This week I worked together with the Ireland's dedicated equine newspaper, 'The Irish Field' to take a look at how our mind set can affect our future.
Equine Sport is a very dynamic and changeable industry and it can become easy to focus on what's wrong instead of what we can make right. I've posted the article below in case you cant access the online version.
Are we looking in the right place?
Now that the excitement of the Olympics has well and truly passed there's a sense of familiar normality restored to our days. We shift our hopes to our young horses in Lanaken while our pony and young riders return back to school longing for more days, more chances, day dreaming of their own gold medal. For those of us living the daily equestrian life we revert back to our old frustrations of poor facilities and bad weather, slipping easily back to our routines of hard work, the monotony broken by show days and our underlying love for this equine world. Those Olympic talents we watched on our screens seem so far removed from our everyday work and weekly competitions that the translation of our routine into something that great seems impossible. But how then, should we ask ourselves, did Scott Brash translate an average upbringing in sleepy mountainous Scotland to a one million Dollar Spruce Meadows pay cheque? How did Eric Lamaze transition from Montreal street kid to stable hand and then on to Olympic gold medallist? Perhaps there's more to this surprising success than born talent, endless working hours, the trainers, organisations, and money for which we tend to direct our praises and disappointments. Perhaps there's something to do with the power of mind-set that's starting to bubble to this industry's surface.
Ask Yourself a Question:
- Have you ever thought about what mind-set you have before you get on a horse?
Mindset is a set of assumptions which creates a powerful incentive within people to continue to adopt or accept prior behaviors and choices. When you get on the horse that didn’t go well at the show last week what is your expectation? A horse performs purely as a function of how we perform- we are the power house on top making decisions and sending signals. How often have you got on a horse hoping to improve performance but in your mind you believe the horse is useless? Whether we are aware of it or not, the mindset we have getting on a horse is more often than not going to determine the outcome. Developing a winning and resilient mindset is key to performance.
It’s easy to believe the stories fed to us by the media as we watched Simone Biles land the Olympic double flip, she was simply born an athletic freak. Nick Skelton cruised around the jump-off like some kind of super hero, he was born to ride. However, as someone working daily with athletes, I can tell you that talent is not some tremendous accident nor a biological miracle, it’s the results of many factors which compound overtime. A more honest media story might tell you that Biles, the daughter of drug addicts left school to pursue 40 hours of practice a week and Skelton dedicated his last 50 years to mastering this moment overcoming devastating injuries to both horse and rider, displaying patience and focus beyond belief. They dedicated themselves to mastering their talent and demonstrated a mind-set and mental resilience few are willing to explore. The question of talent then becomes less about what external factors dictate success but how willing an individual is to explore their own capacity.
Ask yourself a question:
- How far do you look to yourself for making things happen?
There are two types of people- those that have an external locus of control and believe that they have little control over what happens to them. They are generally dictated by events and other people and live by the belief that some people are lucky while others are not. On the other hand, the people who have an internal locus of control believe that they are responsible for the direction their life takes and take responsibilities for their successes and failures. For example, when in competition, people with an internal locus of control tend to praise or blame themselves and their abilities. People with a strong external locus of control tend to praise or blame external factors such as the weather or horse. This is an important factor to explore in performance preparation and understanding these dynamics can lead to improved focus.
When I meet the riders at the top equestrian sport, their stories start with themselves. They talk of strategy and determination, of goal setting and focus. Scott Brash would tell you that even when 20,000 people are watching, being on a horse is his own time. His focus is on himself, his horse and what he needs to do to at each fence. These are the elements which we can control and develop, however for the majority of sub-elite equestrians the day is vastly dictated by distractions, reactions and external inputs. How often have you blamed a poor day on the warm up ring being too small, the weather too unpredictable or bad footing? How lacking in self-belief have you felt warming up next to an international rider or worse a talented junior? While these elements are worth noticing, their presence is beyond your control and energy is much better directed to your own capacity. The training of these mental skills takes dedicated individual and group investment and it is only in recent times that the Equestrian industry is starting to take notice with riders such as McLain Ward supporting the role of private psychological training and the introduction of mental skills training to the Young Riders Academy. McLain talks openly about investing time in performance psychology and how his focus and mental toughness have grown as a result of this effort. Just recently in the Hamptons he lost his stirrup mid round yet remained deadly focused, mentally sticking to his plan and executed a win.
Ask yourself a Question:
- Where is your focus when you are at a competition?
There are many things happening at a show which can distract us, unnerve us or ruin our day altogether. When you are on a horse how much of that time is between you and your horse? Ideally you should be creating a bubble between you and your horse so that you can concentrate on what’s important for that particular horse such as accurate lines, an increased rhythm or less leg. It is very difficult to create a bubble when your mind is constantly reacting to external inputs such as worrying about the wind, how you look next to the professional or if your too hot or cold. At this point these things make absolutely no difference, you are have to perform. Set a realistic expectation for your performance, telling yourself you have to jump a clear round is not something that the mind can process. Pick two things that you need to focus on for that particular horse and pay extreme attention to them- focusing on two things is about as much as the mind can handle at any one time. Do those two things as best as you can, this will keep you focused and on point.
I know so many riders who work themselves almost to the bone desperately fighting for their place in the sport. My fear for them is as Einstein simply put it, Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. In Ireland the frustration with untalented horses, cold mornings and poor facilities plays on repeat. We spend hours dedicating our time to physical training but maybe we need start looking at developing ourselves, daring to explore our capacity as individuals while we wait for our funding to restructure our organisations and build us arenas. The benefits of psychological education and work are endless, it helps to develop self-control, resilience, mental toughness and most of all sustained desire. Constructive analysis can lead to better results, the development of insight into your strengths and weaknesses and an action plan for moving forward. If anyone can tell you about the benefits of having a plan it's Cian O'Connor, but he'd also insist that having self confidence in the plan is as important as the plan itself. Tonight instead of simply dreaming about Olympic rings, maybe we need to imagine what could be possible if we began to look to ourselves as responsible for moving forwards. What could be possible if we began to teach and learn self-strategies for competition and training, a winning mind set and most importantly a sense of identity. Maybe then those pony riders and juniors gazing out the school window might just have the mental toughness, desire and emotional control to bring home the gold in 2024.
Ask Yourself a Final Question:
- What does your routine do to move you in the right direction, what one thing could you change, do or ask tomorrow that would push you a step further in the right direction?
If your having difficulty answering this question its likely that you are also generally feeling a bit stuck, perhaps lacking direction and potentially frustrated with current situations. The role of a Performance Coach to help people or teams to maximise their own performance by putting in place the necessary cognitive, behavioural and learning approaches in life, sporting and business situations. Working with a coach is a creative space where the total focus is on you, training you to recognise your aims and goals in many areas of life, increasing productivity by developing self awareness and learning how interactions, reactions and relationships can move you forward. There are many coaches available throughout Ireland, if you are considering working with someone I recommend exploring their qualifications as well as specialities, its always more beneficial to work with someone that understands your sport or business area. For more advice please feel free to contact me.
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