Mind Over Matter
By Alison Short
With an abundance of equine calmers on the market you can be spoilt for choice when trying to find the right balance for your horse and his performance, but when was the last time you considered your state of mind and its effects on your training?
A long day at work, turbulence in a relationship or burning the candle at both ends can mean under achieving, as well as a lack consistency when you are on board.
If you have regular lessons you will know that one week can be hugely productive and the next disappointing.
As a trainer I put in mental preparation for each combination, conditioning myself to clear my mind of any previous blocks in progression, and largely influence my next combination with a soft relaxed, yet targeted process.
None of us are immune to frustration, but the changing tone of a voice and the raising of the emotional thermostat leads to tension, which bleeds into the horse and so creates resistance, like trying to connect two opposing magnets!
“It takes twenty minutes for a horse to make full use of all of his muscles.”
I know that with many of us working to tight deadlines and busy lives, mental preparation is not high on the agenda, yet in five minutes spent preparing yourself you will meet less resistance and achieve greater softness in a more relaxed way, often breaking the resistance cycle.
Your first step is to try and get all the chores out of the way before riding, mucking out, emptying wheel barrows etc, see this as a physical warm up, as well as time to off load your mental baggage!
Tack up and leave your horse safely tied up, preferably not on a hard surface if he is likely to be dancing around, the noise will only be irritating and raise tension. Then find a place to sit down, with as few distractions as possible, relax, shut your eyes and recall a time when you rode and performed at your best, it doesn't have to be a whole brilliant experience, just a moment.
Try to feel what you knew was good about it, get a picture in your mind and step back into it. The most important part of this exercise is to recall the way you felt, go over this several times until you really feel like your horse is there underneath you.
If you find it hard to recall a brilliant moment or want to aspire to more, create an icon, someone you truly admire, say Carl Hester and shut your eyes and see him riding, the way his legs hang and he holds his contact, now place yourself in his body.
If your brilliant moment was in a lesson and you find it difficult to replicate without your trainer, place a jump block where they stand and recall the sound of their voice as you ride.
Breaking habits is also a good way of achieving more, if your horse is tense or older and stiff try lungeing first to ease things, often you will then climb on and feel a softer way of going, that could take more time to achieve than just riding in.
APRES EQUI
Next time you have a super lesson or schooling session and everything seemed to piece together, when you have finished, describe what you felt, the element that made the break through, your contact, your seat, and exactly where you were at that specific moment. Left or right rein? Between which markers? Even down to the weather and surroundings.
Then imagine an empty space in your head, place that idea in that space and touch your head where you have placed it, practice being able to recall it, go back to that place and you should have that whole image stored.
This is extremely useful in your five-minute mental preparation to recall upon.
Keeping a diary of exercises that you use in schooling and describing the results, good or bad, is an excellent way to emulate the positives and a good way to gradually target the more difficult goals. Observe if there is a pattern to achieving greater submission and suppleness in the exercises that lead to it.
LASTLY
I was once told by a German trainer, “why is it that in Britain when the horse goes well they train for twenty minutes and then retire, and the day the horse is resistant they ride with the persistence of a terrier with neither winning?”
“In Germany we teach the horse on the receptive day, when his mind is absorbing, and on the less good day we ask for only the achievable, and he learns nothing bad!”
By Alison Short listed British Dressage judge and Freelance Trainer 07719 900275 email alisonshort@btopenworld.com
