Working with a Sports Psychologist

[KBC]

Our coach dec![](ded to lay on a workshop with a sports psychologist, attendance being highly encouraged, but not compulsory, for everyone on the traveling show team.

It turned out to be both interesting and rewarding, the best investment in me, that I have done for a while. The guy was having kind of a hard time, first group of equestrians so although we are a team that work together, we are also likely to be competing in the same classes against each other. It is certainly the first time that he has come across horse people, and athletes that have an animal as a partner.

The first conclusion, as athletes we spend a lot of time and money on our horses, but it is just as important to invest time and money on ourselves. Even something simple like diet, we were all happy to talk about out horses food, supplements, etc…out own not so much.[IMG]http://myhorseforum.com/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png) Likewise, treatment for injuries, routine check ups and chiropractic, who gets it?

He spoke a lot about visualizing the “what if’s” and having a strategy to deal with it. We had talked about horses spooking, so he asked “what makes horses spook” He did not care for the answer “everything that moves, and everything that doesn’t”

It was interesting for sure, It has bought into focus that I can choose to continue as I have, or I can put more effort and care into things, and I MAY actually win a buckle that I have been coveting.

I have some action plans written to move on, and I need to write some more, I realize now that I have been lacking specifics in trying to move on, you actually need to write in some detail WHAT you are going to do, then you can be the change.

What was really great was making us realize how much stress we carry that we don’t need to, if you can’t change something, if it is an outside stressor, then you can’t change it, you just have to plan to make the best of it. Good example was weather, what if it is windy or it rains? Well you can’t change it, so either have an action plan how you will deal with it, even if that plan is “I scratch”

The biggest thing for me though, is if I don’t believe in me and Fergie, if I don’t enjoy every ride, the why the heck should she?

I am seriously considering working with him on a one to one basis, seeing if I can find, and then break down the barriers that stop me so often turning good intentions into action. One HUGE thing that came out of it…I am a great team player. and last year allowed the people in the team that I thought needed Coach at shows to have first dibs on her time. Now I have requested that I get at least 15 minutes each show day when she spends one on one time with Fergie and I.

I was very surprised how much I got out of it…

[EventingMaff]

I have always enjoyed working with sport psychologists and find their assistance useful. I’ve never worked with one directly for riding. I played lacrosse competitively throughout university and then afterwards worked with some EU national teams so it was always in the field sport context that I worked with them.

However, a lot of the work I did with the psychologists were applicable to my riding. Fitness and diet actually weren’t things typically covered in sessions, it was more mental and how to not get in your own way or psych yourself out. Things I found useful for riding were:

1. To reach peak performance every athlete has an optimal level of excitement/adrenaline. This has to be in the middle as an athlete that is too relaxed is slow to react but an athlete that is too excited often makes misjudgements, over-commits to moves, and frequently is less precise in their moves.

I found this really useful for riding as I need to have heightened enough awareness that I’m constantly focused on my ride and what is happening with the horse and my body but relaxed enough that I don’t over-anticipate, get ahead of my horse (both in jumping and dressage), and for when sh*t hits the fan I’m in a calm enough state to think clearly about what I should do rather than just REACT.

2. Teamwork. This is where a lot of the psychologist time was focused as it’s such a critical part of any field sport. Things like recognizing conflict before it becomes conflict (i.e. recognizing when some dynamic of the team isn’t working before it comes to a point that causes negativity), communicating on and off the field (not just “what words” but also how these styles are different and why what is acceptable on the field doesn’t work off and vice versa), how to give to the team but also how to make sure you’re receiving too.

Most of these you read through and you think “uh duuuuh”, but I enjoyed working with the psychologist because it slowed me down to actually THINK about these things. It’s the same with horses, slowing down to think “OK, is this a behavior that will be problematic in the future” or “Am I being too considerate of pony and should I be asking more from him” (or vice versa) and this is right down to little things like “Should he be able to lift that inside shoulder and carry himself straight or is that expecting too much too soon in the training process”. It’s more the process of slowing down and thinking through my teammate and myself.

I could go on but you get the idea. I find sport psychologists really useful, but it is true that I never really hear of them in the riding world. They are incredibly common in the team-sports worlds though!!

ETA: Agh I forgot to mention my favorite one - and the exercise I use the most! VISUALIZATION!! I actually do A LOT of visualization for riding as I don’t get nearly as much ride time as I would like. Whenever I have a few minutes spare I’ll visualize an element of my riding that I’m struggling with. Too much right hand? Too much weight in the inside stirrup? Leaning forward in the canter departure? I’ll visualize myself riding and really feel what my body would be doing and then focus on the right thing. I’ll release with that right hand or I’ll sit into my outside seat bone/stirrup, or I’ll put my shoulders back as I ask for canter. I then visualize the horse’s reaction (softening downwards into the contact with the right hand released; stepping up with inside shoulder and leveling the hips; pushing up into the canter rather than rushing forward).

These visualizations seem to really help when I actually do ride. I’ve managed to fix some bad habits faster than one would normally expect with only 2 rides a week because I’m “mentally riding” quite often!

[Scribbler]

Following, this is really interesting!

[KBC]

@EventingMaff yes, working on REAL visualizations now, and starting to instill new ‘videos’

My riding journey, since my big fall convinced me I knew nothing, and anything I did know I was too sacred to remember anyway, has been nothing short of amazing. I’ve gone from standing on the block crying because I couldn’t get on my saint of a baby sitter QH, and doing walk trot classes, to riding level 1 and just starting to school at 2…feeling very proud

BUT

This session brought home to me that even a 60 year old Grandmother, who is overweight and on the list for a knee replacement, HAS to be an athlete…I kind of knew it before…but you know how it can take an event to make it stick?

So the healthier eating has begun, so have the crunches!

[drafting_dots]

Very interesting. I was thinking about the me vs. my horse care thing a lot since I have about 3-4 medical appointments I still have to make but keep putting the horse first.

The only thing that I actually really don’t like about what the guy said is imagining the “what ifs”. I feel like the “what ifs” are the sources of all my anxiety, and probably a lot of people’s anxieties, and I always thought it was discouraged to go down that rabbit hole! I think it is somewhat valuable in “everyday” situations (“what if” you mess up the presentation? the worst worst thing that can happen is you get fired), but with horses to me the “what if you fall off” is “i could die” and it’s honestly not a stretch.

[KBC]

@drafting_dots

The only thing that I actually really don’t like about what the guy said is imagining the “what ifs”. I feel like the “what ifs” are the sources of all my anxiety, and probably a lot of people’s anxieties, and I always thought it was discouraged to go down that rabbit hole! I think it is somewhat valuable in “everyday” situations (“what if” you mess up the presentation? the worst worst thing that can happen is you get fired), but with horses to me the “what if you fall off” is “i could die” and it’s honestly not a stretch.

I totally get that…and I did explain there is no way we can plan for every “what if” when we are riding…I have no script for “we have warmed up here for 10 minutes and now you SERIOUSLY think that the saddle blanket on the rail is going to kill you” there are too many variables. BUT, my new mantra to me is

RIDE
BREATHE
SMILE.

Because my usual reaction was, freeze, don’t breathe…face looks like rigour has set in… I know I can ride her through most situations, so my riding “what if” is ride her through it.

There are though plenty of ‘what ifs’ at shows that you can think about and have plans for…running late, early, weather changes, that sort of thing.

[Scribbler]

I am not a sports psychologist, but I’d say you don’t want to think “what if I fall off?”

You want to back up the process to what do I do if horse is a fire breathing monster on a crispy morning? What do I do if horses feels humpy at the canter? What do I do if he spooks?

I think a lot of accidents happen because people ignore warning signs either because they don’t notice or because they feel they need to power through and ride that course, do that lesson, keep up with the group on the trail etc.

So don’t fixate on fear of falling. Think instead what you can do so it won’t happen.

Give yourself permission ahead of time to longe the hot horse or get off and handwalk on the trail or scratch a class if you are having a bronc show in warm-up.

Put your safety first and don’t let other people rush you into things.

And if you have a horse with a dirty stop or a spook spin bolt buck that you really can’t sit, maybe you need a different horse.

This is even more important as we age because a fall that would mean nothing to an 11 year old could be the end of riding for ever for us.

As an older adult the number one goal is to keep riding as long as possible and that means being strategic about our safety.

[Scribbler]

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