When you're riding your horse do you ever experience overwhelming emotions like frustration, fear, anger, worry, or insecurity? How you feel affects your behaviour and that affects the results you're getting. Read on to find out how you can gain better control of your emotions and become a calm, confident and connected rider.
What's on your mind?
Seriously. What are you thinking about? More specifically, what are you thinking about when it comes to horse riding? What you think about affects how you feel emotionally. How you feel affects your behaviour. Your behaviour affects your results. It's all connected.
The important question is not - "What are you thinking about?"
The important question is "Are you in control of what you're thinking about?"
Managing your thoughts is a big part of being a calm, confident and connected rider.
Our brains are programmed to focus more on the negative than on the positive. Whether our negative experiences are real or imagined, it makes no difference too your brain. It believes whatever thoughts are galloping around in your mind.
Our thoughts never seem to stop. It may seem like you don't have any control of them. But there is a way to rein in those unhelpful thoughts that put you in a negative emotional state, keep you worrying about the 'what ifs', that you're not good enough, and that you're messing up your horse.
The secret is Mindfulness
Mindfulness is simply focusing on being in the present moment. You use all your senses to be in the moment by noticing what you hear, see, smell, taste and feel. This practice calms your frenzied mind. When your mind is calm, you feel emotionally and physically calm, too.
You can be mindful at any time. Right now simply take a moment to notice what you can feel (eg. the chair you're sitting on, the device you're holding in your hands, the ground under your feet), hear, see and smell. It you have a cup of coffee, take a sip and notice the smell, the taste, the temperature.
Now, notice your breathing. Take a deep breath in - expanding your diaphragm - then slowly exhale through your mouth. You may not have noticed but just for that moment, your Mind Gremlin was quiet. Notice how you feel.
You can practice mindfulness when you're with your horse.
Feel the texture of his coat, the temperature of his skin, the tension or relaxation of his muscles. Take in the smells and sounds of the barn or the outdoors.
Without all the busy negative chatter in your head, you can enjoy what's actually happening in the moment instead of obsessing about mistakes you've made (or might make), creating stories about possible disastrous outcomes, or worrying about what other people may be (but most likely aren't) thinking about you.
Mindfulness is a mental exercise that, just like with physical exercise (like riding a horse) takes practice. It may seem awkward and uncomfortable to do at first, but with practice it becomes easier and more natural.
