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Training to Perform?

This week I partnered with The Irish Field to take a look how we train for Pressure. An interesting look at the difference between USA and Irish training culture and some useful tips to practice at home. The full Article can be read below.

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Training to perform or just training?

I’m writing this time from the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida, a place like no other to immerse yourself in all forms of equestrian sport and a place like no other to learn as much at the ring side as on a horse. In fact, many riders like Darragh Kenny or Conor Swail mention they enjoy basing here for a few months to have the chance to watch and learn from other riders at home and at competition. What makes this show so unique is the visibility of the rider’s routines and preparations for competition over an extended time period. It’s an insight we rarely catch a sight of at other five star venues and it’s here we can learn more about our own systems, training approaches and attitudes than its possible to see when immersed in our everyday routine at home.

Being able to spend time watching the riders flat their horses early in the morning or coaching their students later in the afternoon it strikes me how meticulous this process of pre competition preparation is here. Coaches put the same amount of mental and physical preparation into clients jumping the meter class as they do the 1.50m class. Nothing here is left chance and the training that happens behind the scenes is all relative to how the rider will approach the challenges of competition. While we Irish tend to be a little shy when it comes to sharing our feelings, here the communication lines between coach and rider are well and truly open. There’s talk about how they are feeling, what they are thinking and discussions on their approach to a cavelletti is as important as to a big oxer. While of course the training focuses on the technical acquisition of riding skills and physical development of the horses, it seems here one muscle they never forget to train is the mind. This mental muscle needs building too if it’s to perform on the big day along side the other muscles we train so enthusiastically. This is what you call training to perform, a conscious effort to tailor your training to the pressures and environmental factors you may be exposed to in competition. For sure when you watch an 18 year old girl gallop out though the in gate and into the Saturday night grand prix lights brimming with confidence and focus, you know that the practice has not only been physical.
We all arrive at competition wanting to demonstrate what we are capable of achieving, especially after achieving it in our own arenas at home. However, competition presents its own dynamics and we can often find ourselves performing inconsistently or struggling to stay focused. Having invested so much time, money and effort into preparing for the event, and under the scrutiny of new eyes, it’s not surprising that we begin to feel a little different at competition. Pressure is generally signalled by the body before we are even aware of it, sweaty palms, increased heart rate and tension. This feeling of pressure can have a legitimate effect on how the brain thinks, connects and feels when exposed to new circumstances and can cause us to do all sorts of things we would never consider doing at home.

When we encounter performance issues with our horses we generally go back home and break it down into simpler steps, practicing at home until we feel prepared enough that we can execute the necessary issue under competition conditions. However, what happens when it’s our own mind that’s causing the performance issues? When it’s our nerves, lack of focus or a mental block that start affecting out performance we rarely considering taking a step back and applying techniques into training that will help us overcome the issue on competition day. Instead we simply torture ourselves by going to shows again and again hoping it will improve. Just like we jump the water tray 100 times at home with a horse that doesn’t like water, we must also train ourselves consistently at home to not let pressure affect our performance.

When we first began to ride, mastering the rising trot seemed like a lot of effort and coordination. However, as you practice more the movement becomes automatic, to a point where you don’t have to think about the up and down movement any longer, your body has learnt and memorised this skill so that you can move on and add additional skills. This is called muscle memory, the ability of our body to perform skills without us having to give them any conscious effort. Much like our muscle memory in our body, it’s possible to teach our brains to behave and react in certain ways to certain situations. This however is not possible without dedicating the same time and effort we gave to mastering the rising trot as a child, as we do to teaching ourselves to control our minds in certain conditions. Thinking you can go to a competition and implement certain mental strategies for the first time will result in a similar situation to a dressage horse in a puissance competition. The key to preparing for competition physically and mentally is practice.
Here are a couple of things you can start to build into your routine at home if you find your mind is beginning to effect you:






    • Mind set: We generally only become aware of our mind set at competition when we find ourselves thinking the competition is either going to go very well or very badly. Achieving anything starts with self-belief. If we don’t have a positive mind-set about what we want to achieve and believe it is going to well, we generally don’t get very far. It’s a simple habit to get into at home, taking a moment every time you get on your horse to check your mind set. What is it you want to achieve today and how do you feel it’s going to go? This will invariably help you be more effective and focused in your riding but it will also become a routine for you so on show day you know what you want to achieve and can push your mind set into a more focused place.
    • Visualisation: Visualisation is a technique which most top sports people use. It’s a method of rehearsing in your mind what you are about to perform. At the show here in Florida its very popular and you often see riders like Mclain Ward taking some time to themselves after the course walk. The basis of visualisation is to close your eyes and mentally run through the exact process of what you are going to do. You should be able visualise in great specifics, be able to sense you have the right pace, the right tension on the reins and the right rhythm. At home you should be visualising the specific exercise you want to achieve, whether it’s a bending line or a combination. Finish the visualisation right down to the point of patting your horse, this will mentally set the end point. At competition this should be completed over the whole course, until you walk out of the in gate. Much like the muscle memory we talked about before, this is a method of practicing in your mind so that the process because some what automatic. This takes practice to master so taking the time to do it at home is vital.

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