Franklin Levinson's
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New Horse Blues and overcoming fear of fall
Dear Franklin,
I was reading some of the articles about afraid of your horse while on their back. I took a fall a few years ago because the cinch broke as I was running up a hill, the first time I ever fell off hit the ground pretty hard I rode a young green broke horse back to the barn because she had a saddle and I did think I could ride bareback because of how sore I was.
Anyway I purchased a 2 year old filly saddlebred and have been doing a lot of work with her. I have been on her three times now in the round pen and feel kinda of uneasy some of the time. I also realized I have never rode in a round pen before and I do feel kinda boxed in. I dont know if this is causing the uneasy feeling or, if I am scared because of the fall. I havent really rode that much since the fall. The owner/trainer of the barn said that she thinks I should get used to her in the round pen and than take her out in the field.
Annette
Hi Annette,
If I may be rather candid with you, getting such a young horse may not have been the most prudent acquisition for you. At two this horse is so very, very green and will be so for a long time. My experience with saddlebreds is that they tend to NOT be the easiest of horses anyway (this due to traditional ways of handling young saddlebreds which I am completely at odds with). Consider you probably would not be asking for such help if you had purchased a seasoned, well-trained, gorgous, mature, confident horse. If you are not a confident trainer nor a confident rider, why purchase such a challenge. It is hard for me to believe that anyone knowing you have this fear of falling and being less than confident, at this time in your life anyway, would try to encourage you to get a young horse that needs really confident and appropriate training for quite a while.
You should be able to ride anywhere, large or small spaces, on a mature horse, not a baby. If you lose confidence so does the horse. That is the way it is. Perhaps overcome your fears through riding a mature, confident, relaible horse, rather than a baby that needs training.
Good luck, Sincerely, Franklin