RE: RE: Fear--long

["Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>]

I've only drank and rode a couple of times in my life, but it was
for partying purposes and had a blast!  Nothing like losing your
white horse while peeing in the bushes because of too much beer
and watching him dance in the moonlight!

Also, when you get dumped while on alcohol, it'll be like
an alcoholic's car wreck - you come out of it less hurt because
your body is relaxed.

Don't take this as judgment or a flame.  I just never thought
of it for myself and I like to keep all my wits about me when
dealing with a youngster.  I just learned to take deep breaths
and PRAY!

Yep, Rhonda, my really last lick for the night...

K.

-----Original Message-----
From: C. Osborne [mailto:whiteokarabians@email.com]
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 7:51 PM
To: Kathy Mayeda; RhndLev@cs.com; ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: Re: RE: Fear--long


I've found myself in the same place as most of the posters on this topic
from time to time...and the one thing I think I've found to be universal is
that it's a self perpetuating thing.  I get nervous/afraid and get tense, so
the horse gets tense, so I get tense,....

My cure...and I swear this is the truth....liquid courage :).  A beer or a
glass of wine and then a pep talk for myself.  And ya know what?  I'm
relaxed, so the horse is relaxed, so I relax more....no wrecks from being
over tense :)

A crutch?  Sure :) but so are my stirrups when my mare decides to go stage
left on me without warning!

Corrine
----- Original Message -----
From: Kathy Mayeda <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>
To: <RhndLev@cs.com>; <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 8:08 PM
Subject: RC: RE: Fear--long


> Having just started another horse, I have plenty of fear, too.  He has
> dumped me only once, but every time I get on the horse I take a long
> time to mount.  I play Parelli type games with him first, make sure
> he's focussed on me, and then take him to the mounting block.  Then I
> take a deep breath, get centered, pray, then tug on the stirrup leathers
> a couple of times before mounting.  If he moves, I stop him then repeat
> before I get on.  I've done this as long as 10 minutes before I
> actually swung on to his back.
>
> I broke my mare to ride as a 3 y.o. and I guess it's like giving birth-
> painful while you do it, but memory fades...  It's funny - she is actually
> a little more dangerous than Drako to ride right now, but since I know
> her so well and that she's a -itch, I expect her to behave badly
sometimes.
> And I know how much I can get on her case.  She needs someone more
> strong-willed than her to make her toe the line.  I learned how to
> get tough with a horse in an appropriate manner because I had to with her.
> But I needed a break from having such a confrontational horse.  She's like
> a high performance vehicle that needs constant tuning up to run smoothly,
> and I just wanna truck.
>
> With Drako - since he's so vulnerable right now I don't know what he's
> going to do, so I'm actually more fearful of riding him.  He wants to
> please a lot more than my mare, but he sometimes gets to the point
> where he almost "loses it".  We just take a step at a time - for myself
> and the horse - to earn trust in each other.
>
> K.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RhndLev@cs.com [mailto:RhndLev@cs.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 1:27 PM
> To: ridecamp@endurance.net
> Subject: RC: Fear--long
>
>
> I had a major wreck on horseback (on that ornery Appaloosa mare I used to
> have) a couple of years ago and ended up unable to walk for over a week
and
> a
> long recovery.  When I was well enough, I went back to riding my good old
> TWH
> gelding to get my confidence back.  I started riding the Appy again, but
> remained very fearful of riding with her.  I was fine with Laddie, but not
> the Appy.  I eventually met and fell in love with Special and sold the
Appy.
> Special really helped me get over my fears, I thought.  The few times I've
> been afraid on her, she seemed to sense it and slow down for me.  I've
also
> started a three year old Arab under saddle without too much difficulty.
> However, apparently, I'm really not over my fears.
>
> Remember that four year old filly I sold and then bought back because she
> was
> being starved?  I tried riding her last night.  She's had 60 days with a
> professional trainer, but I still had a lot of anxiety about riding her.
> She's a lot of horse and VERY quick.  [This is the horse that trotted for
an
> hour half-starved without ever trying to quit.]  I mounted her a couple of
> times last night to see how she would do.  She stood like a rock.
However,
> the third time I mounted, she flung her head back just as I settled into
the
> saddle, and cracked me hard in the mouth and nose.  My husband tried to
grab
> the reins to give me time to recover and the filly ducked down and to the
> side and I went off.  The filly went down also.  I waited for us both to
> settle down and re-mounted and went up and down the driveway twice and got
> off.  Getting back on that horse was SO hard.  She's going to be a
> phenomenal
> horse but I just don't want to ride her.  She moves so fast and there's so
> little horse in front of me compared to Special (15.2 with a loooooong
> neck),
> that I kept feeling like I was going to come off of the front of her
again.
> We do plan to sell this horse eventually, but Knightmare really needs more
> riding experience and I have to ride her because there's no one else to do
> it.  Please someone tell me how to get rid of this fear.
>
> Rhonda
>
>
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