"Hi, can you please give me some advice on how I can regain my confidence when jumping? About a year ago, I had an accident on my horse when he refused a fence and I fell off and hurt my back, since this incident I have picked up a nasty habit of looking at my jumps and becoming tense when riding into them, and I also have noticed that I am pulling back my horse from the jump instead of riding him forward, I then start to panic over the height of the fence and whether my horse will or wont jump it. I feel secure in my saddle when I do jump but the initial feeling I get before jumping is now putting me off jumping altogether. Can you please give me some advice on how I can lose the nerves - I have tried having more lessons from an instructor, and also just playing about with little jumps and lots of pole work but nothing seems to help? Kind regards, Miss K Ince."

H&C blogger and three day eventer Sharon Hunt replies:

"Hi. Well, if you've tried lots of poles and small jumps I would try grids. Keep them straight forward, maybe two strides between them, start small and get bigger as you get more confident. If you feel very nervous to begin with, try using poles on the ground which build up to jumps. It sounds like you need to see a sports pyschologist, which would be really helpful for you to control your nerves and understand why you feel as you do about jumping. Try to think of all the good jumps you've done and not dwell on that one that went wrong. You must trust your horse also, if you don't then you need to assess if the horse is not suitable or simply is it your fear? But remember riding should be enjoyable! Sharon."