Psychology

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When someone loses a family member or friend, often others rush in to see what they can do to lessen the pain. However, when your loss involves a companion of the four-legged variety, sometimes the response you receive is less than sympathetic.

Have you considered what you want to be doing with your horse in five years’ time? Or settled on your primary goals for the coming year? Or thought about the progress you want to make before your next riding lesson?

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In the sporting realm, keeping your cool means not being derailed by events that come between you and your goals. When such situations do arise, the cool rider takes things in stride, maintains composure, and looks for solutions. Self-control is essential to cool riders.

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Then he was mine for forty-five minutes or so, way past my initially allotted ten minutes. Thankfully, it turns out Ian loved to talk about his mental game. I think everyone can learn something from what Canada’s most successful rider had to say about the psychology of his ride.

By April Clay, M.Ed., Registered Psychologist - Okay, so training means the obvious: attempting to learn, and scheduling time for that learning. This we all know very well. What is less familiar, less practiced, are elements that support and facilitate this learning

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Just think positive! You have likely heard this familiar advice at some point in your riding career. There are mixed reviews on the effectiveness of affirmations. If they work so well, why are we not all wealthy or draped in first place ribbons?

Riding is a relationship-based sport. You have a teammate who must somehow be made aware of your goals and develop a willingness to follow you. For beginners this is a given. For the rest of us, there is simply no excuse for not becoming well versed in the art of connection.

If you are like many riders, there are times when you wish you could relax on command. Of course, it’s very difficult to will yourself into a pleasant lull when you most need to. Fortunately, you can learn how to truly relax your body so you can “push the relax button” in times of stress. It just takes a little work.

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What are mental traps? They are those little mental glitches you fall into again...and again. Here are some common traps and deep trenches that can lead you off your game.

horse riding performance preparation, pre-performance horse riding ritual, preparing for horse riding competition, horse rider psychology

There is a saying that best sums up getting ready for the competitive arena, “if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. Preparation doesn’t just mean training your skills. Yes, you have to replicate what you learned to do at home, but there is more. A performance situation places different demands on the rider.

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