At 02:51:07 on 07.10.11, SuperFlyingHero wrote:
I am a confident jumper when I am on my pony (13.1 hh). Jumping is my passion and i love it, but sometimes i get nervous. I will ride any pony you put me on and do just fine, but when it comes to a bigger horse i tend to lose confidence. On the flat, big horses are fine, but jumping them gets to me. I feel okay riding my warmblood mare (15.3hh) because i trust her, but any other 15+ hh horse i get nervous. I lost confidence when i fell off of a horse jumping when he bucked out of the jump and i now ride a horse in my lessons that puts his head down after jumps as well and i get scared so i dread asking him to canter over anything 2'9". My fear for jumping only happens after the jumps on naughty horses, and on bigger horses. Any advice on getting more comfortable with these problems?

At 04:38:32 on 07.10.11, Jay1989 wrote:
Hi, go back to basics, trotting poles, grids, gymnastic work outs keeps them thinking and will help you feel safer, and stay at a trot for a while if it makes you more comfortable, there is no point rushing things then completely loosing your confidence or worse seriously injuring yourself. Good luck!

At 22:23:13 on 07.10.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
On a big horse when you are jumping you tend to look down at the jump because you are so high up and that tends to throw you off balance because you lean forewards unintentionally and then the horse will feel like it isn't traveling with enough momentum to clear the fence and it is a downward chain from there... You need to look up at something past the jump not the top rail of the jump because you will prob be lookng down at the top rail from a bigger horse so look at the jump at the beginning of the approach but as you get closer look past the jump so you remain sat straight this should help you meet the jump right and keep your balance and over time hopefully build your confidence (correct me if anything i have said is wrong) :)

At 22:32:32 on 08.10.11, benjy blue wrote:
my horse has go into the habit of seeing a fence ad galloping full speed ahead into a jump and jumping it way bigger then it is help me !!!

At 20:26:40 on 12.10.11, SuperFlyingHero wrote:
thank you all for the advice, and at Jay1989 i am completely fine and capable and have been for years now to canter a course so i wouldnt be rushing just the big horses make me nervous reguardless. and at Benjy Blue i know it sounds crazy but you absolutely cant get him to slow down try circling him whenever he takes off like that, that way he cant rush into jumps, make him trot everything until he doesnt fight for a canter anymore.

At 21:53:25 on 12.10.11, benjy blue wrote:
thanks will try that once he gets his nnew shoes the bold pony when my friend got off him today she let go despite my shouting he galloped off and started rolling in the tack i polished before we left and i washed him what a waste of my effort!

At 20:05:34 on 06.11.11, jumpin_barrels wrote:
OK guys. I'm having jumping issues. I thought I became more confident over the jumps at my last lesson. Halfway thru my horse started refusing the jumps thinking I was going to hurt him by pulling on him. Help my confidence so I will actually let go? I keep thinking he's not gonna go to the jump or something. So yeah I guess I'm not positive he's going to jump it.

At 03:55:30 on 11.11.11, jumpin_barrels wrote:
This video may help, it was of my previous jumping lesson, when I realized I did lose a lot of confidence even though I thought I did.

At 01:30:40 on 13.11.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
@jumpin_barrels It sounds like you are expecting the worst, a horse doesn't think of a jump as negative until you make it negative, if you see yourself going over the jump you will go over the jump, if you hesitate or get nervous your horse will too, you HAVE to get confident that your horse will get you over the jump otherwise if you dont believe it why should your horse? Thats how he see's it and if you don't have confidence he will loose his and bottle it. Confidence is something only you can unlock just try not to focus on the jump too much just think you are cantering along nothing in your way and take the jump naturally without stareing at it cos then you will get the butterflies and get nervous and your horse will refuse. Hope this helps

At 01:34:31 on 13.11.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
Just watched the vid you are definately hesitating and are VERY tense, sit up and relax through your body you are leaning foreward before you even go over the jump its like you are bracing yourself to get a refusal before the horse even thinks about the jump! Also you aren't jabbing him in the mouth don't worry he seems to just get a bit on the forehand after the jump and tries to pull the reins out of your hand but this is probably because you are leaning off balance, once you sit up and relax everything will probably fall into place!