Preshow Mental Mistakes
Preshow Mental Mistakes – Page 1
8 Costly Mistakes Equestrians EBOOKLET Make with Their Preshow Mental Preparation (transcript)
Copyright © 2010 by Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Published by Peak Performance Sports, LLC 7380 Sand Lake Road PMB 5012 Orlando, FL 32819 407-909-1700 http://www.peaksports.com
_________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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Preshow Mental Mistakes Hi, this is Dr. Patrick Cohn with Peak Performance Sports at www.peaksports.com. Today, I’m joined with Kathy Valentine. We’re going to discuss the top pre-show mental game mistakes competitors make. Kathy is an equestrian performance coach with over 25 years of experience coaching riders. She is owner of the Heart Centered Equine Academy in Victor, Montana. You can find her at her website at www.heartcentered.com. Kathy, thanks for joining me today to talk about some of the mental mistakes that riders make pre-ring. Thank you, Dr. Cohn. It’s a pleasure to be here. Dr. Cohn: One of the challenges that I see is that competitors just prior to going into the ring or going into competition they have a lot of this mental chatter in their heads and the mental chatter is the form of self-doubt. What’s your experience with that? Kathy: Well, unfortunately, you’re right. You see a lot of selfdoubt in riders especially before they enter that ring and I believe that the self-doubt that we’re seeing is the lack of confidence. So, many riders when they’re in competition, allow
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their minds to wander especially right before they’re ready to walk into that show ring. They’ll allow themselves to think all of the negative thoughts: “I’m not good enough,” “I haven’t practiced enough,” “Gosh, what I am doing here today, I’m not ready.” So, they start to sabotage their ride before they even get in there. Dr. Cohn: Wow, so it’s really about doubting their own ability. Kathy: Absolutely. Dr. Cohn: Ok. So, what would be one tip that you would have to help riders overcome some of that negative thinking or selfdoubt just before they enter the ring? Kathy: I think the most important thing that a rider can do for themselves is to learn to become aware of what’s going on in their mind, what they’re saying to themselves. If they can do that, if they can stop long enough to say “Wow, I’m sabotaging myself, here’s what I’m saying,” then they can start to make the changes that need to happen. Dr. Cohn: Right, so awareness for you, awareness of “hey, I’m sabotaging myself. I’ve got to make an adjustment.” Kathy: Right. Dr. Cohn: Ok, let’s go on to the second challenge.
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Kathy: Ok. Many riders worry about competitors, scores, other horses, their skills, etc. What are your feelings about that? Dr. Cohn: Yeah, I see it in the form of, at least in my students, they’re making a lot of comparisons about their skills to their competitors skills, their horse to their competitors horse. Even to the extent where, you know, waiting to go in the ring they’ll be seeing maybe others scores and how the judges are reacting to competitors and what scores they’re getting. Their minds are thinking “wow, I have to beat that score in order to place” for example. Yeah, I see a lot of that going on Kathy, where just way too much worry related to where do I stack up versus the competition. Kathy: So, if you could give them one suggestion, what would that one thing be that might be able to help riders so that they’re not so concerned about the score and the other horse and how they fit in? Dr. Cohn: Well, both you and I talk about having a pre-ring routine obviously. That’s a part of it. But, within that pre-ring routine, you have to be focused on what you’re going to do in the ring especially as you get closer towards entering the ring. It only needs to be about you, your plan, maybe doing some visualization or some mental rehearsal of what you’re going to do once you’re in the ring. Your focus can’t be on comparing yourself to other competitors at that point in time.
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So, a third challenge that I see, Kathy, is that riders don’t fully trust in what they’ve trained themselves to do and in some instances what they’ve trained their horse to do as well. So, at the last minute they’ll have some issues going on with “am I going to be able to do what I’ve trained myself to do.” Do you see that in your work and how prevalent is that? Kathy: Absolutely. I see a lack of trust in themselves and certainly a lack of trust in their horses. But, on the note of them not trusting themselves, I think riders get really comfortable in their home environment. They get comfortable riding with the same people, having their coach or trainer watching and helping them and they get uncomfortable when they’re out of that kind of environment. Getting dependent upon a certain way of doing things in a comfortable environment is where I see a lot of the trust issues start to come undone at the shows because everything is different, different horses, different people around. Most of the time coaches have five or six students that they’re working with so they don’t have that one on one they’re used to in their own home environment. Dr. Cohn: Right, different environment. Now you throw in judges and fans and the whole ball of wax that makes it a lot more difficult for them to have that trust. So, what’s the one thing that riders can think about that’s going to help them increase their trust at that critical time before they go into the ring?
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Kathy: I think a really big one that I ask my riders to do is to ride in different arenas. To not always be at our home arena, riding under the same situation all the time, but to learn to go to other places and use that warm-up that we’ve worked on, use the skills that I’ve given them in other areas where there are other things going on so that they learn how to become more focused on their ride outside of their comfort zone, which is the home arena. Dr. Cohn: Very nice. Just forcing yourself to go out of your comfort zone and to get acclimated to that type of experience it sounds like. Kathy: Ok, the fourth challenge that I see, we’ve talked about competitors not trusting themselves, but I also see competitors who lack trust in their horse. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? Dr. Cohn: Yeah, Kathy, I’ve worked with riders that have this kind of lack of trust in their horse. They can’t predict essentially what the horse is going to do, you know, in the show or in the ring. It’s often based on what I call generalizations. For example, you know maybe two shows ago the horse did something unpredictable, which led the rider to not trust the horse. Or, they’re doing something weird in the warm-up or in practice that week, for example. In the back of the competitor’s mind it’s like can I really trust the horse? Then it makes it very difficult I think in that kind of mindset.
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Kathy, it makes it very difficult for the rider to perform freely and so it’s this tentative type of performance because, you know, at what point is my horse going to do the wrong thing or get spooked or whatever and so they’re riding very cautiously and tentatively because of it. Kathy: Absolutely, which certainly affects their horse as well. If you could give one tip that might be able to help someone with this, what would it be? Dr. Cohn: Well, basically what I tell my students is you have two options. You’re going to go in there and you’re going to give 100% faith and trust in your horse and what you’ve trained your horse to do. Because nine times out of ten or ninety five times out of one hundred times your horse is going to do the right thing, the thing that you’ve trained them to do. The other option is to not, to go in there and be tentative and to be fearful of mistakes and worry about what the horse is going to do and what you said send tension to your horse. Tell your horse that you’re tense. Right? Which isn’t a good way to go either. To me, there’s only one good option and that is you’ve got to put behind some of those generalizations that I talked about earlier and you have to go in with the notion of “my horse is going to do the right thing. I trust my horse and I’m going to give my horse a 100%. I’m going to give my horse the benefit of the doubt that he or she is going to do the right thing for me.” Kathy: I like that. Great answer. _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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Dr. Cohn: A fifth challenge I think that we see is, you know, besides the horse or lack of trust in skills, we see competitors that sometimes get distracted by what we call external type circumstances like maybe poor weather conditions or certain people outside the ring, for example, or trainers maybe. It could be anything, but often it’s just weather conditions. What is your experience with that and what kind of havoc does that create for the mind of the competitor? Kathy: Right. You know poor weather is a big one and unfortunately, we can’t control the weather. If we’re working at a show where there’s just an outdoor arena and we have to deal with wind or rain or the heat. In the summertime, it can get brutally hot. Of course, in the wintertime, especially here in Montana, it can get really cold when you’re showing. So, all of those certainly play in to how my riders think about their performance and how they’re going to work through it. I think the biggest one that I see is the wind or the rain. When it’s windy, horses pick up on that energy as do we and it feeds off each other. When it’s windy, if there’s any flags or anything that can be blown, of course now we’re worrying about the horse spooking because it’s windy and he’s a little bit more up because he feels the energy that’s causing. Rain can have the same kind of feeling. It’s a miserable condition to have to ride in. The conditions can get slick in the _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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arena so riders worry about all of those things that are going to contribute to whether they have a good ride or a bad ride. Dr. Cohn: How do you get them beyond those distractions? Kathy: You know, the biggest thing that I have seen from my riders is you learn to get out there and ride at home in all of those conditions. You can’t be a fair weather rider. On a windy day, I can’t tell you how many times riders have said to me, “can we just cancel and ride on another day because it’s really windy and I don’t like it when my horse is bothered and spooky and I don’t like the wind either. Or, it’s really rainy and the conditions are just not good, the footing.” And to me, that is such a great opportunity. That’s how you have to look at it. Here’s an opportunity to ride in a condition that may in fact present itself at a show. So, riding in it just helps get through that so that when you’re at a show this is not a big deal. I’ve done this before. Dr. Cohn: Once again the whole acclimation approach. Getting acclimated to those types of conditions and not just going out there and training in perfect weather conditions it sounds like. Kathy: That’s right. We have to be able to work through whatever it is, whether it is the weather, being in a different environment. Those are all things that are part of showing a horse.
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Dr. Cohn: And I think a lot of it too, Kathy, comes down to mental preparation. Can you prepare yourself mentally, you know, for dealing with that wind or dealing with that cold or rain? Can you have this mindset that I’m not going to let it influence me? I am going to go out there and I’m going to perform up to my capabilities no matter what. Kathy: Absolutely. It’s a confidence builder too to be able to get out there and ride in those conditions and become aware of it and learn like you said on the mental side of it. How do I deal with this when it’s windy and my horse does something? How do I deal with that mentally? How do I get through that? And as you learn that you do have the skills and that you can get through it, it builds your confidence so that on show day you’re ready for it. You’re ready to take it on, as a matter of fact; you’re saying bring it on. Not a problem. Dr. Cohn: Nice tip. Kathy: Well, a sixth challenge that we see a lot is over training or over coaching of a horse, especially at the last minute. I’m just wondering how you see that working into the ability of someone that’s getting ready to enter the ring as they’re trying to kind of cram as you will at the last minute to get things done for that class. Dr. Cohn: Yeah, it seems the conundrum here, Kathy, is it seems very sensible for very highly motivated, almost analytical type competitors in equestrian. It seems very natural for them to do _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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that, “oh I got to use the last ten minutes of my warm-up. I got to train my horse to make sure my horse is doing everything,” but it’s too late at that point. You’re confusing your horse with too many signals. To me, a warm-up is just a warm-up if you’re going through your routine and not at the last minute trying to train your horse. So there’s a difference between warming up to be ready, to be prepared and training or over coaching your horse at the last minute. Kathy: Horses are so sensitive to the changes their riders make as you say that. If we start to overdo, you’re right it sends so many signals. To them, everything is different and so they react differently. Dr. Cohn: So, the rider has to have faith. The person has to have faith that you’ve done the right thing leading up to the competition that you’ve trained well enough. It goes back to the trust I think the trust in your horse and the trust that you’ve done the right things training that now preshow. It’s time to get warmed up, go over it mentally in your head, comfort your horse, do everything you can to make your horse relax and yourself rather than this last minute panic. Kathy: So, again, if you could give one thing to a rider that might help them to overcome this problem or this fear, I think it’s also kind of a fear that they have to hurry up and cram a little bit before they get into that arena, what would be the one thing that you would tell a rider?
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Dr. Cohn: I would say simplify your pre-ring warm-up and what you do. I mean, I’ve already mentioned that you have to have faith in what you’ve trained yourself to do, but you have to simplify. Instead of going and trying to be more complex and doing over training and over coaching with yourself and your horse, you have to simplify that process. Do the minimum that really is going to be required to get your horse ready and then have full trust that your horse and yourself is going to know what to do as a team once you enter the ring. Kathy: So really, having a pre-show routine, if I’m hearing you correctly, having something that you’re going to stick to and not change and keep it real simple. Dr. Cohn: Yes, absolutely. Along that same line, Kathy, another challenge that we see is that, you know, the rider starts to worry about the horse getting spooked prior to the show and then that sends them into a little panic. What are the challenges you see with that? Kathy: Well, you know, I think we get back to the trust issue, of course in ourselves and in our horses. When you’re working with horses, especially in different environments certainly, they want to look at things, things are different. They’re naturally a flight animal so sometimes especially if a horse hasn’t been shown a lot, is apt to be more nervous and
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get spooked by things. I see riders all the time worrying about what-if. The unfortunate thing is that you can’t fix the what-if. You have to be prepared and work at the moment rather than with the what-if so I see competitors all the time worry about their horses that are going to be spooky and bothered by things. That’s just part of working with horses. Again, it’s not a single event where you just have one person that has worry about themselves. With riders, you have ourselves and your horse to think about, but being well prepared and knowing our horses and making sure we trust ourselves is of course really important in that. Dr. Cohn: It’s just an over active mind of the rider worrying about, you know, kind of catastrophizing or is this about if my horse does feel a little spooky or gets a little spooked in the ring this is what I’m going to do? Kathy: I think most of the time it’s the rider creating the spook. I think again, and we’ve talked about this earlier, the mind gets really busy when we’re put under pressure, we start to worry about all the what-ifs and so what I see is riders tense up, they get more nervous, their mind is racing. All of that sends a message to the horse that something isn’t right, something isn’t the same as it normally is and so the first thing he does is go what do you see that I don’t. He starts to get nervous, he starts to get tense and of course we pick up on that _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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and “oh my gosh, I knew it, I knew he was going to be nervous and upset, look he’s ready to spook any minute. This is awful.” The rider and the horse feed off of each other, which is not a good situation of course for being in a show. Dr. Cohn: I have a good feeling of where you’re going with the solution of this, or a tip for our listeners. I guess that would be you as a rider, you have to be as relaxed as you can be and transfer that to the horse. Kathy: Absolutely. When you’re riding and you have that trust of course going on, I think if I had to give one very simple solution to this, it would be for people to relax and if something happens in your mind to say, no problem. Next time, let it go. If he spooks, big deal, you move on. It’s that quick. It’s that simple. You can’t stay hanging onto “he spooked once, he’s going to spook again, he’s going to spook again, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” If he spooks no problem, next time you’ll get it right. It’s not that big of deal and from that you’ll start to overcome that spooky behavior. Dr. Cohn: Alright. Very good. Kathy: I think before we finish up, I’d like to also talk a little bit and ask you about riders who are extremely focused on the judges. How does that hurt that their performance when they can’t get past the judges and how they are going to perceive them?
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Dr. Cohn: Well, yeah that’s interesting because obviously it’s a forward type of thinking, what are the judges going to think or this particular judge has judged me harshly in the past, in past shows. It’s a lot of forward thinking about results obviously and it doesn’t allow you to be in the present moment and be able to perform your routine in the ring. What I talk to my students about is that you have to have 100% of your focus on what you’re going to do in the ring. Maybe it’s just the first section for you, not the entire routine or plan, but your first section. And do one section at a time of what you’re going to do. The focus cannot be on the results and what the judges are going to think because then your focus is displaced. It’s split between “oh what are the judges thinking” and “how am I doing or what do I need to do to execute right now.” And that’s a problem when your focused is displaced and split like that you’re not going to have complete focus on the task at hand. Kathy: What would be a tip that you would be able to give a rider that’s going to help them stay focused on the task at hand and not be thinking about those judges? Dr. Cohn: Make sure you define exactly what you need to do in the ring. What is your responsibility? How are you going to execute each and every move with your horse in the ring? What specifically do you need to focus on?
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However, don’t go overboard, like we talked about earlier, don’t be over analytical with it. Just have a few simple cues that are going to help you be smooth in terms of your transitions and smooth in what you’re doing in the ring and so 100% of your focus needs to be on executing what you need to do in the ring one move at a time. If 100% of your focus there, on those cues, then it’s a lot more difficult to focus on the judges. Then if you do focus on the judges, obviously you have to refocus very quickly on what you’re doing in the present moment in the ring. Kathy: So basically, you’re saying you need to stay in the moment and not think so much about what the outcome is, stay in the moment of that ride. Dr. Cohn: Stay in the moment, keep their focus in the ring, not who might be judging or evaluating them and what their scores is going to be because yeah, those are all outcome oriented things that happen from staying in the moment and working the process. Kathy: Great tip. Well great, Kathy, it’s been fun talking with you about some of the challenges that equestrians face pre-competition. This is Dr. Patrick Cohn with peaksports.com and I’ve been talking with Kathy Valentine of Heart Centered Equine Academy in Victor, Montana. Thanks a lot, Kathy. Thank you for having me. It was a lot of fun to be here.
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8 Costly Mistakes Equestrians EBOOKLET Make with Their Preshow Mental Preparation (transcript)
Copyright © 2010 by Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Published by Peak Performance Sports, LLC 7380 Sand Lake Road PMB 5012 Orlando, FL 32819 407-909-1700 http://www.peaksports.com
_________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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Preshow Mental Mistakes Hi, this is Dr. Patrick Cohn with Peak Performance Sports at www.peaksports.com. Today, I’m joined with Kathy Valentine. We’re going to discuss the top pre-show mental game mistakes competitors make. Kathy is an equestrian performance coach with over 25 years of experience coaching riders. She is owner of the Heart Centered Equine Academy in Victor, Montana. You can find her at her website at www.heartcentered.com. Kathy, thanks for joining me today to talk about some of the mental mistakes that riders make pre-ring. Thank you, Dr. Cohn. It’s a pleasure to be here. Dr. Cohn: One of the challenges that I see is that competitors just prior to going into the ring or going into competition they have a lot of this mental chatter in their heads and the mental chatter is the form of self-doubt. What’s your experience with that? Kathy: Well, unfortunately, you’re right. You see a lot of selfdoubt in riders especially before they enter that ring and I believe that the self-doubt that we’re seeing is the lack of confidence. So, many riders when they’re in competition, allow
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their minds to wander especially right before they’re ready to walk into that show ring. They’ll allow themselves to think all of the negative thoughts: “I’m not good enough,” “I haven’t practiced enough,” “Gosh, what I am doing here today, I’m not ready.” So, they start to sabotage their ride before they even get in there. Dr. Cohn: Wow, so it’s really about doubting their own ability. Kathy: Absolutely. Dr. Cohn: Ok. So, what would be one tip that you would have to help riders overcome some of that negative thinking or selfdoubt just before they enter the ring? Kathy: I think the most important thing that a rider can do for themselves is to learn to become aware of what’s going on in their mind, what they’re saying to themselves. If they can do that, if they can stop long enough to say “Wow, I’m sabotaging myself, here’s what I’m saying,” then they can start to make the changes that need to happen. Dr. Cohn: Right, so awareness for you, awareness of “hey, I’m sabotaging myself. I’ve got to make an adjustment.” Kathy: Right. Dr. Cohn: Ok, let’s go on to the second challenge.
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Kathy: Ok. Many riders worry about competitors, scores, other horses, their skills, etc. What are your feelings about that? Dr. Cohn: Yeah, I see it in the form of, at least in my students, they’re making a lot of comparisons about their skills to their competitors skills, their horse to their competitors horse. Even to the extent where, you know, waiting to go in the ring they’ll be seeing maybe others scores and how the judges are reacting to competitors and what scores they’re getting. Their minds are thinking “wow, I have to beat that score in order to place” for example. Yeah, I see a lot of that going on Kathy, where just way too much worry related to where do I stack up versus the competition. Kathy: So, if you could give them one suggestion, what would that one thing be that might be able to help riders so that they’re not so concerned about the score and the other horse and how they fit in? Dr. Cohn: Well, both you and I talk about having a pre-ring routine obviously. That’s a part of it. But, within that pre-ring routine, you have to be focused on what you’re going to do in the ring especially as you get closer towards entering the ring. It only needs to be about you, your plan, maybe doing some visualization or some mental rehearsal of what you’re going to do once you’re in the ring. Your focus can’t be on comparing yourself to other competitors at that point in time.
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So, a third challenge that I see, Kathy, is that riders don’t fully trust in what they’ve trained themselves to do and in some instances what they’ve trained their horse to do as well. So, at the last minute they’ll have some issues going on with “am I going to be able to do what I’ve trained myself to do.” Do you see that in your work and how prevalent is that? Kathy: Absolutely. I see a lack of trust in themselves and certainly a lack of trust in their horses. But, on the note of them not trusting themselves, I think riders get really comfortable in their home environment. They get comfortable riding with the same people, having their coach or trainer watching and helping them and they get uncomfortable when they’re out of that kind of environment. Getting dependent upon a certain way of doing things in a comfortable environment is where I see a lot of the trust issues start to come undone at the shows because everything is different, different horses, different people around. Most of the time coaches have five or six students that they’re working with so they don’t have that one on one they’re used to in their own home environment. Dr. Cohn: Right, different environment. Now you throw in judges and fans and the whole ball of wax that makes it a lot more difficult for them to have that trust. So, what’s the one thing that riders can think about that’s going to help them increase their trust at that critical time before they go into the ring?
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Kathy: I think a really big one that I ask my riders to do is to ride in different arenas. To not always be at our home arena, riding under the same situation all the time, but to learn to go to other places and use that warm-up that we’ve worked on, use the skills that I’ve given them in other areas where there are other things going on so that they learn how to become more focused on their ride outside of their comfort zone, which is the home arena. Dr. Cohn: Very nice. Just forcing yourself to go out of your comfort zone and to get acclimated to that type of experience it sounds like. Kathy: Ok, the fourth challenge that I see, we’ve talked about competitors not trusting themselves, but I also see competitors who lack trust in their horse. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? Dr. Cohn: Yeah, Kathy, I’ve worked with riders that have this kind of lack of trust in their horse. They can’t predict essentially what the horse is going to do, you know, in the show or in the ring. It’s often based on what I call generalizations. For example, you know maybe two shows ago the horse did something unpredictable, which led the rider to not trust the horse. Or, they’re doing something weird in the warm-up or in practice that week, for example. In the back of the competitor’s mind it’s like can I really trust the horse? Then it makes it very difficult I think in that kind of mindset.
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Kathy, it makes it very difficult for the rider to perform freely and so it’s this tentative type of performance because, you know, at what point is my horse going to do the wrong thing or get spooked or whatever and so they’re riding very cautiously and tentatively because of it. Kathy: Absolutely, which certainly affects their horse as well. If you could give one tip that might be able to help someone with this, what would it be? Dr. Cohn: Well, basically what I tell my students is you have two options. You’re going to go in there and you’re going to give 100% faith and trust in your horse and what you’ve trained your horse to do. Because nine times out of ten or ninety five times out of one hundred times your horse is going to do the right thing, the thing that you’ve trained them to do. The other option is to not, to go in there and be tentative and to be fearful of mistakes and worry about what the horse is going to do and what you said send tension to your horse. Tell your horse that you’re tense. Right? Which isn’t a good way to go either. To me, there’s only one good option and that is you’ve got to put behind some of those generalizations that I talked about earlier and you have to go in with the notion of “my horse is going to do the right thing. I trust my horse and I’m going to give my horse a 100%. I’m going to give my horse the benefit of the doubt that he or she is going to do the right thing for me.” Kathy: I like that. Great answer. _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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Dr. Cohn: A fifth challenge I think that we see is, you know, besides the horse or lack of trust in skills, we see competitors that sometimes get distracted by what we call external type circumstances like maybe poor weather conditions or certain people outside the ring, for example, or trainers maybe. It could be anything, but often it’s just weather conditions. What is your experience with that and what kind of havoc does that create for the mind of the competitor? Kathy: Right. You know poor weather is a big one and unfortunately, we can’t control the weather. If we’re working at a show where there’s just an outdoor arena and we have to deal with wind or rain or the heat. In the summertime, it can get brutally hot. Of course, in the wintertime, especially here in Montana, it can get really cold when you’re showing. So, all of those certainly play in to how my riders think about their performance and how they’re going to work through it. I think the biggest one that I see is the wind or the rain. When it’s windy, horses pick up on that energy as do we and it feeds off each other. When it’s windy, if there’s any flags or anything that can be blown, of course now we’re worrying about the horse spooking because it’s windy and he’s a little bit more up because he feels the energy that’s causing. Rain can have the same kind of feeling. It’s a miserable condition to have to ride in. The conditions can get slick in the _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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arena so riders worry about all of those things that are going to contribute to whether they have a good ride or a bad ride. Dr. Cohn: How do you get them beyond those distractions? Kathy: You know, the biggest thing that I have seen from my riders is you learn to get out there and ride at home in all of those conditions. You can’t be a fair weather rider. On a windy day, I can’t tell you how many times riders have said to me, “can we just cancel and ride on another day because it’s really windy and I don’t like it when my horse is bothered and spooky and I don’t like the wind either. Or, it’s really rainy and the conditions are just not good, the footing.” And to me, that is such a great opportunity. That’s how you have to look at it. Here’s an opportunity to ride in a condition that may in fact present itself at a show. So, riding in it just helps get through that so that when you’re at a show this is not a big deal. I’ve done this before. Dr. Cohn: Once again the whole acclimation approach. Getting acclimated to those types of conditions and not just going out there and training in perfect weather conditions it sounds like. Kathy: That’s right. We have to be able to work through whatever it is, whether it is the weather, being in a different environment. Those are all things that are part of showing a horse.
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Dr. Cohn: And I think a lot of it too, Kathy, comes down to mental preparation. Can you prepare yourself mentally, you know, for dealing with that wind or dealing with that cold or rain? Can you have this mindset that I’m not going to let it influence me? I am going to go out there and I’m going to perform up to my capabilities no matter what. Kathy: Absolutely. It’s a confidence builder too to be able to get out there and ride in those conditions and become aware of it and learn like you said on the mental side of it. How do I deal with this when it’s windy and my horse does something? How do I deal with that mentally? How do I get through that? And as you learn that you do have the skills and that you can get through it, it builds your confidence so that on show day you’re ready for it. You’re ready to take it on, as a matter of fact; you’re saying bring it on. Not a problem. Dr. Cohn: Nice tip. Kathy: Well, a sixth challenge that we see a lot is over training or over coaching of a horse, especially at the last minute. I’m just wondering how you see that working into the ability of someone that’s getting ready to enter the ring as they’re trying to kind of cram as you will at the last minute to get things done for that class. Dr. Cohn: Yeah, it seems the conundrum here, Kathy, is it seems very sensible for very highly motivated, almost analytical type competitors in equestrian. It seems very natural for them to do _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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that, “oh I got to use the last ten minutes of my warm-up. I got to train my horse to make sure my horse is doing everything,” but it’s too late at that point. You’re confusing your horse with too many signals. To me, a warm-up is just a warm-up if you’re going through your routine and not at the last minute trying to train your horse. So there’s a difference between warming up to be ready, to be prepared and training or over coaching your horse at the last minute. Kathy: Horses are so sensitive to the changes their riders make as you say that. If we start to overdo, you’re right it sends so many signals. To them, everything is different and so they react differently. Dr. Cohn: So, the rider has to have faith. The person has to have faith that you’ve done the right thing leading up to the competition that you’ve trained well enough. It goes back to the trust I think the trust in your horse and the trust that you’ve done the right things training that now preshow. It’s time to get warmed up, go over it mentally in your head, comfort your horse, do everything you can to make your horse relax and yourself rather than this last minute panic. Kathy: So, again, if you could give one thing to a rider that might help them to overcome this problem or this fear, I think it’s also kind of a fear that they have to hurry up and cram a little bit before they get into that arena, what would be the one thing that you would tell a rider?
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Dr. Cohn: I would say simplify your pre-ring warm-up and what you do. I mean, I’ve already mentioned that you have to have faith in what you’ve trained yourself to do, but you have to simplify. Instead of going and trying to be more complex and doing over training and over coaching with yourself and your horse, you have to simplify that process. Do the minimum that really is going to be required to get your horse ready and then have full trust that your horse and yourself is going to know what to do as a team once you enter the ring. Kathy: So really, having a pre-show routine, if I’m hearing you correctly, having something that you’re going to stick to and not change and keep it real simple. Dr. Cohn: Yes, absolutely. Along that same line, Kathy, another challenge that we see is that, you know, the rider starts to worry about the horse getting spooked prior to the show and then that sends them into a little panic. What are the challenges you see with that? Kathy: Well, you know, I think we get back to the trust issue, of course in ourselves and in our horses. When you’re working with horses, especially in different environments certainly, they want to look at things, things are different. They’re naturally a flight animal so sometimes especially if a horse hasn’t been shown a lot, is apt to be more nervous and
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get spooked by things. I see riders all the time worrying about what-if. The unfortunate thing is that you can’t fix the what-if. You have to be prepared and work at the moment rather than with the what-if so I see competitors all the time worry about their horses that are going to be spooky and bothered by things. That’s just part of working with horses. Again, it’s not a single event where you just have one person that has worry about themselves. With riders, you have ourselves and your horse to think about, but being well prepared and knowing our horses and making sure we trust ourselves is of course really important in that. Dr. Cohn: It’s just an over active mind of the rider worrying about, you know, kind of catastrophizing or is this about if my horse does feel a little spooky or gets a little spooked in the ring this is what I’m going to do? Kathy: I think most of the time it’s the rider creating the spook. I think again, and we’ve talked about this earlier, the mind gets really busy when we’re put under pressure, we start to worry about all the what-ifs and so what I see is riders tense up, they get more nervous, their mind is racing. All of that sends a message to the horse that something isn’t right, something isn’t the same as it normally is and so the first thing he does is go what do you see that I don’t. He starts to get nervous, he starts to get tense and of course we pick up on that _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 by Peak Performance Sports, LLC. www.peaksports.com
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and “oh my gosh, I knew it, I knew he was going to be nervous and upset, look he’s ready to spook any minute. This is awful.” The rider and the horse feed off of each other, which is not a good situation of course for being in a show. Dr. Cohn: I have a good feeling of where you’re going with the solution of this, or a tip for our listeners. I guess that would be you as a rider, you have to be as relaxed as you can be and transfer that to the horse. Kathy: Absolutely. When you’re riding and you have that trust of course going on, I think if I had to give one very simple solution to this, it would be for people to relax and if something happens in your mind to say, no problem. Next time, let it go. If he spooks, big deal, you move on. It’s that quick. It’s that simple. You can’t stay hanging onto “he spooked once, he’s going to spook again, he’s going to spook again, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” If he spooks no problem, next time you’ll get it right. It’s not that big of deal and from that you’ll start to overcome that spooky behavior. Dr. Cohn: Alright. Very good. Kathy: I think before we finish up, I’d like to also talk a little bit and ask you about riders who are extremely focused on the judges. How does that hurt that their performance when they can’t get past the judges and how they are going to perceive them?
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Dr. Cohn: Well, yeah that’s interesting because obviously it’s a forward type of thinking, what are the judges going to think or this particular judge has judged me harshly in the past, in past shows. It’s a lot of forward thinking about results obviously and it doesn’t allow you to be in the present moment and be able to perform your routine in the ring. What I talk to my students about is that you have to have 100% of your focus on what you’re going to do in the ring. Maybe it’s just the first section for you, not the entire routine or plan, but your first section. And do one section at a time of what you’re going to do. The focus cannot be on the results and what the judges are going to think because then your focus is displaced. It’s split between “oh what are the judges thinking” and “how am I doing or what do I need to do to execute right now.” And that’s a problem when your focused is displaced and split like that you’re not going to have complete focus on the task at hand. Kathy: What would be a tip that you would be able to give a rider that’s going to help them stay focused on the task at hand and not be thinking about those judges? Dr. Cohn: Make sure you define exactly what you need to do in the ring. What is your responsibility? How are you going to execute each and every move with your horse in the ring? What specifically do you need to focus on?
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However, don’t go overboard, like we talked about earlier, don’t be over analytical with it. Just have a few simple cues that are going to help you be smooth in terms of your transitions and smooth in what you’re doing in the ring and so 100% of your focus needs to be on executing what you need to do in the ring one move at a time. If 100% of your focus there, on those cues, then it’s a lot more difficult to focus on the judges. Then if you do focus on the judges, obviously you have to refocus very quickly on what you’re doing in the present moment in the ring. Kathy: So basically, you’re saying you need to stay in the moment and not think so much about what the outcome is, stay in the moment of that ride. Dr. Cohn: Stay in the moment, keep their focus in the ring, not who might be judging or evaluating them and what their scores is going to be because yeah, those are all outcome oriented things that happen from staying in the moment and working the process. Kathy: Great tip. Well great, Kathy, it’s been fun talking with you about some of the challenges that equestrians face pre-competition. This is Dr. Patrick Cohn with peaksports.com and I’ve been talking with Kathy Valentine of Heart Centered Equine Academy in Victor, Montana. Thanks a lot, Kathy. Thank you for having me. It was a lot of fun to be here.
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To download the audio program visit: http://www.peaksports.com/equestrian_confidence.php
Peak Performance Sports Products and Services About Dr. Patrick Cohn Dr. Patrick Cohn helps athletes and teams worldwide from a variety of sport backgrounds improve mental toughness for sports. As the president and founder of Peak Performance Sports, LLC (Orlando, Florida), Dr. Cohn is dedicated to instilling confidence, composure, focus, and teaching powerful mental game skills to help athletes, teams and corporate professionals perform at maximum levels. Dr. Cohn also teaches sports parents and coaches of young athletes how to help athletes achieve peak performance through sports psychology training. In addition, he teaches his mental game coaching system, the MGCP certification program (Mental Game Coaching Professional) to qualified coaches, trainers, and sports psychology students in training. Peak performance Sports, LLC also owns and manages two leading online mental training sites for athletes, coaches and sports parents at http://www.peaksportsnetwork.com and http://www.kidssportspsychology.com. Peak Performance Sports Publications & Services Downloadable E-books: Focus! Mental Strategies for Zone Concentration Confidence! Mental Strategies to Think Like a Champion Mental Preparation: Pre-shot Strategies to Think and Perform Like a Pro Get Psyched for Sports! Pregame Mental Strategies to Perform Your Best The Confident Athlete CD/Workbook Series: The Confident Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Ultimate Self-Confidence The Focused Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Superior Concentration The Composed Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Maximum Composure The Fearless Athlete: A 14-Day Plan to Unbeatable Trust The Relaxed Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Optimal Mental Preparation The Ultimate Sports Parent: A 14-Day Plan for Kids Success in Sports Mental Game Services by Peak Performance Sports Peaksports.com Online Mental Training System – join the world’s most comprehensive online mental training program. Onsite Coaching-Orlando – Join a one-on-one mental training program Virtual or Phone Coaching – Join a one-on-one phone coaching program Email Coaching as a premium member of peaksports.com – join a personal email coaching program
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