How can I get my confidence back??

[Jade]

Ok, well two or three weeks ago, I took a spill while jumping and I just can't seem to get over it. I don't know why it is that this fall shook me up so badly, considering last October I crashed through a jump and almost fractured my shoulder, and as soon as I could ride again I got right back into jumping. I just can't seem to do that this time. I really want to jump again, but part of me just screams "NO!! DON'T!!!" every time the chance comes up. Any ideas of what I could do?? Thanks a bunch.

[Paul_Hilton93]

I don't think you should of just jumped right back into it. You should just try working from basics, like work some flat work, maybe working over some cross rails, and slowly get back into jumping regularly again. Maybe doing some natural horsemanship exercises to help build trust and confidence with your horse would help you too.

[Hayley]

aww that sucks :(
when i was training this other horse the horse suddenly stopped. i went over the jump. once i was on the ground the horse went over the jump and kicked my helmet and i was shooken up pretty bad so you should just start with low jumps and really work on your form over the fence etc until you feel comfortable enough and then you can start to raise it

[Julie Jacoby]

i also agree with everyone elses statements, when i broke my leg i was terrified to do anything over a trot, since i broke my leg when my horse decided that a 180 degree turn in a very fast canter was a cool thing to do but now im back riding and race my horse bareback against friends, i just had to take it slow and gradually learn to trust myself and my horse again, dont push yourself to go back to where you were before instantly but remember when you were first learning how everything was scary but now you can hop up on a horse and dont think twice, same concept except you know how to do everything you just need to gain confidence through practice that gradually gets you to where you were prior

[Jade]

Thank you sooo much for all your suggestions. Yesterday I had a lesson and my trainer let me ride a sweet, old guy who knew exactly what he was doing, and I did go over a couple of crossrails, which did help give me a little confidence that everything was ok and that I wasn't going to fall or anything. Thanks again for all your help, and I'll remember some of the suggestions you made when I ride.

[Kamron]

Do you own your horse or take lessons on school horses? Sometimes it's really good to get on the dead broke confidence builders that you could littlerally point them at a little jump and they will carry you over. It's normal to loose confidence when you fall wether it's a bad fall or not. I would have you ride a nice quiet horse for a little while, doing ground rails and slowly building up the jumps over time until you got your confidence back. It's really not going to do you much good to just go and jump the big ones. If you are scared your horse will wonder whats going on and loose his confidence too and now you have an unconfident horse and rider. Just take your time and in no time you will be jumping confidently again:)

[Kamron]

Should have read your last comment, sounds like you have a good trainer:)