Horse riding anxiety can be crippling.
Maybe you have anxiety around going on a trail ride, cantering or jumping. Or you’re afraid of your horse misbehaving. Maybe you’re afraid to get back on your horse after a traumatic fall.
If anxiety gets the better of you, you might be considering saying goodbye to riding forever.
If you looked into my mind’s control room a few years ago, you would have found my fear and anxiety controls on high alert with the word “danger!” flashing in large red letters and continuously scrolling across a screen.
After a fall from my young gelding, I became hyper-vigilant for danger about riding with a chorus of “what-ifs” singing in my mind despite the logical side of me knowing I wasn’t really in danger. And knowing that I was fully capable of riding my and my clients’ horses.
But that control room was out of whack and overruling my logical mind.
That part of my mind only wanted to keep me safe. But it’s approach was doing the opposite… AND stealing my joy.
Because with that level of fear, I would freeze. I couldn’t think clearly. I couldn’t connect with the horse I was riding. And I couldn’t make good decisions.
I’d get in the saddle and immediately jump off!
A state of hyper-vigilance, like an overactive immune system, can cause more internal damage than the external problems it’s trying to prevent.
If you’re constantly in a fight/flight state, expecting the absolute worst to happen, you can’t make good decisions or have good outcomes.
You can’t think of anything other than the perceived danger.
Inappropriate fear (anxiety) keeps you stuck. Instead of protecting you, it can generate more problems.
If you’re always worrying about falling off (or worse), you’ll always hold back - get in your horse’s way, possibly creating the situation you’re fearing.
You’ll always be looking for a quick escape… reasons to get off your horse or excuses not to ride at all
You’ll build barriers to a genuine connection with your horse.
You’ll ride like someone nervously teetering on the edge of a diving board. Wanting to go for it, but too afraid to move.
Stuck in indecision and feeling off-balance, tense, and tentative.
That all makes missteps and misunderstandings between you and your horse more likely, not less.
I want you to know that you are not broken.
That how you’re feeling is a perfectly natural (and normal) response.
- It may have been caused by experiencing a bad fall or a near miss.
- It might have been triggered by witnessing someone else’s experience.
- It could even have been triggered by something that’s going on in another part of your life.
You don’t need to know what the cause was. What you do need to do is stop beating yourself up.
Your control room needs a reset. And you have access to it.
I take my clients through a simple exercise where you imagine what your control room would look like. It might have buttons or levers or computer screens. It’s your control room so imagine it however you like,
Just imagine what your control room looks like then make the changes you want by dialing down the anxiety. Maybe turn up the confidence while you’re there. That’s all there is to it.
Are you ready to take control of your riding fear? Join the Horse Riding Confidence Solution program!
In just 5 weeks, you'll be riding with confidence!
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