Reclaim your riding confidence

Wednesday 8th June proved to be an enlightening and active night for riders who attended the Mendip Bridleways & Byways interactive clinic on Confidence at Kingfisher Equestrian, nr Castle Cary

The huge and airy indoor school was silent, save for the sound of bird song and gentle music as Mimi Raad led the whole audience in some Shibashi moves. Mimi, a confidence and laughter coach, NLP Practitioner and Tai Chi instructor then demonstrated some more advanced moves and explained how balance and focus play a huge part in riding. She spoke briefly on motivation and mind control and an enthusiastic audience returned to their seats.

Next, Kelly Johnson, who specialises in confidence for both the horse and rider, introduced two brave riders to some relaxing exercises. She put Hayley, riding Millie and Caryl, riding Blue through a sequence of moves which enable the body to release and thereby obtain a firmer seat. At the end of the session both riders felt they had to lower their stirrups by at least a couple of holes as their legs had elongated considerably!

After a break for home made cakes and coffee it was the turn of Pat Burrough, senior instructor from the Divoky Club at Downhead to bring the evening to a close. Pat worked with both Caryl and Hayley, helping them to change not only their riding position but the way they used their bodies to control the horse. She explained that when we are nervous we tighten up and clamp onto the horse. This says to the horse ‘go faster’ which is the last thing one wants, so the greatest lesson is to learn how much ones body affects the horse and how to control this.

During the evening, bracelets were sold in aid of ‘Horses for Heroes’ which aims to raise £1,000,000 for this excellent cause.

The next event is a private visit to the World Horse Welfare Rehabilitation Farm at Somerton on July 2nd. This visit is open to all but booking is necessary. There will be a £5.00 charge from which a donation will be given to WHW.

Ginnie Jones, Secretary

Confidence Handout - PDF format

Some more thoughts on confidence

Being around confident and inspirational people is brilliant because the very best people to help you overcome your fears are the people who’ve been through it themselves. If you’re around inspirational and confident people you’ll pick up on that. Speak to riders who are enjoying their riding and doing well – their positive thoughts will help to pick up your mood.

2. Stop and think

When we lose our confidence we stop thinking about the positives in our riding and focus on the negatives. We have tunnel vision when we panic because fear closes down our senses, and without our senses we can’t be creative or imaginative, we just react, As a rider or horse owner there’s one scenario that sums this up quite well: Have you ever been at the yard happily grooming or tacking up while your horse is tied up? And have you ever watched as your horse gets his rope over his head and goes full throttle into a blind panic? Next thing you know you’ve got a broken rope, a distressed horse and everyone is red faced and flustered.

From the ground it’s easy for us to see that this situation would be OK if the horse could only process what’s happened without panicking and the same is true of our own reaction to fear.

When we feel scared or panicked we react. We don’t allow ourselves time to really feel, see or hear what it is we’re afraid of, so one way to work on this is to learn to pause. For example, some people find the thrill of eventing exhilarating, a feeling that some people will interpret as fear. By taking a moment to experience the feeling without reacting you’ll realise that nothing bad is going to happen and you can start to work out what these feelings really are.

3. Put it in writing

If your fear stems from an accident, event in the past or simply just an issue such as a fear of hacking, write down what your fear is on a piece of paper. Leave margins on both the left- and right-hand side of the page. In the left-hand margin, list lots of words and phrases you negatively associate with what you’ve written down. Now with your negative words completed, list positive words and phrases in the right hand margin that negate the negatives. For example, if your negative phrase reads: When out hacking; I feel anxious and scared, your positive could be: When out hacking I can feel exhilarated and happy.

Often this exercise is tough, so it’s a good idea to ask a friend to help you. Friends and family won’t be emotionally attached. They don’t share your fears so sometimes they can help you come up with a positive when you feel there are absolutely none to choose from.

And remember, for every negative there’s a positive, you just have to remind yourself what it is.

4. Positive motivation

If you’re a parent, or if you’ve ever looked after children, you’ll know that sometimes they need a little positive motivation.

Perhaps you want your son or daughter to go outside and play, get some fresh air and enjoy some nice weather, but if children’s television is running a cartoon marathon this is sometimes a challenge. So we take it upon ourselves to motivate the kids by making it sound like the best thing since sliced bread – sound familiar?

This is where tonality comes into play. It’s common for people to describe a negative accident or event using negative, exaggerated language in a negative tone.

If this sounds like you, try speaking about the event or accident differently. Lighten up on the dreary tones and try to use some more positive language – if you’ve had an accident and you’re still here to tell the tale, that’s a positive in itself! Thinking and speaking positively will help to focus the mind in a different way.

5. Using sound

Very often people mention sounds in relation to an accident or event, so it’s important to help people change the association to that particular sound.

So sing! It might sound mad but this is something most of us do without even realising. It’s so easy to get a tune stuck in your head, so think of one with a positive association to you and your life, or simply just one you love, and hum away inside your head. Try this on a ride, before a competition, or simply when feeling anxious.

If a negative sound has been plaguing your thoughts a new tune could be just what you need to wash it away.