During a practice jumping session at home last week a friend asked if I would like her to take some photos or video record a round. I’d raised a couple fences to around a metre and Frank was jumping nicely. As my friend produced her phone I laughed and said that whenever anyone got the camera out I tended to fuck up….ha ha! I jumped the practice fence and turned the corner for the two big ones. Frank lost concentration momentarily, I didn’t correct this and forgot to put my leg on. Instead of lift off we crashed through the whole lot…as you can see in the video. This has happened before to me…not just riding but snowboarding too and other occasions when I have tried to ‘show off’….I wonder how often it happens to others? This ‘observer effect’ happens, even when I KNOW it’s going to happen. In real competition though, I have ways of managing my nerves, the mental preparation I go through helps me cope with anxiety and reduce the debilitating effects of stress. The strategy I use is based primarily on mindfulness meditation which I have adapted for riding. This is a simple technique which controls nerves and anxiety by focussing on breathing and helps manage negative intrusive thoughts which can be so debilitating. Managing stress in competitive riding is so important. All riders suffer with nerves to a greater or lesser extent some suffer so badly that they can’t compete at all… at the other extreme some riders seem to thrive on the stress and use it to their advantage…to excel. Most riders are on a continuum between these two extremes. Competition can be so exciting, thrilling when we win or achieve a personal best. Many riders crave the challenge of competition or the adrenalin buzz of completing a XC course it’s a kind if addiction. The challenge can, however, become overwhelming and unless we use the adrenalin rush to our advantage it can mean the difference between winning and losing. There are all sorts of factors involved in success: dedication and hard work, practice, training, coaching, support, physical fitness, determination, having a good horse, being a good rider and so on. However, none of these elements either on their own or taken all together will be of any help if you can’t control your performance anxiety. The good news is that anxiety can be managed and turned to your advantage. There are a number of techniques that can be learnt so that they become second nature. Just as you might be able to improve physical fitness be improving stamina, strength and suppleness so you can improve your psychological health using a range of mental gymnastics. Many top class athletes acknowledge the inner game and most equestrians are aware of how the huge influence of how our mind affects not just our body but also that of the horse we are riding. Horses are acutely sensitive to our state of mind…. as riders we know this intuitively. As riders we are in a unique position among athletes in that we have two minds to control…one of which is attached to half a ton of horse. How we manage our anxiety and how we control our nerves is implicit in success.

The moment the camera comes out…. we were doing fine up until then. The fence was rebuilt and we went round again…

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Frank is such an honest horse. He rarely stops. . If I lose focus, forget to put my leg on or show any other lack of commitment then chances are he won’t commit either… especially if the jumps get a bit higher. Fortunately, for me Frank doesn’t worry too much if I fcuk up…second time around… and with a bit of vocal encouragement (more for my benefit than his) he popped over the fence as if nothing had happened. I think Frank manages to control his nerves quite well and is not too badly affected by a bad experience. When I was going round that second time I focused on my breathing… I knew we had jumped higher than this before and I knew we could do it again. I gave myself a mental kick up the ass, had a mental image of clearing the fence and forgot the camera. Relaxed and focused I trusted Frank to do the right thing and gave him the support to do it.

Looking through some filtered messages on Facebook, which I had completely forgotten about, I came across these videos of me and Frank demolishing an indoor showjumping course at pencoed… way back in 2016. I don’t remember too much about the day. In fact, at the time, I wanted to forget it as quickly as possible. Oh, the shame! I had no control. It was

 

 

quite awful. Looking at this piss poor effort makes me realise how far we’ve come. Frank was still very early on in his transition from show horse to event horse here and I clearly didn’t have a fcuking clue. Shortly after this cringeworthy effort we began a course of fortnightly lessons with Jonathan Pett and as a result are now jumping 1m clear….We haven’t been back to Pencoed since. Can’t wait now to have a second chance 😁

The Bryns on fire and it’s looking quite wild out there and the wind is cranking up bringing with it the much expected snow. From the warmth of the farmhouse on the yard I can see fire fighters are out there but it’s looking like a losing game. The fire has a long and strong hold and it’s tearing up and across the bryn like a firy rip curl. Time to saddle up the white boy, get out there and in it…it’s got to be warmer up there than it is down here on the yard.

The sound and smell of gorse and undergrowth burning is amazing. It’s -4 and the wind is blowing hard from the east…taking the wildfire away from the direction of my house. Although well wrapped up the cold was penetrating and i could feel a cold blade across the back of my neck and shoulders as the wind found a way in. Clearly another layer was needed today. I took some video recordings of this ice and fire ride but struggling with reins and numb fingers made this difficult. Time to invest in a head cam I think.

Long before we reach the bryn smoke and fire can be seen being driven by the bitterly cold easterly. As we got closer to the fire a pair of short eared owls suddenly appeared out of the smoke wheeling towards us away from fire. I wondered if the fire had disturbed them from their roost or perhaps they were hunting prey fleeing

The pair flew so close and I turned in the saddle to watch them land, lift off and fly around us again. Normally very shy birds (I’ve only ever seen them through binoculars) this arial display was quite a spectacle.

I passed around the back of the fire fighters who seemed to be having very little impact on the intensity or direction of the fire…mother nature definitely in charge here. Making our way up onto the top of the Bryn we followed freshly exposed animal tracks over a newly transformed smoky charred landscape stepping through and across frozen streams and crunching through ice where it is normally deep sticky mud and gloopy swamp. The white boy is good over this terrain… I just sit there as he picks his way gingerly and carefully leaping and bounding up to the top of the bryn. I leave it up to him the find the best route. There are deep treacherous boggy sinkholes and I can trust him to avoid these and get us safely to the top. It is a long time since I have ridden out in such cold weather. Reminiscent of winters in Sheffield…..brrrrrrrrrrr

Passing close by burning crackling gorse my face feels the heat while my back and shoulders and ears feel the beast from the east.

Reaching the top of the Bryn, thick smoke obscures our way for a while as we are now downwind of the fires. Although the fires are still some distance away as we’ve galloped ahead of them for a while, like thick fog, smoke can be a bit disorienting. Visibility varies as smoke plumes pass with varying density and just as I’m not quite sure of the way the massive monolith of King Arthur’s stone becomes visible. The burning bryn smells of woodsmoke and burning coconuts….the product of burning gorse. At the stone we track left and gallop out of the smoke towards and then across the road

From the top of the Bryn, it didn’t take us long to get down. This cold snap has transformed the going and although it’s quite poached from continual animal crossings it was nowhere near as deep or boggy…perfect for a good gallop with no risk of slipping. It felt good to get out and I marvel at the energy of this older horse. He’s so fit, loves to be out and is such a safe, fast ride I let him choose his own route and pace. Within reason though because given a free rein he would gallop flat out to home and be ready to go round again. Frank will always be the jumping pony but for icy days and fire racing the fairy lightening white boy is always going to be my first choice horse.

I was immediately impressed by the fact that my new trainer, Ros Morgan, adjusted two bits of tack before we even got started. Frank managed to pull the rein attachment off the martingale about a year ago and bent the metal clip – it had been re-attached the wrong way round but I had tried, and failed, to change it as my fingers were just not strong enough so I left it as it was.  Ros, however,  sorted it fairly easily.  Next, a minor adjustment of Frank’s Micklem bridle placed the bit in a better position – just like that!  I had to smile at this. All the gear and no idea eh? The second thing that impressed me about this trainer was the detailed assessment of where we were at right now, what had we achieved in the past and what my goals were.  This wasn’t your usual ‘eats, shoots and leaves’ lesson. I haven’t had any riding trainers do this. Very few trainers set out measurable learning outcomes at the beginning of a lesson or review these at the end.  It is possible that trainers have learning outcomes for their pupils  but there’s not many that share these with the rider which is rather odd. No trainers have ever set me homework other than suggesting I might practice something.  Lessons aren’t cheap. Are they value for money I wonder? How much do we actually learn in a lesson – how much of it actually sticks, how many of us set clear goals with our trainers and coaches.  What should we do when we get conflicting advice from trainers?

Three things I remember from the lesson:

remember to breath… count breaths in and out – they should be the same (one could argue that the outbreath takes slightly longer and that there is a definite pause before the inbreath takes over). Mindfulness meditation can help relaxation and can calm competition nerves.  Mindfulness meditation is essential for mental toughness and there’s no doubt that as riders we definitely need some psychological hardiness…whether its concentrating on the moves in a test or seeing a stride and a line in a course of jumps – we need to be able to hold our nerve.  Breathing out in this mindful way helps us achieve a deeper seat and better connection with our horse.

Sit up tall and stretch heels down – sit softly in the saddle when rising and sitting to the trot

Imagining reins are handlebars and moving the hands accordingly when turning .  Inside hand moves out slightly  and outside hand moves forward.  So, for example to achieve correct canter lead on landing after a jump – look upwards and in direction of next jump, inside hand out (?) legs?? JP recommends lifting hands on landing to allow correct strike off. This helps us control the horses shoulders – if we have control of these then we have control of the steering wheel.

Only three things but its a lot to remember. Ros recommended writing this down – which is a good idea in my book. First, its a good way to reflect on what happened during the lesson, second, it can provide something to work on (homework!) and finally you should be able to make some assessment, at some point, about how much you have achieved your goals and think about setting new ones.

My evaluation of the lesson: since I use mindfulness meditation (MM) anyway it was good to have it ‘approved’ for riding. I can see how it will improve things – particularly in helping control anxiety.  I get awfully anxious doing dressage tests so I’m definitely going to incorporate MM into my riding. The ‘steering’ advice consolidated training i have had from other trainers which was good and I  wasn’t really aware, or had forgotten that I tend to lean in going around corners.  I would have been nice to have had some positive feedback – all I got was ‘nice bend in the elbows’ but I wasn’t sure if this was a compliment or an instruction. Since most riders are hyper critical of their achievement and abilities – some do not have any idea about how good they are – so they need to be praised.  Riding is hard… sometimes there is little reward … sometimes it feels like we’re going backwards.  So come on trainers, don’t be mean.  Credit please where credit is due – we work so hard at this  – some encouragement would not go amiss.