Two Exercises for Showtime Prep

Two Exercises for Showtime Prep

by | Oct 19, 2021 | Competitive Mental Skills

I love this time of year. It’s unique in so many ways. The weather is refreshing, the colors are gorgeous, and there’s a lot of change going on.

For many, it’s a special show season.

In this video, I want to shout out to my friends who are going to their final weekend show, large year-end competition, futurity, or some other big show – and you feel excited. And I know, of course, you want to do well.

First, know that I’m rooting for you. You’ve worked hard, and this is your time. Go for it. Have fun. Focus. Give it all you’ve got and enjoy the experience.

One of my favorite things about showing (or anytime there’s a performance involved and you want to do something extraordinary in front of others) is getting into that place of a calm, yet energized, and laser-focused state of mind and body. It feels like a total immersion into the best of you and your horse.

Nothing exists except you and your horse and doing your job.

One way to practice being in that place is to think through how you want it to go at the highest level possible for you and your horse. Write it down. Then visualize it. Practice being there so when you are at the show, it feels like you’ve been in that physical show arena – you’ve been on your horse – and both of you are doing your glorious thing – a million times already!

Here’s my second thought for you.

Going to the show is not the time to catch up on training. That part of preparation was done at home.

Treat yourself and your horse to the time it takes to easily get ready on show day – to show your best. You’re not entering an arena to cover up your weaknesses.

If your horse has some spots that need help, plan how you will do that at the show, but for support, not trying to finish out your training.

It’s not your job to be perfect in the show pen. It’s about going for excellence. Staying focused and loose by thoroughly preparing on show day will help you do that.

So those are your exercises.

Rehearse over and over in your mind, who are you and your horse at your best? Get that picture and feel it in your mind and body. Don’t let it go.

And then give yourself all the time you need to do what you need to do to get you and your horse ready to walk into the arena feeling on top of the world.

None of us have any control over results. They always take care of themselves.

Have a blast. How lucky we all are to have the opportunity to be with our horses and the people we love.

Leave a comment for us, please. We love hearing from you.

LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS 

How to Deepen Your Seat

How to Deepen Your Seat

by | Sep 22, 2021 | Herd Work / Cutting

This week, this question came up: “What does deepen your seat mean?”

Now, that’s a GREAT question.

That’s what this podcast is all about.

Our seat is the most fundamental part of our riding, and it is multi-dimensional. It is our most direct line of cueing and communication with a horse. It is the center of our balance. And when our body is aligned, our limbs are loose, and we are focused; it’s as if we are one with a horse.

When we understand all that’s involved with our seat, we can continue to develop this means of communication with our horse for a lifetime.

1. Experiencing your seat in unison with your horse…

    • Expand the concept of “seat” to mean the lower trunk of the body.

    • The hip bones are aligned with the shoulders and down to the ankles for much of the time in the saddle.

    • When a horse is moving, our seat moves in a variety of ways and rhythms with a horse (depending on the gait, speed, situation, etc.).

2. Use your seat proactively with your eyes and breath for…

    • Slowing down

    • Stopping

    • Speeding up

    • Turning

    • Smoothness in all maneuvers

3. How-to reminders:

    • Keep your body loose

    • Give your horse time to feel your seat

    • Go to your seat/eyes/breath first for communications and transitions

    • Legs/feet come next as cues

    • Hands are used as support last

Before I go, I want to remind you that learning a new skill or deepening a skill has many layers.

First, you learn what you want to do and why it’s important. In this case, we’re talking about riding with an active consciousness of your seat because it is the most direct line of communication with your horse; it is how you develop feel, and it can help you stay calm and focused on the inside as you stay softly anchored in the saddle.

But here’s another critical point. It’s not just understanding what we’re doing and why it’s important that allows you to grow a skill. It’s the practice of the new behavior day-in and day-out and refining your technique indefinitely.

You come to any riding session with your own positive behaviors as well as things you need to improve – and so does your horse.

This is the spot where many people neglect cultivating a skill to higher levels. If they only understand that a behavior is important but don’t really practice it strategically over time, they return to their default skill levels – for better or worse. No true progress is made.

In the case of developing more feel through our seat, it’s easy to want to move on to more complex maneuvers and just assume that we know about our seats and what to do.

LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS 

Seven Elements of Herdwork

Seven Elements of Herdwork

by | Jul 13, 2021 | Herd Work / Cutting

Not too long ago I did an in-depth 5 hours and 20 minutes total time, webinar series on cutting. I thought it would be fun this week to share 8 minutes of one of the sessions. It’s all about breaking making the cut down into individual pieces.

I identify seven in all. There’s nothing ‘official’ about this number. However, I’m a big believer in ‘chunking’ – that is knowing the different skills and behaviors that comprise a beautiful flowing whole when it’s put together.

Please leave a comment for us!

LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS 

Reading Cattle as They’re Brushed Off

Reading Cattle as They’re Brushed Off

by | Jun 16, 2021 | Understanding Cattle

All who show in cow classes (no matter how much experience we have) want to get better at reading cattle.

One way is to watch cattle being settled for fresh cattle herd classes. You watch as they’re settled, and then predict how they will act when they’re cut during the class.

At the end of the settling time, the settler “brushes them off”. It’s not like getting brushed off by a friend (ha!). The rider goes back and forth in front of the cattle to make sure they are as comfortable as possible against the back fence before that set of horses begins to show.

There’s a lot of information about individual cattle that can be learned during this time.

That’s what this video is all about – showing you how to watch this process.

You will learn:

    • To observe the behaviors of cattle at the front of the herd and near the settler’s horse
    • “Good” cow characteristics
    • “Bad” cow characteristics
    • “To be determined” cow desirability observed as the class unfolds

LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS 

The eyes have it

The eyes have it

by | Jun 1, 2021 | Competitive Mental Skills

A while back, I did a personal performance clinic in Florida at an English barn. They invited me to ride one of their jumpers over some low jumps at the end of the day. FUN!

In the clinic, I discussed the importance of keeping our eyes up. I coached the riders to do the same.

This is a critical technical skill for all disciplines, and from my perspective as a Performance Coach, keeping our eyes up builds confidence and helps maintain it throughout our ride.

So now I’m on a jumping horse. I started down the line to go over a set of crossbars and – whoa! – I went right around the outside of them! My eyes weren’t up and looking where I needed to go. Obviously, I didn’t feel confident. I didn’t look past the jump or go down the middle of it!

We had a good chuckle out of that one.

We all KNOW we need to keep our eyes up when we ride. Our horses follow our eyes, and we stay focused – but – we tend to drop our eyes constantly.

We can help ourselves keep our eyes up by consistently coaching ourselves to keep looking where we want to go. And then we do!

This works because when we continually look where we’re going, our body moves in specific ways. The horse feels these subtle changes through our seat and legs and responds accordingly.

The other reason is a little less tangible – it’s as if our horse gets an invisible message like a laser beam from our eyes to their brain!

From a personal performance point of view, keeping your eyes up calls up and sustains a feeling of calm and focus.

What huge multiple wins when you keep your eyes looking in the direction you intend to go. You direct your horse’s movement almost effortlessly – and – you feel confident and focused on the inside.

But as I said before, we ALL tend to look down. It feels more ‘natural. However, if you commit to coaching yourself to keep your eyes up and focus ahead to where you’re going, you will have a powerful impact on your confidence, and your horse will be more responsive.

Have fun and feel good communicating with your horses with your eyes.

LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS