We’ve all heard people say “Is riding even that hard? All you do is sit there!” We all know that statement is zero percent accurate. Horseback riding – in any and all capacities – is challenging. Physically, mentally and emotionally challenging. The incredible, dream-worthy rides are what lift us up (and hopefully that’s the only thing lifting us up and out of the saddle besides two pointing) but I think the challenge and perseverance needed as an equestrian is part of what draws and keeps a lot of us in the sport – second to the horses themselves.
What is mindset and mental skills work/coaching? Mindset and mental skills coaching has started to make its way to the equestrian sport. The first sport to use mental skills coaching was tennis in the 1950/1960s and has since become popular in other sports like basketball, baseball and golf.
Mental skills coaching allows us to improve our psychological and emotional approach to challenges. In sports this helps us improve and enhance skills needed such as focus, confidence, resilience, stress management and more. There are many techniques used in mental skills coaching and mindset work ranging from goal-setting to meditation. This past winter I signed up for a package of 8 mindset/mental skills coaching sessions with Tonya Johnston. I will be 100% transparent, this was a significant investment. When I was feeling apprehensive about spending that much money on myself – not my horse – I took a minute and realized why is my mental wellbeing and success any less important that the well-being of my horses? It’s not, so I made the investment. At the end of this blog I’ll give some recommendations that are little less of a hefty investment that can still start you off with developing the tools needed to improve your mental skills when it comes to riding. And guess what? Many of these cross over to other areas of your life too!
So, what were my top three take aways from mental skills coaching with Tonya?
- Focus on things you can control. Not the things you cannot. I used to become so worried with things out of my control riding – especially as I transitioned to a young horse. “What if he spooks?” “What if I fall off?” “What if the kids outside of the arena run?” “It’s really windy out.” Those are all things I had ZERO control over. Worrying about those things took valuable energy that would have been better invested in other things like sitting tall, closing my fingers over the reins and having my hands forward. Since working with Tonya, when I see things out of my control that may lead to less than desirable outcomes I focus on what I can do. I say okay, things are happening I need to keep my fingers closed around these reins, put my heels down and keep my hands forward and sit my a** in the tack.” The downstream effects of this are that I have more confidence and my horse does too.
- Speak to yourself in positive statements and positive self-talk. Pre-mental skills coaching Sarah used to use the phrase “I can’t” and “I’m not xyz rider” and “I’m not good enough to do xyz” ALL THE TIME. Additionally, I would say things to myself like don’t be scared or don’t lean forward. Guess what, when you talk to yourself in this way you make the statements happen. When you think “don’t lean forward,” guess what? You lean forward. So I have since started rephrasing things to “sit tall, find the tack.” Now positive self-talk does not mean gaslighting yourself into believing you are not scared when you actually are terrified. I have tried that approach too and it does not work. Instead, acknowledge your fear say “hi fear, I see you there” and come up with a strategy to overcome the fear. In Florida, I found counting out loud – yes like a pony kid – works wonders. Since working on this skill I’ve noticed my trainer never says “don’t do A” or “don’t do B.” She says what she wants me or my horse to be doing. There is in fact method to the madness after all, folks!
- Your breathing matters. I am a recovering member of team “I forgot to breathe while on course.” My trainer always can tell. I’ll come out of the ring and she goes “did you not breathe the entire round?!” My answer used to be nope I think I held it the entire time. The counting out loud I mentioned before? Guess what? You can’t count out loud without breathing. Our horses are extremely in tune with our breathing, heart rate, emotions. So it is something we have to remember to work on if its a problem for us. Yes, I am a human who has a hard time remembering to breathe, okay?! Taking a deep breath when you can start to feel Negative Nancy start chattering in your mind or counting out loud are great tools to work through this stress when riding. It also works during other forms of stress, I can’t be the only introvert here.
So here are a few options for you to start working on mindset work:
- Tonya Johnston is an equestrian who offers individual sessions which you can contact her about here. She also has an amazing book that is on Audible along with podcasts she has been featured on.
- Brianna Hammerman is another equestrian who offers performance coaching along with a variety of mental health counseling services which can be found here.
- Equestrian+ is an on demand resource that offers a variety of videos available at the click of a button along with a mental game vault.
Happy Riding <3
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