6 december 2013 | For advertising telephone 01380 734373

You can change the way you thinkby Faye Low, Horse Confidence

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“Helping all types of riders from the happy hacker to the competitor overcome their fears so that they can enjoy a loving human and horse partnership”

Horse Confidence

075901 90145www.horseconfidence4u.co.uk

6 december 2013 | For advertising telephone 01380 734373

Being nervous, under confident or even fearful of riding can be a very real problem to some people. Some of my clients have reached a point where they are so scared of getting on board that they physically shake like jelly, burst into tears or make up every excuse under the sun to not go out and enjoy their horse.

This becomes a difficult scenario because they all love their horses and want nothing better than to go out on a hack and feel the wind in their hair and enjoy that partnership with their special four legged friend.

The brain can get stuck and one negative thought leads to another one. Last month I explained that the brain is like an internet data bank. The conscious mind will provide you with evidence for everything that you ask it. Therefore if you are saying to yourself “I can’t go out for a hack today because it looks pretty windy”, then guess what, Mr Conscious mind will say “absolutely not because a plastic bag could come flying past you and your horse will jump 10 feet up in the air and then he will bolt away”. Then guess what, that little

thought becomes a huge story that your conscious mind will get caught up in and you have just given yourself 10,000 reasons why today is not a good idea to hack out.

How can we change the way we think to get ourselves out of this situation? If you are serious about changing the way you think, let’s do it and commit to taking action straight away.

As of right now you are only allowed to let yourself think of one negative thing, and for each negative thing you have to think of three positive things. For example, if you are on your way to the yard and you really want to ride but you are feeling a little jelly like, you may be thinking “oh I know she’s going to be spooky today because

I haven’t ridden her for a week”. Ok there is your one negative thought. Here comes the three positive thoughts that you could think of instead; one: I will get her in from the field and see what mood she is in, two: If she feels a bit funny to me I will work her in-hand instead, three: If I still feel like jelly I will take her for a walk so that at least I am doing something with her.

This works because you are stopping the mind chatter from creating a story, and instead helps you to think outside the box so that you are still doing something with your horse and building your confidence as opposed to giving up. If you change your thinking for at least 30 days and start replacing everything that seems

I have owned Tali for eight years. He is a sensitive and intelligent pony who loves to have fun and we have competed successfully at BD. Two years ago he sustained a hairline fracture to his near fore. During his rehabilitation he was explosive and it was difficult to achieve the months of walking in-hand required for his recovery without sedation. This is where things started to go wrong. Ever since his injury Tali has been stressy and prone to over-reacting, and I started to lose my trust in him.

On April Fool's day we had a jumping lesson and Tali uncharacteristically ditched me after the first jump, resulting in a nasty back injury which seems to be in no hurry to fully heal. This

was the start of a downhill spiral for us, we both became more and more stressed and at the same time I had a niggling doubt in my mind that something was not right with him physically. By the beginning of October, I was no longer riding Tali, we were both utterly miserable and I had decided that once we had got to the bottom of what was wrong physically, the best option for us both would be for me to sell him to someone who would have fun with him.

Fate stepped in and a friend suggested I look at Faye’s Facebook page. I hoped that Faye may be able to put my relationship with Tali back on track, but felt that this was a mammoth task. Our first session with Faye was spent entirely on the

ground, much to my relief. However, by the end of that session something had changed between us. Armed with a sheet of homework that Faye supplied, we spent the next week doing a mixture of groundwork and ridden work, got inventive and started to have fun. The difference in Tali was absolutely incredible, and I found myself looking forwards to leaving work every evening to spend time with him. I was amazed that after just one session I was riding my pony again and starting to relax and have fun. On our third session we even faced my nemesis, jumping. Just two weeks after our first session we achieved something that I was starting to think I may never do with Tali again. I now feel very positive about the future that Tali and I will share together.

negative (even non horsey things) with three positives you will soon get into the swing of it and it will become second nature; your normal. It is hard to start with but keep going you will get there.

I have been busy organising some workshops and clinics over the next month so be sure to check out my website events page or drop me an email if you have any questions.

Ruth Eberhardt’s testimonial

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