get on.  I've done this as long as 10 minutes before I
> actually swung on to his back.
>
> I broke my mare to ride as a 3 y.o. and I guess it's like giving birth-
> painful while you do it, but memory fades...  It's funny - she is actually
> a little more dangerous than Drako to ride right now, but since I know
> her so well and that she's a -itch, I expect her to behave badly
sometimes.
> And I know how much I can get on her case.  She needs someone more
> strong-willed than her to make her toe the line.  I learned how to
> get tough with a horse in an appropriate manner because I had to with her.
> But I needed a break from having such a confrontational horse.  She's like
> a high performance vehicle that needs constant tuning up to run smoothly,
> and I just wanna truck.
>
> With Drako - since he's so vulnerable right now I don't know what he's
> going to do, so I'm actually more fearful of riding him.  He wants to
> please a lot more than my mare, but he sometimes gets to the point
> where he almost "loses it".  We just take a step at a time - for myself
> and the horse - to earn trust in each other.
>
> K.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RhndLev@cs.com [mailto:RhndLev@cs.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 1:27 PM
> To: ridecamp@endurance.net
> Subject: RC: Fear--long
>
>
> I had a major wreck on horseback (on that ornery Appaloosa mare I used to
> have) a couple of years ago and ended up unable to walk for over a week
and
> a
> long recovery.  When I was well enough, I went back to riding my good old
> TWH
> gelding to get my confidence back.  I started riding the Appy again, but
> remained very fearful of riding with her.  I was fine with Laddie, but not
> the Appy.  I eventually met and fell in love with Special and sold the
Appy.
> Special really helped me get over my fears, I thought.  The few times I've
> been afraid on her, she seemed to sense it and slow down for me.  I've
also
> started a three year old Arab under saddle without too much difficulty.
> However, apparently, I'm really not over my fears.
>
> Remember that four year old filly I sold and then bought back because she
> was
> being starved?  I tried riding her last night.  She's had 60 days with a
> professional trainer, but I still had a lot of anxiety about riding her.
> She's a lot of horse and VERY quick.  [This is the horse that trotted for
an
> hour half-starved without ever trying to quit.]  I mounted her a couple of
> times last night to see how she would do.  She stood like a rock.
However,
> the third time I mounted, she flung her head back just as I settled into
the
> saddle, and cracked me hard in the mouth and nose.  My husband tried to
grab
> the reins to give me time to recover and the filly ducked down and to the
> side and I went off.  The filly went down also.  I waited for us both to
> settle down and re-mounted and went up and down the driveway twice and got
> off.  Getting back on that horse was SO hard.  She's going to be a
> phenomenal
> horse but I just don't want to ride her.  She moves so fast and there's so
> little horse in front of me compared to Special (15.2 with a loooooong
> neck),
> that I kept feeling like I was going to come off of the front of her
again.
> We do plan to sell this horse eventually, but Knightmare really needs more
> riding experience and I have to ride her because there's no one else to do
> it.  Please someone tell me how to get rid of this fear.
>
> Rhonda
>
>
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