# How to restore confidence after a bad fall?



## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

After I fell off- I just had to take it slow & cowgirl up. 

Also, getting right back on after the fall helped me alot. (not that it would have been possible in this situation, but in the future)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I would not allow her to get rid of him without at least trying to work things out. 

What if you allowed another girl to come and spend time with him. Maybe that would make her feel so jealous that she'd start to come out and see Hank again.
I think it's probably a bit soon for her to recover. But, if you stress the angle of "Hank needs you", that might get her out there.

bummer that her first fall was such a doozy. It is better if you have lots of the "whatever" kind of falls first.


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## gigem88 (May 10, 2011)

I can definitely relate, as I am getting over my own fall! I agree with tinyliny, talking about Hank's need might get her in thru the back door! Keep us posted!


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## gale (Mar 29, 2012)

Just a mini update. We visited Hank today. I got him out and my daughter brushed him and we both just pretty much heaped attention on him. He ate it up and she was happy that we did it, and I think it helped a lot. Baby steps.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Just lots and lots of baby steps. Maybe she can hop on a quieter horse and build confidence there and hop on her horse later on?

I got bucked off of a mare, landed on my head.. sprained my neck (thank goodness it wasn't worse) and I was in tears and in pain and I got back on that horse and trotted her *** off (in hindsight a TERRIBLE idea.) That fall spooked me off of horses for over a month. I couldn't even sit on one without having an anxiety spark. I slowly got on a green mare (different one.. one that I had been schooling for a year) and she helped me get confidence to ride again and I could get back on any horse and I was fine. 

People just need to take it easy after a fall. Don't let her quit. We all get hurt but if we quit then we would kick ourselves from here to Cancun because we would miss it a lot. 

It's okay if she's not ready to ride again, but I'm glad she's going out and brushing him 

Hopefully the trainer works on his spook reaction so it never happens again.

Best of luck


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## Samstead (Dec 13, 2011)

Ride it out. She just needs to have a few incident free rides and shell build her confidence back. Thats what I did, I fell about a month and a half ago and only last week started jumping again. The fall wasn't nearly as bad as your daughters, just winded me and scared me off jumping but now that I did it, it feels great!


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## Ally56 (Feb 12, 2012)

I had the same thing happen to me. I was riding in the field, my mare jumped and bucked, I came off and broke my arm. About a year or 2 after that, I had lost my fearless attitude about riding, and was a LOT more timid. What helped me get over it was a quote that said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." There should always be a little bit of fear toward a horse, that's called respect, but when you let it rule your thoughts and decisions, that's when it becomes a problem. If your daughter loves horses more than she fears them, then she will be fine It took me about 2 years to get over my fear, and I feel like it has made me a stronger horse person. Consider your daughter lucky. Not everyone gets the chance to overcome a big fear and learn from it. Let her know she's been given an opportunity, now make good use of it


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## gale (Mar 29, 2012)

Thanks. She had a dr appointment today and her ortho is not exactly encouraging her to ride again. He doesn't like horses because he's only seen the bad from them. Hopefully she'll decide that she wants to ride more than not.


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## cowboy bowhunter (Mar 15, 2012)

gale said:


> Thanks. She had a dr appointment today and her ortho is not exactly encouraging her to ride again. He doesn't like horses because he's only seen the bad from them. Hopefully she'll decide that she wants to ride more than not.


If the doctor says dont ride tell her the doctors are cityidiots that dont know better. haha. And if horses are dangerous so are cars and butter knifes.


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## SaMule (Jan 9, 2017)

How did this all turn out? It has been 4 1/2 yrs since the post. Has she gone back to riding or given up? I used to be 13 and fearless. Now I am 56 and gunshy. I still ride, but am having similar issues with a young mule that broke three ribs on me in Aug. He has had further training and I suspect he is in better shape then me. Currently we are -26 degrees and have a foot of hard pack snow... so any riding will be after the Spring thaw. I am ready... I think...


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