At 17:40:47 on 03.10.10, fillydelphia wrote:
Hello, I'm new here. My name is Lianne and I live in Edmonton, Alberta. I'm also new to Edmonton, I moved here about 2 months ago from Montreal, Quebec. Anyways, I love horses. I started riding when I was 6, I used to ride bareback with nothing but a halter and jump 4' when I was 12. I slowed my riding for about 5 years, I stopped taking lessons. I broke my first colt when I was 14. And have started many horses since then. I attended a 2 year Agricultural/Equine program. And I have learned a lot. I have however had a few very bad accidents in the past with my riding. My confidence has deteriorated since I stopped taking lessons. I was taking lessons during college. However, I graduated a year ago, and went to university for a year. University is highly time consuming, and it's much more difficult to balance riding and school. So, I stopped riding for the year to focus on schooling. Which was very difficult. While I was going to college, the school horse I was riding, was a very strong, Canadian/Quarter Horse cross. He would bite the bit, and bolt. I have an incredible fear of bolting horses now. I have the bad habit of tensing and leaning forward. My horse back home, (In Montreal) was a very mellow horse, and he was the lazy kind. He was only 4 years old, and although he would do silly 4 year old things, bolting was just not one of them. So we were a very well matched up pair. I had to leave him to my mother though when I moved across the country. Now I'm working at a stable, and I have the opportunity to work with an Arabian/Warmblood cross mare. I miss riding sooo much. And I was given the opportunity to ride this mare. I haven't ridden her yet, I have been doing a lot of in-hand work. And I've come to find out, that she bolts... :S So now, I'm terrified of getting on her. And when I get nervous I know she can sense it. She's highly attached to the other horses in her barn, and doesn't get very much human interaction at all. And the reason I was offered to ride her, is because no one else wants to ride her. The only thing that stinks, is that the only way I'll be able to ride other horses, is if I rider her first. So I'm not even sure how to go about this situation. Or if anyone else can give me some tips on how I can "cool out" when it come to bolting, and "loosing control" of the animal.

At 22:42:33 on 03.10.10, CarolineP wrote:
Hi fillydelphia, I would counsel caution here. This horse sounds like she will need a lot of work before you can safely ride her. I would build a relationship with her by working with her from the ground before you ever ride her. She could be a really rewarding horse to work with, but in my opinion you need to ensure that you have mutual trust before you ride her. She may well respond really well to some tlc and individual attention, which would be lovely. You can be practising keeping yourself calm and grounded (see the tips posted in this group) and really get those confidence techniques under your belt before you ever get on her. There's a good book called "The Fearless Horse" by Roger and Joanna Day, which you might like to try and get hold of. They talk about ways you can train the horse so that it can cope with being removed from its friends and enabling it to cooperate with the rider/handler. If you're willing to invest the time and energy, you could have the most marvellous relationship with this horse, if the horse is willing to take part too. You might also like to investigate Karen Murdock, who is in the US. She works with an ex-racehorse called Lukas and trains him through play. There's a recording of an interview I did with her on my site (link below), where she talks about various confidence and training issues. Please make sure that you keep yourself safe. Good luck with your project! Kind regards, Caroline
http://enjoyriding.com/