“I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to rebuild my confidence. I was at an ODE for my Riding Club eventing team at Larkhill about 8 months ago when I took a crashing fall, breaking my collarbone, sternum and 5 ribs on the cross country. Since then I have been too scared to even jump so my friend has been riding and competing my horse for me.
Now I’ve only got 8 weeks left at school before I only have to go in to do my GCSEs. I want to start riding again so that I feel ready to start competing during the 8 or 9 weeks I have off school. I really want to start jumping again but I am worried about pushing myself and my horse too hard too soon.
Do you have any suggestions to rebuild my confidence as I was the only junior competing at Riding Club advanced?”
Oliver answers: In my opinion the best way is to start small and build up. To get more confidence you need to do a lot of repetition, to do the same thing again and again and again until it becomes normal and not a big deal.
You always have to push yourself to improve but do make sure that you are not completely out of your skill level, so that you continue to have positive experiences rather than negative ones.
I hope that’s of some help, and good luck with everything.