Getting Back In The Saddle.

Now, I’m still not sure how much like the blog of GSB the journals are, or if they’re anything similar to the old journals of GSB [the time before Mibba that you may not be aware of], but this is my…it’s sort of advice, sort of a random thing…sort of a me thing.

It’s about overcoming fears that have been caused from bad experience. Maybe you’re scared of hospitals because you’ve been to A&E for personal needs 7 timesI know I am or maybe you’re scared of dogs because one attacked you as a child…etc...

In life there are so many things to be scared of but do we let bad experiences ruin our happiness? Sure, a fear of doctors or dentists doesn’t affect life much apart from odd medical things occasionally, but it’s not as if the fear is ruining something.

Personally, I’m pretty okay when it comes to being scared but in reality I know there’s tons of things I should be scared of. 7 years ago I fell from a horse; woah, big woop, right? There are two pictures of me on my profile on horses, so it’s obviously not an issue since they’re quite large horses at that. Falls are nothing bad, for the first few years of my riding life, I had many due to being put on small ponies that I simply couldn’t ride; one day someone rammed their horse into the back of mine and I got thrown off against a wall and then onto the ground, shattering my arm in three places and to be honest I’m lucky to still have use of my arm.

Two year break from riding and no matter how much I loved it, medically I was unable to…there wasn’t a fear for me-it was my mum’s fear I had to overcome. So, I wore the body protector and rode the gentlest horse at the yard, barely a horse really, but my mum was happy and all…until I got to Tinkerbell.

By this stage I was out of the body protector and happily riding, possibly no more than a year and a half back into my riding [I’m at 5 years currently with no fall]. But Tinkerbell, I was surprised when Ann [owner] suggested her for me; she’s a complete psycho horse to the extreme. Anything scares her, she has to stand away from all other horses so no one kicks her and she stands at around 15/16hh apparently [according to one of the people there]. Slowly, I began to move up to Welly [Archie was a bit of a set back but he’s a good ride] who had issues with throwing a woman before galloping off this steep track. In the past month I’ve ridden both Tinker and Welly on two hours and neither time have I struggled; I was safe and still haven’t fallen.

So what does this have to do with anything?

Did you notice the steady build up from novice?

My mum’s always going to be scared yet the pain is relieved by a build up.

Think of your fear. Think of how you can gradually build up to overcome it. Think of the benefits for you.