Sudden Confidence Loss

[Violet]

I have been riding for years and have been riding this horse for over six months, but suddenly I have no confidence. Nothing bad happened, just all of a sudden I feel as if I can’t ride. It’s so bad I didn’t even finish my classes at a recent show. Not only that but my horse can sense that I have no confidence and therefore is very unsure what to do while I’m riding, which means he pretty much does nothing that I ask him the first time. Today I struggled to just pick up the canter (it took me up to five tries in each direction, as in I stopped him and brought him back round to where we started). Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do to gain back your confidence?

 

[Jessey]

Are you having lessons? Even good riders benefit from coaching and it can really help confidence to know that you’re doing things right.

 

[Bizzer]

Stress and Anxiety unrleated to riding may have an impact! Perhaps assess what other factors are going on in your life that might not be helping?

 

[Trewsers]

Stress and Anxiety unrleated to riding may have an impact! Perhaps assess what other factors are going on in your life that might not be helping?

Yes I agree, that happened to me a long time ago and it had a huge impact on my riding.

 

[Skib]

I cant help you with confidence but any sort of stiffness blocks the forward movement of the horse. So deep breathing and relaxing to allow forward movement. Picture the horse flowing forward into canter between your hands and your thighs.
However, before one goes into canter there has to be commuication between horse and rider. This is something you can feel - a two way conversation.

And one can overdo it too. I relaxed my hands so much yesterday that I lost my steering in canter.

Oddly enough my current ride does not pick up on my nervousness. I can be worried about the wind or open spaces or road mending machines and she is completely unconcerned, Her view seems to be that she knows the routes better than I do.