Sport and performance psychology is the scientific study of people and their behaviours in sport and performance related situations, and the practical application of this knowledge. We equestrians are a bit behind in understanding and utilising the help available when it comes to the mental part of our performances – which is kind of crazy since horse riding is categorised as a high risk sport, and so it takes a certain amount of mental toughness to do it. This mental toughness is part of who we are and some people naturally has more than others, but no matter how strong or weak your mental toughness is it is definitely something you can and should be training and strengthening!

Allow me to give two examples to further show what I mean:
Lisa is going to two dressage competitions, two weekends in a row, with the ambition to get two qualifying scores for the winter championships with her horse Tango.
They are doing the same test on both occasions, and they know it well. At the first show Lisa and Tango exceed expectations with both a qualifying score and a first place ribbon! But the following week, even though Lisa arrives to the show full of confidence from the previous week she realises upon arrival that another competitor that usually score higher than them are competing his new horse in the same class as Lisa and Tango.
His new horse is beautiful, and he has all brand new tack as well as a sparkling new horse box and they just look perfect. "I will never win now", Lisa thought.
At this show Lisa and Tango fail miserably. Not even the transitions are done properly and they are usually what they do best. The guy with the new horse places high, but not on as high scores as Lisa and Tango did last week. What went wrong here?
 

First of all, from one week to another neither Lisa nor Tangos physique can change so much that it would make any difference to their performance at the two different shows. There is simply too little time in between the shows for any sort of physical development of that kind. And since neither of them had any injuries or illnesses that could have effected their performance, this means that what happened was down to their mentality and psychological preparation.
So why is it, that two seemingly identical situations: same rider, same horse, same test, same physique can have so different outcomes?

Well, Lisa did arrive in an optimal way: full of confidence from the previous week. She knew that her and Tango could do this well, it wasn’t too difficult and she was looking forward to do it. But then the distraction happened: the guy with the new horse and all the fancy tack.
If Lisa’s mental toughness was strong enough she would not have let this affect her confidence, she would not let it distract her or make her nervous and lose focus to the point that it sabotaged her and Tangos test. But unfortunately it wasn’t.

This kind of distraction can be anything from that you because of traffic arrive late and don’t have as much time to warm up as you would have wanted to that they change the judge to someone that didn’t score you that well last time or that your friend sent that strange message to you yesterday that made your tummy turn.
NON of these things really have anything to do with your performance. But we all let them distract us, and we might even let them turn the show that is meant to be something we love to do, into something horrible and humiliating that we never want to do again.
And isn’t that a shame?

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Kelly used to take her sporty cob Vincent to local shows and hunter trails, and occasionally out hunting as well. But then a few months ago her and Vincent had a misunderstanding when jumping some logs in the field at home, and they both crashed into the ground before either one of them fully registered what happened.
Vincent was a little shocked but physically completely fine after the accident, but Kelly unfortunately broke her arm and hasn’t been able to ride for four months.
Actually, Kelly got the all clear from the doctors to get back in the saddle six weeks ago, but something is stopping her. She still comes up to the yard every day, she fusses and looks after Vincent just like before, but every time it comes to tacking up she get so nervous and anxious that it always result in her either taking Vincent for an in-hand-walk or lunge. Kelly really wants to ride Vincent again, she misses it so much, but she just can’t seem to make herself do it.

Kelly’s situation is more common than she thinks. Even top riders sometimes struggle to get back to normal after a bad fall or scary situation, the old saying to “get back on the horse” is not an old saying for nothing. It is hard, but you can’t let one incident ruin what you love.
To get back on Vincent might feel like climbing a mountain for Kelly, but it is doable, and with a bit of help that mountain might just get a little bit smaller and more manageable. In fact, the struggle might even let Kelly and Vincent come out on the other side stronger and happier than ever.

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These are just two examples touching on just two things that a sport and performance psychology coach could help you work on. I could quite literarily speak all day about sport and performance psychology, but I don’t want to bombard you with a humungous amount of facts and information when all of it might not apply to your specific case. I would however like to mention the broad spectrum of riders that could be helped by learning more about sport and performance psychology and how they could apply it to themselves and help or refine their performance.
Riders and equestrians are a proud kind of people, and we often don’t like to ask for help since we don’t want to seem incapable. But as more and more of our elite riders have started to openly speak about the help that they’re getting from their mental coaches it seems to become more common that the amateurs are comfortable enough to ask for help as well. For elite and amateur alike things like getting back in the saddle after a bad fall, coping with nerves and pressure from both oneself and others, finding the motivation to train through tough times etc. are hard to deal with on your own. But these are the kind of things a sport and performance psychology coach has had years of education to help you with, so you don’t have to do it alone.

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