The Latest News from Riding Far

It has been almost two months since writing my last post.  Given that I had been writing about my journey back to riding after my accident, I want to make sure everyone knows that my absence from the blogosphere has not been due to trouble on the path to recovery.  Like for many of us, life just got busy with both work and play.  You can expect the next installment of my recovery journey in the next couple of days.

With September came the start of Cubbing season and the qualifying meets for the Junior North American Field Hunter Championships.  Sometime over the summer, I forgot how wonderful it is to spend hours on horseback with my sons galloping across some of the most amazingly beautiful countryside.  With October also came the bi-annual board meeting of the Horses and Humans Research Foundation whom I actively support.  Before the meeting, Barbara and David Roux graciously opened their beautiful St. Bride’s Farm to host a reception, helping us spread the word about the work that HHRF is doing.  Later, at the board meeting, we awarded our eighth $50,000 research grant to a project which is studying the effectiveness of equine assisted therapy for youth that suffer from PTSD and other effects of trauma.

Work has also brought the launching of a new website, continued development of the Personal Awareness for Sport Performance Clinic format, and the start up of a internet-based Performance Enhancement Group.

The new website was developed to provide a central place for friends and clients to keep abreast of the latest developments at Riding Far.  I am working hard to transfer my followers and subscribers to the new website and hope to have that done in the near future.  To make sure you don’t miss any posts I would encourage you to visit the blog page of the new site and click on the “Subscribe” button.  While you’re there take a look around.  We welcome feedback and your suggestions.

Looking forward to seeing you on the new site.  RidingFar.com

Coming Home

This morning I find myself sitting quietly, soaking in the pre-dawn calm and beauty of Seneca Lake in western New York.  Its been over ten years since my last lake-side vacation and I sit in wonderment at how I feel so at home and at peace in the Finger Lakes.  As I gently whittled away the late afternoon hours yesterday with my sons, fishing pole in hand, I realized how much of my early life had been centered on “lake life.”  The innumerable summer weeks spent at my grandparent’s lake cottage.  The summer camping vacations, lakeside, at any one of a number of beautiful lakes in the Adirondack Mountains.  The annual canoe trips and fishing trips with my father and my brother.   It is no wonder that taking a soak in the lake melts away the years, lightens my heart, and restores my soul.

Over the last two weeks, since my last post on my recovery from my riding accident, I have been thinking a lot about the balance between pushing forward and the need to rest, recover and reward oneself for one’s efforts.  It may seem simple at first.  Push forward until you achieve a success and then reward yourself.  But, fear and anxiety are tricky playmates.  I was exhilarated and relieved after my first post-accident ride on my youngster.  As with facing any anxiety or fear, that first step to get back in the saddle is a huge one.  What I seem to have had forgotten, despite more than two decades helping people with their anxiety, is that overcoming anxiety is not a “once and done” proposition.  I have to admit that, as challenging as it was to get back on the first time, the second and third rides were more personally challenging than the first.

A funny thing about anxiety is that there is nothing more comforting than to make it go away and no better way to make it go away than to withdraw from what makes you anxious.  Thinking about this in terms of riding, if I get myself all worked up to face the challenge of the first ride back and then reward myself with a good long break before the next ride, I run the risk of reinforcing the “taking a break” behavior and making the next ride all the more anxiety provoking.  It’s like inadvertently teaching a horse to pull back by releasing the pressure while they are panicking.  The challenge or the art of recovery, where anxiety is involved, is to understand that it is a process that takes time and requires balance between the challenge and the reward so that you are neither over-faced nor overly withdrawn or backed away.

So what does all this have to do with soaking in a lake or fishing in the Finger Lakes?  When we have had a fall or accident so much of our focus gets placed on overcoming the aspects of our riding experience that causes us anxiety and angst that we run the risk of forgetting all of the other aspects of our horse experience that bring us joy, comfort, fun and a sense of accomplishment.   Just like I had forgotten the peace, comfort and rejuvenation that I feel on a lake, I initially over-focused on riding this particular horse to the exclusion of all the other horse-related activities that bring me joy.   So here is the updated plan:

– Continue regular rides on my young horse focusing on building his and my confidence while refining many of the good things we have accomplished along the way.  In time, my apprehension will fade if I am consistent in my efforts.

– Play more with my young horse on-line and at liberty.  I love playing with this horse at liberty. We can build our relationship when I am not on his back.  And, it is so much fun!

– Ride my other horses.  Each of my horses present different joys and challenges.  This helps build my confidence in the saddle while keeping me engaged and having fun.

– On occasion, do what I love with other’s horses that allow me to just enjoy the ride.  I went for my first post-accident trail ride with the Loudoun Fairfax Hunt last Saturday.  I am looking forward to hilltopping with my sons this fall on the experienced hunt horses from Over the Grass Farm.

– Spend more time in the barn taking in the smells and listening to my horses eat.  Some times I forget to take my time and appreciate the simple things.

So, if you find yourself challenged with your own recovery, take the time to reflect on the parts of your horse experience that rejuvenate and restore you. Sprinkle your recovery efforts generously with opportunities to enjoy these experiences to reward, recharge and support yourself.  In this  way your recovery will be more than just the chore or work of recovery and overcoming fear, it may feel more like, well… coming home.

Recovery from Injury: A Personal Path

It is human nature to want to make sense of our world so that we might predict or control it.  We seem to have a built-in desire to know, to understand.  This desire is even stronger when we have had a negative experience.  When a rider has experienced a fall or other riding related injury, it is common for people to feel a sense of trepidation getting back into the saddle.  Depending on the nature of the accident and the personality and/or history of the rider, trepidation may give way to anxiety, fear or even panic.  Under these conditions, we want to know how to address our fear.  We want  a plan.  We want certainty.  We want to know that everything is going to be OK if we follow the steps and do what we are supposed to do.

If you search Amazon for books on “Overcoming Fear and Anxiety” you will get somewhere on the order of 650 results.  In addition, there are numerous books dedicated specifically to overcoming fear of riding or fear of horses.  While many of these books contain helpful information, useful techniques and pearls of wisdom, it occurred to me a long time ago that if anybody truly had “The Answer” there would be no need for the other 649 books.  The harsh reality is that, no matter how much we know about overcoming fear and anxiety or how many useful techniques or methods are available to us, each individual’s road to success will be different.  It will be unique to them.  Our path forward depends on a multitude of factors including who we are as individuals, our circumstances, our motivations and goals, and our resources, to name just a few.

Two weeks ago I had a serious fall from my horse.  If you missed the original post you can read about it here.  In the spirit that everyone’s recovery is different, I thought I would share some of my own thoughts, reflections and choices as I return to riding.  This is not offered as a blueprint for overcoming fear, but as a reflection on what has been important to me, as well as many of the clients I have helped through their fear over the years.

When I started to think about writing this blog post, I realized that there are so many different things to think about in addressing my path to recovery that it was hard to know where to start.  So, the first  step was to simplify and focus.  I did my best to assess my starting point, identify the main questions and challenges ahead and then break them down into workable steps.

Here is my current assessment.  Physically, while cleared to ride, I am not yet 100%.  My mind is clear but the injuries to my chest, ribs and shoulder have not yet fully healed.  I would say I am at 80%.  Emotionally, I am experiencing moderate anxiety about riding my young horse.  Interestingly,  since I don’t remember the accident, I am experiencing far less anxiety about getting back on than I have from other accidents where I was conscious throughout the experience.  I feel a degree of confidence from the fact that I have overcome anxiety and fear several times before when recovering from other falls and injuries.  I also draw some comfort because I am a far more skilled and knowledgeable horseman than I was 12 years ago, the time of my last serious accident.  Finally, my trepidation or anxiety this time around seems localized to my young horse.  The thought of getting on other horses, even ones I have not been riding regularly over the last year, doesn’t seem to phase me.  As my physical strength returns and I have the opportunity to ride, I will let you know if that changes.

In my attempts to simplify and focus my plan for recovery, I have settled on two main priorities for myself.  The first is to do my best to minimize physical risks to myself.  I am not a professional rider/trainer, I am not in any competition for points or year end awards, and I have a family with two young boys to support.   I ride because I love horses and my riding goals are not tied to a specific timetable or specific performance goals.  I fully understand and accept that there are inherent risks in riding horses and perhaps even more in riding a young horse.   I accept these risks because this is what I love to do.  However, given my other life priorities, the path I choose may appear overly conservative to some.  I realize that I am far more likely to be successful if I am patient with myself and my progress, rather than adding a level of stress and worry by pushing forward too quickly and increasing the risks.

The second priority is to maximize the probability of success.  For me, this involves setting things up in a way that I know will be best for me.  It also means setting things up in a way that I think will be best for my horse.  For example, I know that I do my best with support from others both in terms of companionship and having an ear to talk through my thought process including my personal experience and what I am reading in my horse.  My first several rides will be in good company.  I also know I am most confident in a context or setting in which I have had a great deal of prior success.  My first several rides will be in my arena at home where I would have a good chance of recreating the context in which my horse and I have experienced many good (and a few great) rides over the last year.  I also know I am at my best when I am not rushed.  My first several rides will be at a time when I have the time to take my time.  This also helps me to limit the distractions of life and to be as focused and relaxed as possible.  For my horse, I plan on starting from the beginning while looking for holes both in my skills and in his training.  I plan on taking my time to strengthen his foundation and rebuilding my trust in him, and hopefully being a more trustworthy partner for him.

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Since starting this post yesterday morning, the process has begun.  I finally felt more than well enough to attempt some light riding.  So, I went out last night with my young horse, my son and his mare with the simple goal of sitting astride my horse and assessing my own emotions and reactions.  It was supposed to be a short and simple process ( insert knowing smile here).  We started with some ground work where my horse chose to display his “athleticism” which, while admittedly impressive, only served to raise my anxiety.  It only took a moment to realize that my goals for that night had changed from assessing my emotions from the back of my horse to helping my horse get a better handle on his emotions.  I took the time that it took to help him get focused and connected with me.  When he was settled, relaxed and connected I took a deep breath, let it out and mounted, tested my neutral lateral flexion, backed him up, walked in a small circle and dismounted.  My anxiety was not as strong as I had earlier anticipated but I wanted to get myself to a better place before I quit.  I mounted again walked in small circles and figure eights testing his responsiveness to my leg aides, and when I finally felt my adrenaline drop and I was relaxed I dismounted and called it a night.

Today is a new day and tomorrow is yet another.  I have no idea how long this is going to take.  I do know that it is going to take commitment, effort and consistency on my part.  I hope to be able to report a few more steps forward by the time I write again.

Gratitude for an Insistent Loving Partner

I don’t know about you, but I grew up in an age where no one wore a helmet while riding.  Sure, we had those fashionable little hunt caps we wore during shows that had all the protective qualities of Hershey’s Magic Shell (you know, the stuff that hardens when you pour it on your ice cream).  But, I don’t ever remember a discussion about ASTM or SEI safety certification.  Like most people, my old habits, preference and prejudices die hard.  As time passed and rules changed, I did get an approved helmet for competition.  Yet, to be honest I seldom wore a helmet when I didn’t “have to.”

Then, about 14 years ago, my first son was born.  I remember the day that my wife came out to the arena while I was riding and she asked me, at least until our children were grown and independent, if I would promise to wear a helmet when I rode.  For those that don’t know me personally, my wife is not a horsewoman.  She appreciates their beauty and enjoys having them on the farm, but her connection to horses is totally through her love for me and her willingness to indulge my passion.  At the time, it seemed a small price to pay for her continued support.  I reluctantly agreed to to wear a helmet from that day forward.

I am embarrassed to admit my own arrogance at that point in my life.  I remember thinking that wearing a helmet all the time was overkill.  Sure it made sense if I was jumping cross country or riding an unfamiliar horse.  But, for flat work or other quiet work with a known quantity in a ring?  Seriously?  But, I am a man of my word and with very few exceptions I honored my wife’s insistent request and wore a helmet whenever I rode from that day forward.

Last Friday we had a gorgeous cool, dry day.  The kind that are extremely rare in Virginia in August.  I had the day off work and was really excited to finally have the time to spend a full day with a young horse that I have been bringing along.  There were several things I wanted to help him with that I didn’t want to rush and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  One of my agenda’s was to introduce him to “the neighborhood.”  Just so you have the right image, I live on a dirt road off of a dirt road in a rural area in Virginia.  My “neighborhood” is made up of a few small farms and a half a dozen houses.  We started on the ground introducing him to all of those terrifying horse-eating monsters like my neighbor’s jeep, mud puddles, utility construction crews, etc.  After an hour or so he appeared settled and quiet and I chose to get on.  Everything went smoothly at first until we encountered a ridge of gravel at the edge of the road that had been deposited there by a recent rain.  So, like everything else we started patiently working at getting brave.

I will never know what spooked him.  He spun and took off at top speed.  The last thing I remember is making a reasonably calm assessment of my situation.  I had lost a stirrup when he spun.  I was pulling on one rein with all my strength to try and turn him, but to no avail.  I was considering my options.  Would it be safer to try and ride it out or get off?

I woke up on the ground dazed and disoriented some time later.  I would like to think I chose to get off, but I will never know.  Helpful neighbors rounded up my horse and got me home.  My wife got me to the emergency room.  The CAT scan revealed a minor bleed on my brain which meant a night at the hospital for observation.  Since then I have been on the mend looking forward to a day in the near future when my neck and shoulder aren’t sore.  Yesterday I returned to my regular routine of feeding my horses and my helmet caught my eye.

As I picked it up I looked at the left side of the helmet to see the damage.  I was looking at the left side because, based on all my injuries, that was the side of my body that hit the ground.  I assumed that my head hit a rock or something which knocked me out.  To my surprise, the left side was unblemished.  The right side, however, sustained significant damage.  While I will never know what really happened, I suspect that I either got stepped on or kicked in the head.

You may be wondering why I am telling this story.  Maybe it is my own process of healing.  One of the most powerful ways of dealing with traumatic events is to share our story.  This helps us both by connecting with others and making sense of what happened so that we might avoid similar situations in the future.  Maybe it is to set the stage over the next couple of weeks so that I can share my own journey as I get back in the saddle and cope with the inevitable fears and anxieties.  I have long held that I would never suggest that my clients do something that I would not be willing to do myself.  This is not the first time I have had the opportunity to put my sport psychology techniques to personal practical use.  I certainly hope that my clients ultimately benefit from my experience.

The primary reason I tell my story today, however, is to simply say thank you to the lovely, loving woman who asked me to wear a helmet so many years ago.  Without her insistence I might not be writing this or anything else today.  Perhaps if you read this and you were like I was 14 years ago, you might reconsider and suffer the minor discomfort and slight inconvenience of wearing a helmet.

“Why do you take riding lessons? Don’t you already know how to ride?”

Recently, I have been following the reports about David O’Connor’s approach to the USEF Eventing High Performance training sessions.  It got me thinking about coaching and mentorship and how it relates to attitudes about sport psychology.  In every sport, athletes seek out and receive coaching regardless of the their level of accomplishment and their knowledge of the game.  For the dedicated athlete there is always room for improvement.  There is always room to hone skills, expand knowledge, and strive to get better.

At the highest levels, this is often less about being directly taught than it is about seeking out a different perspective.  Having a skilled and respected colleague provide perspective and allow us to see ourselves through their eyes often leads to valuable insights and understandings that we might not otherwise come to on our own and improve our performance.

What puzzles me is that, so often, our attitudes toward the psychological side of our sport differ dramatically from our attitudes toward the physical side.  While we actively and consistently strive for improvement in our riding skill and ability through lessons and regular clinics, my experience suggests that sport psychology consultation has been primarily relegated to the role of fixing problems.  It is a lot like the way we deal with medical doctors.  We go when we get sick and are far less likely to engage their help in developing and maintaining a wellness program, more less improving a wellness program that seems to be working “well enough”.

It is easy to question the riding community for using sport psychology in this way, but I have to wonder if sport psychologists and mental skills consultants carry a large part of the responsibility in the way they we promote what we offer.  I looked at my library of sport psychology resources recently and took stock of what was offered.  Most of what I found focused on presenting and explaining how to use one or more of the traditional sport psychology skills; goal setting, energy regulation, visualization, motivational strategies, etc.  There is something about the way we present this information to the public which gives short shrift to the complexity of the human experience.  Don’t get me wrong, these skills are very useful and helpful to people.  They are an integral part of my professional arsenal and often provide almost immediate relief and assistance to clients struggling with a host of concerns. However, focusing so much on discrete mental skills shifts the attention away from exploring the rider as a whole person.

Who we are as a person is profoundly important in how we engage in equestrian sport.  For example, how we deal with conflict has a direct impact on how we react when our horses have a different idea than we do about something that we are going to do.  Our characteristic patterns in coping with stress will impact our behavior during competition.  Our preferred emotional style will determine the nature of our responses to emotionally intense events.  Our characteristic patterns of orienting our attention (inward vs outward) will impact the type and level of awareness we have as we ride.  The nature of our self-concept will shape our evaluation and judgement of ourselves.  These are just a few examples of how facets of our personality or broader psychology can impact our ride.

In dealing with riding concerns applying discrete mental skills can help, but at times it may feel that you are only chipping away at the edges of a problem.  There have been many instances in my work with clients that helping a rider come to a deeper understanding of the themselves and who they are as a person has been instrumental in creating lasting change.  I am also convinced that, in the absence of a crisis or significant riding problem, a rider’s commitment to personal growth and greater self-awareness will have  a profoundly positive impact on their engagement in the sport.

My commitment in the coming years is to explore ways in which I can help riders can grow in their self-knowledge and awareness and actively use that awareness to improve their riding.  I hope to provide a service that goes beyond “fixing problems” and, like riding lessons and clinics, ultimately support each rider’s personal growth in ways that help them grow as equestrians.

This weekend the good people at Sprout Therapeutic Riding and Education Center along with several of their friends have graciously volunteered to test out a new clinic format which combines experiential activities with horses and small group work sessions.  The expressed goal of the clinic is that each participant will come away with new self-awareness and a plan for applying this awareness in their riding.  I am grateful for the enthusiasm of my courageous volunteers and I hope they leave the day excited about what they have learned and hungry to learn even more.

Who is judging whom?

How many times have you entered the arena to compete and found yourself obsessing about what someone else was thinking about you?  Sure we worry about what the judges think, but we also worry about what almost everyone else thinks.  We worry about the judgments of our trainers, other people’s trainers, family, friends, peers, as well as other competitors.  Yet, at the end of the day, we have to wonder how many of those people, whose judgments we worry so much about, gave our performance more than a passing thought.  The reality is that we are most often the only ones that are judging ourselves so harshly and ruthlessly.

In the world of equestrian competition, the people who are in the position to judge competitors have experience and training.  The higher the level of competition, the higher the level of training and experience.  Part of the reason for training judges is to assure that competitors are assessed fairly according to some agreed upon criterion.  So here is my question.  How much time have you dedicated to training your internal judge?  Do you judge yourself fairly according to accepted and reasonable criteria that match your level of skill and experience, or do you judge yourself capriciously and harshly according to ever shifting criteria?

So many of the equestrian athletes I work with who suffer from performance or competition anxiety have an issue with their internal critic or judge.  They might say they are worried about what others think, but at the end of the day they suffer most because of what they think of themselves.  One of the most effective interventions for performance anxiety is to help athletes focus on judging themselves and their performance by their own internal measuring stick.  However, this requires that our internal measuring stick is constructed carefully and fairly.  In other words, we need to be sure that our internal judge is adequately trained and experienced so that we judge ourselves fairly and consistently according to reasonable and established criteria that are suitable to our level of skill and experience.

The next time you catch yourself being harshly self-critical try this exercise.  Write down the criticisms that you are making of yourself.  For each criticism, write down the specific criteria you are using to make that judgment.  Ask yourself if the criteria you are using are objective and valid for competitors of your level of skill and experience in your discipline.  If the answer is “yes”, set one or more specific goals to work toward before your next competition.  If the answer is “no”, identify one or more reasonable, objective and valid criteria upon which competitors of your skill and experience could be fairly judged and set one or more specific goals which you can work toward before you next competition.

We can’t always control what others do to prepare themselves for the role and responsibility of being a judge.  However, we can  control our own training and in this way prepare ourselves to fairly and competently judge ourselves.

But, How Do I Change That?

One of my favorite weeks of the year is the time I spend at the Upperville Colt and Horse Show.  This year was no exception.  My tent sat near the entrance gate to Ring 2 and the Ring 2 warm-up ring.   Between sessions I had the pleasure of watching riders warm-up and then watching their rounds in the Hunter Ring.   As a sport psychologist, it is a luxury to work with clients and then spent the time between sessions pondering the challenges that my clients face while observing athletes in action.

As often happens in my work, a distinct theme has emerged in my work at the show this year.  As my clients explored their concerns there have been several “light bulb” moments where they have become aware of what they do to sabotage their performance.  Once they realize what is happening, they often ask the question, “How do I change that?”

Before offering some thoughts about the process and nature of change, I need to highlight the most important part.  Before we seek to change we need to be aware (a) that there is a problem, (b) develop at least some small insight into the ways in which we get in our own way, and (c) discover our unequivocal desire to change.  Without this kind of awareness we run into two different problems.  The first is motivation.  When we are blind to a problem, or in denial, we seldom feel any motivation to make a change.  Secondly, when we know we have a problem but have no insight (or interest) in how we contribute to creating the problem we will be at high risk for blaming others.  This might include blaming our horse, our trainers, judges, etc.   Finally, we have to really want to change.  Nothing will stymie attempts to change faster than reservations about changing.  Reservations might include fear of failure, fear of success, fear of unintended consequences, or some other type of fear or ambivalence about change.

Once we have basic awareness of the problem, a guess at how we contribute to it, and a clear unequivocal desire to change; the process of change becomes simple (if not easy).  The core of creating change is to know what we want to do to replace the behavior that is connected to the problem.  It is incredibly easy to fall into the “I don’t want to do that” mode.  Knowing what we don’t want to do is only important in helping us to identify what we want to change.  After that, focusing on what we don’t want only serves to intensify or practice what we don’t want.  Decide what you want to do instead and challenge yourself to do it.

Next, be specific.  Focus the change you want to make on a specific behavior in a very specific context.  Specificity leads to personal accountability and the ability to assess the impact of our changes.  The more global and vague our ideas of what we  are going to change, the more difficult it is to pin ourselves down and hold ourselves accountable for actually changing.   We have to actually do something different.  Furthermore,  if we aren’t specific we never get to learn much about what actually makes a difference.

Finally, the changes we want to make need to be things that we can actually control.  Changes have to be self-initiated and maintained.  We have no power to change others and often very little ability to change contexts.  We can’t make a horse show judge change or make our horses change.  Change starts with us and is maintained by us.  This is true whenever we want a relationship to change.

The next time you want to make a change try this strategy out:

– Describe the problem you are experiencing.

– Decide if REALLY want to change it.

– Identify one or more ways your behavior contributes to the problem.

– Be very specific about the behavior that contributes to the problem and specific about the context in which the problem occurs.

– Decide what your going to do differently.

– Make sure what you decide to do can be self-initiated and self-maintained.

– Observe the results.  Is it what you want?  If not, lather rinse repeat.

Creating Perceptive, Patient, Even-tempered, Respectful and Relationship Savvy Riders for the Future of Equestrian Sport

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article on the Riding Far, LLC facebook page about creating grittier kids for the future of eventing.  The article made a very convincing argument that grit, defined as passion and perseverance in the attainment of one’s goals, is a commodity worth fostering in our young riders.  While I am in whole-hearted agreement about the importance of grit as an individual quality, I have been thinking lately about the importance of nurturing an appreciation for relationships skills in our children.  If we focus solely on grit in the service of our individual goals, it seems too me that we run the risk of reinforcing a view of those around us, including our horses, as tools to be used in the service of our personal goal attainment rather than as partners in our efforts.  Partners who are worthy of our respect and gratitude.  And, in the case of our equine partners, partners that deserve our best efforts in care, training and stewardship.

Last week I had the privilege of riding with my son in a Carol Coppinger clinic.  Carol is a gifted horsewoman, teacher and an excellent communicator.  One of her great talents is the ability to meet each horse and rider at their current level, and help them to find their next step forward.  She is perceptive, patient, calm, and respectful as well as passionate and persistent.  I am quite certain that Carol has grit.  I am not as certain that, in and of itself, it is her grit that is solely responsible for making her a great horsewoman or a great teacher.

Watching Carol teach my son over those two days, I realized a number of things that seem important.  The first, and perhaps most important, was that my son really wanted to ride with her.  My son had previously ridden with Carol for only two days more than a year ago.  Yet, somehow, in those two days she had made a lasting impression.   So much so that, as soon as one clinic ends, my son is looking forward eagerly to the next opportunity to ride with her.

I marvel at how their connection was made.  It was certainly not that Carol took it easy on him or that my son had an easy horse to ride in the clinic.  In contrast, he had many difficult challenges to work through with his horse.   So what was it about the way she worked with him that fostered his developing grit and left him feeling resourceful, enthusiastic, appreciative and committed to training and loving this very challenging horse?

I think the answer lies in her relationship skills.  While these skills seem difficult to delineate or define, I think it is worth the attempt if only to raise our awareness and start the discussion.  The skills that stood out for me included patience, a sense of calm, an attitude of respect, an ability to observe and listen, a quiet confidence, kindness, and compassion.  I am sure that there are many more and I encourage all of us to reflect on what  brings good things to our relationships, human and equine alike.  When we bring skills like these to our relationships good things happen, but how do we learn these skills?

The simple answer to helping people learn relationship skills would be to teach them.  We can teach people how to behave in specific interactions much in the way we teach many other skills.   I suppose that might be part of the solution. However, the more I think about it, the more I realize that these positive relationship behaviors flow naturally from a person’s attitudes and values rather than from a mechanistic application of skills.  The challenge that we face in the equestrian world is how to nurture the development of attitudes and values that naturally give rise to the behaviors or relationship skills which, in turn, lead to positive results.

So, as we search for ways to foster grit in our young riders, let’s also challenge ourselves to identify and foster the attitudes and values that might lead to the development of perceptive, patient, even-tempered, respectful, confident, grateful, kind and compassionate young riders that value the relationships they have with those that mentor and support them, including their horses.

Are You Ready to Learn? Building a Solid Psychological Foundation.

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of presenting my annual local seminar on equestrian sport psychology – Five Pillars of Success.  I look forward to this every year because it gives me the opportunity to reflect on how my thinking and my practice has grown and changed.  Each year I seem to have one or two new insights/ideas which need some time to germinate and grow before I am ready to incorporate them into my practice and talk with clients about them.  This year it was the seeming disparity between what people want or expect from sport psychology and what they ultimately need.

Most people connect to sport psychology through what they see in the media and what they read in the popular press.  In an effort to raise public awareness and market sport psychology, the vast majority of this type of information is focused on clearly defined and easily described skills and techniques.  While these skills are often very helpful to riders who are ready to apply them, it is important to be aware that not everyone has the same level of readiness to use these skills effectively.  Just like in any other learning situation, different people bring different levels of readiness to their learning.  This readiness can depend on many factors including life history, personal development, life experience, education, awareness, as well as many other factors.

What I realized in preparing for this year’s seminar is that sport psychology faces a great challenge in working with equestrian athletes.  In order for sport psychology consultants to attract and motivate athletes to give sport psychology a try, they have to present a picture of sport psychology that is approachable, appealing and understandable.  One of the necessary evils in following this path is that sport psychology and sport psychology consultation frequently get overly simplified.   Subsequently, riders pick and choose amongst the easily approachable techniques seeking the promised results.  Some enjoy a boost in their performance when adopting one or more “tricks of the trade.”  Others, however, continue to struggle and might get discouraged and dismiss the potential of sport psychology to help them in their riding.

If only there was a way to let people know that these simple, clearly described and well-defined mental skills are only part of the puzzle and that, as athletes who are also human beings, we are complex creatures that differ in our readiness to learn and apply these mental skills.  I wish there was a way to help equestrian athletes understand, honor and appreciate the richness of their individuality as it relates to their development as an equestrian and their participation in the sport.   I wish I could inspire riders to start where they happen to be, and build whatever foundation is necessary to get them ready to learn and effectively use all of the tools and techniques that so many athletes find helpful.  We would certainly want to do that for our horses, why not for ourselves.

One of the consistent findings in psychology is that our curiosity, courage and innate desire to explore and learn are governed or limited by how secure we feel.  We have to feel “safe enough” in order to push ourselves outside our comfort zone and to be open to changing and doing things differently.  So how do we promote this experience of being “safe enough” in our riding to engage our desire and ability to learn? How do we build a secure base or solid psychological foundation?

In my experience there are two steps that each of us can take to prepare ourselves for learning.  These are the things that I most often end up talking about with riders before launching into the mental skills work. The first is to make sure we have built a solid  psychological foundation for our riding.  For me, that means to explore your motivations, goals, resources, assessment of risk, and relationships as they relate to your riding.  We need to make sure that all of these factors are balanced with one another and that they are working together in concert.  Mismatches among these foundational aspects of our riding always leads to difficulty and ultimately a lack of security in one or more aspects of our equestrian experience.

The second step is to work on our ability to better regulate and/or modulate ourselves and ultimately have greater choice over our behavior.  I loosely define this as the ability to experience, tolerate and be more aware of our thoughts and feelings without having to automatically or reflexively act out on them.  Notice that I am not suggesting that we think or feel less, rather I am suggesting that we be more aware of our thoughts and feelings, accept what we think and feel, and grow in our ability to separate our internal experience from our behavioral reactions and responses.  Meditative practices are powerful tools in helping athletes grow in their ability to regulate or modulate their experience.

The pathways to creating a secure base for ourselves and our riding are not  easily defined, and are as varied as the individuals that seek to build them.  The vague and varied nature of this adventure can make it hard for people to value this work or commit themselves to it.  Yet, it is this work that prepares us to effectively use the skills and techniques that sport psychology offers. The next time you bump into a roadblock in your riding, or find it difficult to make good use of a well known and respected tool or technique, take a step back and ask yourself if you have put in the time and effort to make your psychological foundation strong.

Show ‘Em What You Got

Human beings seem pre-programmed to focus on problems and issues.  As winter fades away and spring gains a tentative foothold in Virginia, many of the riders I work with are shifting their focus to the coming show season.  I have noticed a trend when it comes to their preparation.  A lot of attention gets focused on what’s wrong with them and their horses at the expense of what is good and right.   I am not against periodic assessments of oneself and one’s horse, in fact, I encourage this as an important step in setting realistic goals.  However, when the assessment focuses primarily on problems and short-comings, we may end up creating more problems than we solve.

When you study the world of human success, one resounding theme that echoes through every expert’s message is that  belief in oneself and belief in our ability to succeed is essential.  It seems simple enough and eminently sensible.  The problem, in this case, lies in how we get this great idea to work for us in practical and meaningful ways.  Standing in front of the mirror repeating “I believe in myself.” or “I can do it.” doesn’t seem to work.  In fact, these types of general or global affirmations seldom result in meaningful change.  So, what is one to do?

The answer is equally simple and sensible.  Regularly focus your attention on what you can do and notice what you do well.  I often say that confidence is grounded in achievement.  But, people are generally horrible at tracking and appreciating our own achievements.   Focusing on our capability and resourcefulness is a skill that has to be practiced and nurtured.

Commit to the following experiment for one week.  At the beginning of each day take five minutes and reflect on five things that you do, or have done, well.  These may be skills or personal attributes or achievements, and they may or may not be related to riding.  Challenge yourself not to repeat them over the course of the week, so that each day you are reflecting on five new positives.

Next, take a few moments after each time you ride or interact with your horse and reflect on what you have done well or what is getting better.

Then, at the end of the week, sit down with your trainer or instructor for a planning and preparation session for the coming show season.  Make a realistic assessment of your current level of performance.  This should include an assessment of yourself as a rider, your horse and the two of you as a team.  Challenge yourself to use descriptive rather than critical language.  Next make a realistic list of your strengths, skills and capabilities.  Again, include yourself, your horse, and the two of you as a team.  Finally, make a list of your goals for the season, the steps you will take to achieve your goals, and the challenges you expect to face along the way.

When all of this is completed, take each challenge you expect to meet along the way and answer the following questions.  What opportunity is there for me in facing this challenge?  Which of my strengths, resources and abilities will be valuable in working through this challenge?

Focusing in a realistic and balanced way on the challenges you face as well as the skills, abilities, personal qualities, and other resources you bring to your riding will propel you forward in powerful and positive ways.  Then the next time you step into the ring you won’t be as worried about what you can’t do and you will be ready to… Show ‘Em What You Got.