At 19:19:42 on 07.09.10, ZenyattaRuffianfan wrote:
I have been riding on and off in my life. I first took lessons at 5 and fell of my pony and got dragged across the ring in my second riding lesson. Then I stopped riding for a bit and went to a different barn. I fell off on my first lesson their but I kept riding for about a month and fell off 2 more times. Now im 14 years old and im at a new barn. I have been riding their for 2 years now and I still get nervous on the horse I ride. The horse I ride is a little bit of a spaz and gets really fast and doesnt litsen to me. How can I get my confidence back and get the horse to slow down? Thanks, ZenyattaRuffianfan

At 20:44:28 on 07.09.10, EmandBlueX wrote:
well what i do with my mare who does the same is if she tries to speed up or ivade me i turn her in a very tight circle to the left ( to the gate or wall so she has to slow and stop) this really helps me i normally have a school to my self so with my circle i use that to change diaganol but what ever works for you. you also use this to break in a fresh horse or youngster it has really helped me and im so much more confident on my mare now so i hope this helps

At 21:50:48 on 07.09.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I would ask for a safer pony for now, get your confidence up then tackle the naughty ponies.

At 00:22:24 on 08.09.10, ZenyattaRuffianfan wrote:
I do circle him but he actually gets faster and I try running him into walls. I also cant ride a different horse, my instructer wont let me.

At 01:41:04 on 08.09.10, Brihorses14 wrote:
dont just run him into a wall run him into a corner then make him back up to get out

At 13:16:25 on 08.09.10, BigBoys_Gal wrote:
I once had a Mare that did the same thing. sometimes she would start into a trot before i was even halfway in the saddle. it was a hard habbit to break but i managed. for me it started from the ground up. i would work her untill she would stand still enough to mount her. i also spent alot of bonding time with her. just going out and feeding her treats. some days i would just pull her in to brush her and turn her loos. when it cam do to riding her i would make her stand still untill she was calm. and it she would try bolt on me i would make her stop and stand again and when she did so i would pat her. it took me 2 year to break the habbit to where i could go out into her pasture and judt sit on her back while she grazed. some horses are hardto break bad habbits after the age of 6. Beauty was 18 when i met her. another thing you can try is making him do circles every time you feel like he is about to to it. so when you are riding around the ring every few steps you are turn around in a tight circle in the ring. i some time would run it out on beauty just to get all the energy out of her. Hope this helped

At 20:43:06 on 08.09.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I disagree with running into a wall and persist, you pay for lessons and you should enjoy them. If this horse scares you you either need to tell your instructor you want a safe bomb-proof ride or you go get some lessons on a schoolmaster. The problem will only get worse if you keep riding this horse. If you really want to ride this pony you need to re think about how you ride, don't get nervous (this horse probably sences it and then goes loopy). To ride a excitable horse you need to be calm and relaxed, in the horse world opposites really do attract.

At 19:34:35 on 10.09.10, Flicka wrote:
Yes riding should be fun so the first thing you need to do for your confidence is ask if you can ride an easier horse and then you can go back to this one when you're more confident and experienced. Jess is right, if he senses you are nervous then he will get tense and go even faster. Remember if you pull rigidly on the reins then the horse will pull back. If it's not possible to change-although I can't see why not-then get back to us and we'll come up with some more ideas for you. Good Luck :) For now have a look at confidence coach Caroline P's tips in the link below.
http://www.trotontv.com/community/showforum/597/quick-confidence-tips.html

At 15:48:25 on 12.09.10, ZenyattaRuffianfan wrote:
Thanks for all the tips. But my instructer doesnt want me to ride a different horse. She wants me to learn how to control him. There is another problem with the horse now though. The more I ride him the more uncontrolable he becomes.

At 13:03:29 on 26.09.10, ellaarrgghh wrote:
Riding school ponies aren't very good to learn on because they don't listen, you need to find a small barn with horses that aren't ridin all day and therefore are more likely to respond to your seat and hands, or get your own pony that is not like riding school ponies and you can get to know it on a one-to-one basis and have a connection in the seat, which will give you alot of confidence and experience.