By DR. NANCY BLOOM
You’re standing at the in-gate. Your trainer just spent 10 minutes making a plan for the course. You go blank. You’ve had plenty of time to take it in. Your trainer has been patient and couldn’t have painted a better blueprint for success. But you have forgotten most of what he said and can think only about the crowd outside the ring.
Your old trainer is watching you and, although she has always been kind to you, you don’t want to make a fool of yourself and disappoint her. Your barnmate who always performs well (and consistently beats you) put in a flawless trip. What if you don’t get your pace from the start? What if you add down the outside line?
There were plenty of good trips before you in what feels like the biggest division of the show. It feels impossible to execute your plan (if you can even remember it) when you are so distracted by what you perceive as the judgment of others. It’s sometimes hard to hear, and focus on, what your trainer is saying. Your concern about what others are thinking puts pressure on you to perform well. This pressure will only interfere with your trip.
You’re anxious. Many thoughts that are not even related to the task at hand are flashing through your mind. Negative thoughts. You need to do your best to replace these unrelated negative thoughts with those that are related to your getting the job done. What can you do?
First, you need to do your best at calming your mind, reducing your anxiety, and grounding yourself. This will help you focus on the relevant task without distraction. Deep breathing is very helpful to settling your thoughts. Put yourself in a comfortable position. Sit in a comfortable chair with your feet on the floor and your hands in your lap. You may want to close your eyes or stare at something that doesn’t distract you—the floor, a soothing wall or picture, or at the grass or sky.
Then breathe in slowly through your nose for a slow count of 6-10. Hold your breath briefly and then blow it out slowly through your mouth for another count of 6-10. The important part of this exercise is to do your best to remain calm, almost in a stupor. Let your breathing lull you into a relaxed state, let your body feel heavy and deep. Deep breathing needs to be practiced regularly so you can readily jump into it when needed.
When you are in a relaxed and focused state of mind, choose one or two tasks to focus on. Don’t cloud your mind with too many items as this could be too confusing and distracting. Instead, choose the most important goal for you to accomplish and center your thoughts on that. When you have one focal point upon which you are concentrating, other thoughts have less or no room to distract you. When you enter the ring and solely concentrate on developing the right pace, your mind and body are all about that. There is now no room for concern about who’s watching you. Nobody cares. They are focused on their own performance, and you on yours.
Another strategy that may help if you are concerned about others watching you and the mistakes you might make, is to watch others perform. Watch your cohorts. Watch your trainer as well as other professionals. Everyone makes mistakes. Observe how they handle those errors. How upset do they get? Do they seem to understand that this is all a part of the sport and inevitable? Do they move on as if nothing happened and make the best of it?
Keep in mind that some of these people have been riding longer and have more experience than you. Some may be on horses that can do no wrong. Do you have such a horse? Again, that’s part of the sport. You’re here to get experience, to learn something and to enjoy your horse. Making a mistake or two is part of the learning process. Did you have fun? How others judge you is not as important as you’re learning and growing.
Have a sport psychology question or topic you’d like Dr. Bloom to address? Email kimberly@theplaidhorse.com, and you may see it in an upcoming column.
Dr. Nancy Bloom is a psychologist with expertise in working with equestrians, helping them to improve their sport performance. In her column, she will address common issues and concerns that many equestrians face and offer coping strategies that one can use to make improvements, get relief and remediate struggles.
Bloom has been riding, competing, and teaching for 50+ years. She has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and was mentored by a famous sport psychologist (now working with an MLB team). She has a masters degree in a teaching field, sought out and worked and/or ridden for many famous equine professionals, and owned and managed a show barn for 40+ years, giving her a well-rounded view of issues that equestrians face, how to understand and address them and how to help those struggling to move forward.
