It\'s strange that it took my horse bucking me off to shatter my confidence when I\'ve been thrown by my ponies countless times. I still occasionally ride my horse, but I\'m almost afraid to and I know he knows that because he acts unsure of himself especially with his footing.

Would it be best for me to start completely over and work on him from the ground up or should I just stick to working on getting back in the saddle?

I love the fact that you are sticking with it. You should aways stay in your comfort zone. You are correct that the horse can sense when you are unsure of your relationship with the horse. So if you are more comfortable doing some work on the ground that will build more confidence for you and your horse then that is great, but get back on as soon as you can so getting on doesn\'t get to be a big hurtle later.

Hey there

I would agree that you must remain safe and regain control of your horse and your confidence.
Many years ago, when my mare dumped me, I could get on any other horse with no fear, however, that horse was taboo for me at the time.
With the support and practical help from a JL trainer I was able to regain control of myself and my horse and away we went. Happy ending!!!

What I can say from direct expreience is; please do not allow anyone to convince you that you are ready. Never put your safety in the hands of anyone else. You must make that decision for yourself and again, I would agree to not let it drag on too long. Do not do yourself the disservice of making excuses for not riding. Make a conscious decision to work it out or move on.

I wish you all the best and I know that, if you really want it, you will be back in the saddle sooner than you may think!
\"Keep a leg on either side and your mind in the middle\"

Hey Blakjak

Give some examples of what schooling you would do to regain the control.

I like to set goals that are small daily steps when I have some training problems. If I have a young horse that has difficulties accepting the training I set goals of wanting the horse to accept me saddling him 5 times today and maybe the next day I will try to get him to accept me pulling on both stirups with out moving. The next day I might expect to get him to stand quiet while I slap the stirup and so on. This way I get my mind set on keeping progress but I always take very small steps along the way. I think this would work for confidence building in both horse and rider.


The biggest thing is stick to it!

Thanks guys. Your support is really helping.

it must have been one of those falls that effects you. its weird how most spills just pass you by but now and then one can really shake you up. ive hit the ground enough to know that ill live through it so i dont even think about the possibility anymore, i have confidence when i get on a horse and they can tell, if you get on fearful, they will feel it too. Even being too cautions can give them license to take advantage of you. I\'d probably get back on but only when i was comfortable. lunge the horse alot, and practice things like showmanship. make the horse respect you on the ground and build up confidence. lunge the horse and get on it and have a short ride when you are ready, like hoyt said, build slowly. increase your ride length as you feel comfortable. don\'t be pressured to hop back to it all right away. \"Rome wasn\'t built in a day\"

I\'m glad you brought up the lunging. For some reason Stormy likes to lunge to the left rather than the right. When I try to make him go to the right he goes for a few steps and turns right back around to the left.

If I try to turn him back around he about bowls me over then turns back to the left. I\'ve tried training him to stay out of my personal space but he always turns back around. How can I get him to be use to going both ways?

horses all have their favorites, like people they become right and left handed. (or hooved i guess haha)

we as people nearly force them to be left handed, as we mount/dismount lead and handle them all from the left side, we even enter show rings to the left first almost always, and we all recreate that at home. My horse has a the same desire. we spin better left than right, so i work twice as hard to the right.

Make him lunge right first and if he hesitates, crack the wip behind him. if he begins to rurn twoard you, id try to use the line to steer him away. if he does this wuickly or agressivley i might touch him with the wip, not hard or in a mean way, but they cannot bully you. you give the orders.

a light tap wit the wip to encourage forward motion when you begin may help. lunge a smaller circle and do not let him turn till you ask. if he begins to turn crack the wip behind him. even if he turns around and faces it, keep it as a barrier untill he resolves to go to the right.

Thanks for the tip! I\'ll keep it in mind.

hope it helps! its a respect issue, not an issue of your horse getting \"used\" to it =]