At 13:45:00 on 26.01.12, PixiePaige wrote:
Well I've had my chesnut arab mare, Calli, for about a year now and in the beginning we were fine. We got on well, and she seemed a little spooky but nothing too serious that I couldn't deal with. I would push her through all sorts of situations that she hated and her confidence seemed to grow. However a few weeks after getting her, I had a nasty fall. I felt fine about the fall (just a little achy) and intended to get back on as soon as possible. Unfortunately Calli suffered a serious leg injury, which resulted in her being out of work for a few months. During this time I believe I lost my confidence slightly, as I couldnt get back on. Eventually she was ready to brought back in to light work and things were fine, she was more spooky than before but I think that was down to being out of work. However this new found spookiness was knocking my confidence hard, so stupidly I stopped riding her, for fear I would be put off horses for life. Since then I have ridden her once and it was awful. She spooked at everything, and when I tried to get her to achknowledge whatever she was scared of she had a paddy and decided to rear or buck and then proceed to bolt. I have since put Calli out on part loan to a confident lady who can hopefully bring Calli back to her original self. All I want is some help to get myself back riding her as I really love this mare, Thankyou.

At 20:09:10 on 05.02.12, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I think you know the answer yourself lol, she has gotten used to the easy life and doesn't particularly want to be exercised and who can blame her? You just need to get tough but in order to be tough with her you need to get confident, give yourself a good talking to :P if you want something enough you will overcome your mental barriers, maybe ride a friends horse that is safe for now to gain confidence but honestly the only person who can make you confident is yourself if that makes sense...

At 21:27:19 on 07.02.12, Maria100 wrote:
Take some pressure off yourself & start at the begining again. You have sorted the problem of who will ride your mare for the moment so use the time to get your confidence back. The best way to do this is to ride a quite horse that you don't have to worry about. Ride & ride & ride until you are completely calm & enjoying the activity again. you'd be surprised how quickly your confidence will return once you take the pressure away, good luck x