Have you ever been “triggered” while riding your horse? A friend of mine relayed to me some details about a recent clinic she attended with world renowned equine performance coach Barbra Schulte. Barbra is also a cutting horse trainer and the focus of the clinic was the sport of cutting Anyway, my friend told me that the biggest thing she got out of the clinic was how to change her mindset around “pushing on the horn”.
For those of you who are not familiar with the sport of cutting let me explain. When showing a cutting horse, part of the showmanship of the sport requires placing one hand on the saddle horn while the other hand guides and directs the horse through a herd of cattle. The goal is to separate a single cow from the herd. Once you have the cow “cut”, you drop the guiding hand down on the horse’s withers. From that point forward until you quit working the cow, you’re not to pick up your guiding hand. Many riders in the sport use their other hand to “push against the horn” to help keep their butt in the saddle during a quick turn. .
Anyway, my friend explained to Barbra that she has a habit of getting very tense and stiff when she pushes on the horn to keep herself pushed down in the saddle. Barbra’s advice was to use the placing of the hand on the horn as a “trigger” to calm herself down and relax into the saddle. This one bit of advise was an “Ah Ha” moment for my friend.
Triggers in Your Riding
That conversation got me thinking about other “triggers” that may promote anxiety, nervousness or fear when we ride. What other triggers could be lurking in our riding and how can we use them to our advantage?
When I think of the word “trigger” I think of it as something that initiates a negative emotion or response such as being “triggered” to anger, or “triggered” to eat something sugary. Is it possible to use the same triggers that would normally elicit a negative response into something positive? Can we use triggers to change our thinking and actions into a positive feeling and hence a positive result?
In a recent interview, horse trainer and Aikido master Mark Rachid was asked a similar question. He was asked “What was the one thing that we as riders could do that would be helpful in our riding?” His response was that most riders are unaware of the anxiety they carry in their minds and body before they even mount their horse. They carry that tenseness with them throughout the ride.. His suggestion was to prior to mounting your horse get quiet, focus on your breathing and be in the present moment. Sounds very Zen doesn’t it?
But get this. What if we used stepping on the mounting block or standing beside our horse prior to mounting as a trigger to train our minds to get quiet, to be present, to listen to our horse’s breathing, and to pay attention to our own breathing? What if we focused on how our body feels at that moment; feel our feet, our shoulders, our arms and hands? What difference would that make in our ride?
Improve Your Riding
When preparing to get on your horse, what are you thinking about at that moment? Are you nervous about what might happen down in the arena? Do you have thoughts like “what if my horse spooks”? “What if I fall and get hurt”? Or “what if I make a fool of myself”? Or perhaps “what will the other riders think of my riding”?
Maybe you’re like me. I don’t think of myself as being anxious or nervous to ride, but I do allow my mind to run to the future. I think of all the things I need to get done when I get back from the barn. My mind goes to doing household chores, laundry and grocery shopping rather than focusing on what’s happening at that very moment. What opportunities am I missing in connecting with my horse, in understanding how she’s feeling because I’m worried about my messy house?
What could be some other other triggers in your riding that you can use to change into a positive response? Maybe you notice that every time your riding teacher asks you to pick up a canter, you get very nervous and your body stiffens up. Maybe thinking about going on a trail ride with friends causes so much anxiety that you can’t get yourself to go.
Here are some tips that can help:
1. Train your brain to notice your thoughts.
The human brain thinks over 60,000 thoughts in a day, many of them go unnoticed. In order to become intentional about our thinking we have to practice noticing our thoughts. One way to begin to notice this is to try to catch yourself having judgmental thoughts about yourself, your horse, and other people in your life. How many judgmental thoughts do you have in a day? Begin to notice those things in your surroundings or in your mind that are triggering those negative thoughts.
2. Eliminate negative self talk about yourself and/or your horse.
Not only do humans have over 60,000 thoughts in one day, 80% of them are negative, 80 percent! Once you begin to notice your thoughts, especially your judgmental thoughts and triggers, pay attention to the things you give voice to that are negative towards yourself or your horse. Do you catch yourself saying things like “I’m not very a very good rider” or “I’m not very creative” or perhaps it’s this one “I’m so fat.”
3. Use the thought ladder to change your thinking.
Sometimes our thoughts about ourselves or our situation are so far from what we want to believe that we think it will never change. For example we think that we are not a good rider, but we want to believe that we are good. A thought ladder is a tool that will move us from thinking one thought to thinking something new. It creates the pathway for our thoughts to travel toward our goal. Thought ladders help us bridge the gap of trying to believe something that seems too distant from what you actually believe. It allows your thinking to move incrementally towards what you want to believe.
Consider this thought ladder for example:
I’m not a good rider → I’m thinking I’m not a good rider → I can set priorities to becoming a good rider → I’m taking weekly lessons and I’m becoming a good rider –>I’m a good rider.
Using the thought ladder is a process. Depending upon what you’re trying to believe, it can take days, months or even years to get you to the end result. But can you see how moving from “I’m not a good rider” to “I’m thinking I’m not a good rider” feels a little bit better, a little more hopeful? How can you use the thought ladder today?
4. Use visualization techniques.
We’ve all heard stories about how some prisoners of war spent their days, months and even years in captivity. They spent hours each day visualizing playing that perfect round of golf, or building a house board by board. After they were released they did the very thing they spent hours perfecting in their mind.
The human brain is an amazing thing. When you visualize something so vividly that you can see the picture, hear the sounds, smell the scents, taste the salt on your lips, your brain does not know the difference from what is real and what is vividly imagined. We’ve all seen Olympic athletes going through the motions of their routines while waiting on the sideline. We’ve witnessed riders walking the course, counting strides and plotting their ride over each obstacle. These are all examples of using visualization.
5. Focus on what you can control.
Here’s some examples of things you can’t control: the weather, the score, the ground, the judge, other people, other horses, other competitors. What’s left? Not much! You get my point. You can only control you, your thinking, your training, and your horse’s training and even that’s iffy if you have hired a trainer. If you rely on things outside of your control for your happiness, you will be disappointed.
The sooner you can wrap your brain around this concept, the happier you will become and the more control you will have over how you choose to live your life. You may have a goal winning the futurity or some other cherished prize. And that is a beautiful dream and a great motivator, but most of that result is out of your control. The only thing you can control is you showing up for yourself, your training, your horses training and doing everything within your control to make it happen.
What triggers did you identify in your riding? How will you use these tips to improve your riding?
Enjoy the Ride!