accident

Question
i had a really bad accedent last week i fell off my friends horse and landed on the jump im now to scared to get back on

Answer
Hello Rose,

I can understand and appreciate your fear.  Anytime one has a nasty fall, it can be quite scary and rattle your confidence.  I've had a few myself that made me a bit nervous to "get back up on the horse".  Provided you are okay (no serious injuries).  As soon as you are comfortable and no longer sore (as I suspect you may still be ! ) you may try a couple of options.  You do not mention whether you are scared to ride in general, or the fear only comes with jumping.  If the fear comes with riding in general, the best thing to do is to try to find a calm steady horse to ride (this may or may not be your friend's horse) that you can trust fairly well.  Begin with just walking around to feel comfortable and progress gradually from there.  It may take just a little bit, it may take a few months, but the key is to build your confidence bit by bit.  Do not rush it.  The next option you have which works for either problem is to really work to build your position into being very solid.  The more secure you feel on a horse, the more confidence you will have that you will not fall off.  If you have read some of my previous posts, you will realize I am a HUGE fan of longe work.  I think this does tremendous things to build the relationship between horse and rider and does an excellent job developing your seat and your muscles.  If you read through some of the other posts, I have some ideas for exercises which you can do to improve your body position and increase your confidence, especially if done with the horse in question as you will learn to trust him more.  Then perhaps progress to jumping little cavelletti and gradually going up building both of you confidence levels.  There is no hurry to it.  It doesn't matter if the jump is six inches or six feet, you want be relaxed going to them.  

Finally, you may have fallen off for a number of reasons.  The biggest of which (and most common) is looking down just before the fence, especially if you feel the horse is about to stop.  One way to resolve this, is to pick a spot out and above the fence, say a letter on the arena wall (just make sure it is high enough that it encourages you to keep your head and eyes up).  Keep looking at that spot, no matter what the horse does.  It goes back to the old saying "look where you want to go".  It is true enough, if you look at the ground, you will end up there (I know I've been there a couple times myself because of that ! ).  Even if the horse "stops dirty" just before the fence, you will be sitting up and prepared for it and most likely stay in the saddle.  Also, if you are 'jumping ahead' of your horse, you are getting off balance and that may be encouraging him to jump awkwardly or to stop.  This is because you are throwing your upper body onto his neck and letting your lower leg swing back like a pendulum on a clock.  By doing the longe line work, and with the lower fences, you will build a stronger jumping position (especially if much work is done is two point), and it will help.  Lots of work including jumping can be done on the longe.  It is an excellent tool to use provided it is varied with other work to keep the horse from going sour.  
One of my favorite exercises for jumping can be varied to whether you are jumping from the trot or canter and can be used with or without longe line.  I will have my students sing either twinkle twinkle little star (trotting) or row row row your boat (cantering) at the speed I want the horse to go while jumping.  This helps to keep them relaxed and breathing regularly.  I teach them to sqeeze with their leg on the start of each word which keeps them connected with their horse and it moving forward from their leg.  Tell them to pick a point on the wall, keep looking at it, and ride toward it.  It does amazing things for the riders.  It helps them to focus on the jumping, stay relaxed to the fences, and stay in touch with their horses.  

Lastly, remember even if you do not return to jumping you can still enjoy riding.  I spent quite a time away from jumping due to a severe fall from a very soured horse.  I focused on dressage and found it really improved my riding and my horse.  I returned to jumping two years later with a more solid position and my confidence regained.  I started with the very exercises I described to you, despite the fact I was previously jumping four foot fences routinely prior to that.  You can expect to be nervous that is normal, and there is nothing wrong with that.  You just want to work with someone who is going to encourage you and work to rebuild yours and your horse's confidence to enjoy jumping again.  Best wishes and good luck with your riding.