The Origins of Fear

The first thing to consider is where the fear is coming from. Has there been a pattern of negative behavior over time from your horse, such as spooking, bucking, rearing, or refusing jumps that caused the fear to build slowly? Or was there a specific event, such as a fall, that can be marked as the clear start of the problem?

No matter the answer, it’s important that you identify the root cause of your fear beyond just saying “I’m nervous” or “I’m afraid.” The best way to overcome fear is through logic and understanding so that you’re able to take control of your emotions and redirect your thoughts.

Physical Effects of Fear

Another aspect of your fear to consider is how it manifests itself in your body. Some people can continue riding but with a very tense body—gripping thighs, lifted shoulders, or hands pulling on the reins—all without realizing it.

Others experience a brain fog where they are unable to focus, or in more intense cases, have a panic attack and find themselves with shortness of breath and unable to make their body move, frozen on top of their horse, when they perceive a threat to their safety.

Riders will often attempt to ignore their fear, hoping it will go away. I have never seen this work in the long term. Whether there is mental or physical tension, there is a notable effect on your horse. He is looking for guidance and leadership from you, his other herd member.

Due to his natural instincts, he will translate your tension and hypervigilance into thinking a predator or other threat is nearby. By not confronting your riding fear head on, you allow your horse to continue to be affected, which is sure to take a toll on your rides overall.

Calming Your Nervous System

Usually fear causes either a repetitive thought or a fractured thought process. Examples might be “he’s going to spin”; “she’s going to stop”; or just a general inability to take deep breaths and have a complete and focused thought structure.

The solution is to replace the hamster wheel of panicked thought with one or two positive, actionable mantras such as “close your leg”; “push your hands forward”; or “melt in.” This, paired with controlled deep breaths, allows you to begin to calm your nervous system and improve your riding in a way that directly targets the changes needing to be made.

Soothing your nervous system before you mount is extremely important as well. This may begin as early as during the car ride on the way to the barn. Listening to music or podcasts you enjoy is a good idea, separating you from the stress of whatever may be going on in your life outside the barn.

Try to allow ample time to tack your horse before a lesson so that you aren’t rushed. Leave time for stretching for both you and your horse, a light longe if your horse needs it, and five to 10 minutes of walking before the main part of your ride begins.

Grounding Exercise

If at any time you find your mind wandering and worrying about the upcoming ride (or something else entirely), begin to practice the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique to keep you in the present moment.

To complete this exercise, you notice and acknowledge five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste, all from where you are currently located.

This works great both on and off the horse, and it may be useful to share it with your instructor if they aren’t familiar so they can guide you through it if fear or anxiety show up during a lesson.

Key Takeaway

As you begin your journey back to confidence and overcoming riding fear, be kind to yourself. At no point should you judge yourself or be embarrassed for being afraid while riding. Everyone, at all levels of equestrian sport, has had a similar experience. Remember, bravery isn’t about being fearless, it’s about being afraid and doing it anyway.

Further Reading:
◆ 8 Fear-Fighting Strategies for Riding
◆ Overcoming Fear After a Riding Accident
◆ Afraid to Ride?
◆ Help Your Horse Overcome Fear

This article about overcoming riding fear appeared in the June 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Overcoming Riding Fear appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Anxiety After Injury

Lyndsey Wanits had ridden since childhood. At 19, she sustained an injury due to misguidance from a trainer and took five years off from riding. While she missed it, she was not 100 percent sure she wanted to get back in the saddle. She knew that if she mounted up again, she would need help.

“I eventually wanted to join a show team and also show in the alumni division of a college circuit,” she says. “I posted in a Facebook group asking for a professional experienced in working with riders with anxiety and timid tendencies. The coach I found got me up to speed and in those doors with the greatest support and mentorship.”

Wanits also found an equestrian fitness coach who was instrumental in helping her regain strength and confidence. At the end of the 2022 show season, she finished fourth in the region in the western alumni division and was named Champion Jr. Horse and Reserve Walk Trot Jog Champion in her local show circuit.

A Long Hiatus

Tammy Thomas rode as a child without formal lessons, but had to put her passion for riding on hold for 40 years. In retirement, she bought her first horse and knew she needed a riding coach to help her chase her dreams.

“Because I started when I was older, I knew I didn’t have as much time left in the saddle, so I needed someone who could teach me to ride my horse while working toward my goals,” says Thomas. “We spend a lot of time setting goals, and she tells me what might not be realistic at this point, or where she wants me to step up.”

With her coach’s guidance, she finished her first-ever show season as the Green Novice Rider Reserve Champion of her show circuit. Her next show season, she won the Intermediate Reserve Champion, and by her third show season, she was winning the Limited Non Pro Championship title.

Trainer vs. Coach

It’s important to tease out the differences between a coach and a trainer. A trainer is a skilled horse person who teaches technical skills and maneuverers to you and/or your horse. A coach may also be a trainer, but goes beyond the technical aspects and focuses on your goals and mental skills to achieve your desired outcomes.

“The coach’s job is to blend everything together and to help riders understand what they want to accomplish and why,” says Shannon Pigott. She is a western performance horse trainer and an executive coach based in Fredericksburg, Texas, who formerly worked in corporate America. “My No. 1 goal is to help clients understand what they want to accomplish and why, not just the ‘how to do it.’”

Leslie Holleman rode hunter/jumpers through young adulthood. After a 25-year break, she jumped back into riding in a new discipline—American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) ranch riding and ranch trail. But ranch versatility caught her eye. She knew she needed lessons to learn how to perform the maneuvers properly. But she also wanted more: a coach who focused as much on the mental skills as the technical skills.

“A coach may also be a skilled rider and trainer, but they are highly skilled at helping you communicate your goals, translating that into a forward trajectory to level up, and working on the mental management of stress and confidence that comes with showing,” says Holleman.

Finding a Coach

Every coach brings a unique perspective and approach to their program. That diversity in skillsets means there is a person perfectly suited to your goals, values, and learning styles, and these three tips can help you find the right coach for your needs.

1. Focus on fit: The instant Holleman read her coach’s bio on the Downunder Horsemanship brand ambassador forum, she knew she had found the right person.

“Her bio said, ‘I’m a people coach, and I focus on novice riders and versatility ranch horse,’” says Holleman. “I was like that’s great—that’s me!”

Working with a riding coach is a commitment, with many coaches requiring a minimum of six months to a year in their program. So, knowing a bit about the individual before making the investment is critical.

“Choose someone whose values align with yours and who will allow you to explore what is important to you and help you develop a plan to achieve your goals,” Pigott said. “I recommend interviewing people and taking a few lessons with different people until you find the right fit.”

2. Know your learning style: People learn and feel motivation differently. Thomas, a retired educator, knew her coach frequently uses a classroom style setting, and she appreciates that approach.

“If you learn best by having someone show you what to do and then having you go out and do it, you need a coach who teaches that way,” she says. “If you’re an auditory and lecture-type learner, choose that type of coach.”

The Wrong Fit

Working with a riding coach is a lot like being in a relationship, and not all work out as hoped. It’s important to recognize when it’s time to break up.

“If you find yourself in a spot where the activities aren’t fun anymore, riding is a chore, you aren’t achieving the results you are looking for, or you feel like you have no support, start looking for someone different,” says Wanits. “Everyone deserves to have fun. Don’t lose your spark because you and your coach don’t jive.”

This article about hiring a riding coach appeared in the June 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Should You Hire a Riding Coach? appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

If you’ve ridden horses for any length of time, you know that falling is part of the process. Some riders have the tendency to land on their feet like a cat and make it look like an effortless, involuntary dismount.

I land like a turtle—on my back. While I am clumsy by nature, I strongly feel it is my lack of physical fitness that results in my lack of finesse and potential for injury. When we as riders have control of our bodies and are more physically fit, we have more confidence in both our riding and in handling a situation gone sideways—sometimes literally.

We can say the same of our mental fitness. We must build our mental muscles because not every ride will be good, and we need to learn to build our confidence.

“After a fall, the critical voice in our head typically tells us we are terrible riders, that we should have reacted differently, and that we are now failing,” says sports and exercise psychology coach Annika McGivern. “None of this is true, but this voice can keep us in a place of internal misery long after the events of the fall are behind us.”

We second-guess ourselves, our horses, and most of all, our skills in the saddle. However, there are a few things we can do to regain confidence after a fall.

Take a Moment

Horses snap out of their fight-or-flight state quickly, and move on as if nothing happened. Humans have a tougher time letting go. McGivern suggests focusing on your breathing.

“It’s OK and normal to feel scared in the saddle when you first get back on after a fall,” she says. “Any time you feel scared, commit to focusing on deep belly breaths. As you breathe, release any tension in your body and try to smile. This will help tell your brain that you’re safe and undo the fear response that was created from the fall.”

Deep breathing will also help reduce your heart rate and bring it back down to a manageable level that won’t alarm your horse into thinking a threat is still out there.

Don’t Get Emotional

As an overthinker, I replay a tough ride over in my mind to question how I could have done things differently. Every “bad ride” has a lesson to learn. Understand what happened, then let it go.

“It’s easier to be kind to yourself when you realize that taking responsibility and beating yourself up are very different things,” says McGivern. “Taking responsibility means accepting the opportunity to learn something important and become a better rider because of that tough experience. Beating yourself up only makes you feel more unsure of yourself and can destroy confidence in the long term.”

I was riding my pony in the woods when we both heard a strange sound. Before I could point him toward the sound, he dropped his shoulder, wheeled around, and I shot to the ground like a missile. Rather than get angry at him or myself, I focused on improving my balance in the saddle so that I could have a stickier seat rather than an ejector button.

Lesson Learned

Not every ride is a catastrophe waiting to happen. With each positive experience, your confidence as a rider will grow, and you realize that the days you fall are actually quite few.

“Every fall holds a huge lesson,” says McGivern. “Did you fall off because you couldn’t see the distance and threw your upper body at a long spot? OK, time to become an expert at finding your distance.” Learn from the experience and let it help you grow as a rider.

Trainers are wonderful examples of this mindset. I recently watched a trainer with a young horse at his first competition. When he refused a scary jump, she was caught off balance at the wrong time, landing on her feet and catching the reins. Years of experience had taught her how to fall and respond quickly with muscle memory to catch her horse. Now she can improve her horse’s confidence in those situations during training.

Acknowledge Intrusive Thoughts & Face the Disappointment

“After a fall, the critical voice in your head typically has a field day,” says McGivern. “It tells you you’re a terrible rider and you should have reacted differently. This self-doubting voice can keep you in a place of internal misery. The first step toward regaining confidence is to acknowledge it’s not truth, but a reflection of your inner doubts and fears.”

Training your mindset is just as important as training your horse.

In this video from Ridely, expert mind coach Annette Paterakis gives us some great tools that should help us understand and feel our disappointment and then channel it into something that we can learn from to improve in the future.

Horses have a unique way of challenging us. Falls occur periodically as part of the learning process. It can be scary getting back on, especially if you’ve been hurt. Rather than focusing on the fear and getting mad at yourself or your horse, focus on breathing and how you can change your mindset so that you move forward together as a partnership. Build your mental skills and soon you will find your confidence improves in the saddle.

This article about regaining confidence as a rider appeared in the October 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Regaining Confidence as a Rider appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.