What to do!?

Question

I have a gorgeous deep chocolate 17 hand hanoverian. I ride hunter/jumper with him. He will jump anything, litteraly! I have been schooling him over 4'9 jumps recently and he has been jumping them with no problem even in the show ring i show every weekend with my dad who is my trainer, and he wants me to step it up. Should I? I trust my horse, but im not too confident.

Answer 1

You have to fill right about it.  If you don't then he will fill it and won't perform like he should.  I barrel race and if I'm not right then they don't get good times.  You have to have the confident that you Will be good to be good.

Answer 2

Let your Dad know your not comfortable with advancing at this time. He might think your riding shows more confidence than what your feeling.

Answer 3

Step it up by 3" at a time you probably won't even notice the difference    He sounds like a great horse  i think you'll be fine .

Answer 4

My first response is that you shouldnt. You need to move at a pace and height that is comfortable for you. If you try to move too fast and become unsure, uncomfortable or tense, it will show and affect your horse, possibly causing more problems down the line such as refusing or running out, and anyone who rides knows how difficult that is to correct. Besides, you sound like you are aleady doing great, especially when you think that the average grand prix course is 5 foot, so my advice is to keep doing what your doing and have fun with it, dont let anxiety take over the sport you obviously love so much.  

Answer 5

I'd cool it a little bit. Remember - your horse is an athlete. If you push too hard too fast - your gonna break your partner. If your uncomfortable - school the height at home occasionally to build your confidence, your horse's confidence, as well as both of your strength for the fences. Only when you can do this flawlessly at home, should you enter the show arena.

Good luck! :) You and your horse sound like a talented pair.

Answer 6

chocolate?

Answer 7

Just take it slow. Have your dad/trainer slowly raise the jumps and you get a feel as to how confident you feel going over them. Because you are not feeling confident, your horse may pick up on that, so go slowly and just see how your feel. If you really do feel uncomfortable, say so.

You would've given it a try, so it's not like you didn't push yourself to do it. With horses, if your confidence isn't there, it really isn't worth the risk to push it too much.

So ask to have the jumps raised slowly, and just see how it goes. It's always good to have fun doing something that you love.