In his fun-and-idea-filled book PRESSURE PROOF YOUR RIDING, Daniel Stewart discusses dozens of specific tools and tricks that can be used to manage the stress, nerves, distraction, anxiety, and panic that so often hinder performance. And while there’s nothing new about using imagery and visualization to improve your riding, we can all use fresh concepts for how to incorporate them in our daily practice in order to reach our goals and achieve all we can with our horses.
Here are a few suggestions from PRESSURE PROOF YOUR RIDING to help you create “vivid visualizations”:
1 Make Your Visualizations “Touchable”
Create images that you can actually touch. When you do this, the image becomes more real and understandable because it creates a connection between your mind and body. This is called the mind-body bridge. For instance, a trainer notices her student’s rein contact is too loose so she picks up two small stones from the arena and instructs her to hold the stones—one in each hand—for the remainder of the lesson. The next day the trainer tells his student, “You don’t have to hold the stones today, only imagine what they felt like yesterday.” Since she’ll still have the physical and mental memory of what the stones felt like, this mental image will make perfect sense to her today.
2 Make Them Creative
When it comes to creating vivid mental images you’re only limited by your imagination so make them as creative as you can. For instance, a trainer might tell a student to open her shoulders by imagining the wind blowing them open but how can she touch this much wind? A windy day or a fan wouldn’t be enough but if she were to stick her hand out of the window of a speeding car, she’ll feel plenty of wind. The next time she rides she can simply remind herself how it felt to touch “plenty of wind” and how it pushed her hand back.
3 Use All Your Senses
Engaging as many of your senses while imagining your mental images makes them feel very lifelike. For instance, a young rider was told to imagine spikes sticking out of her horse’s neck to avoid leaning too far forward, but instead of just thinking it, she took a gallon of hair gel and actually spiked her horse’s mane! She could now touch the pointy parts and feel the stickiness of the gel; she could actually see the spikes and smell them too. All these senses worked together to create a very effective and understandable image.
4 Make Them Funny
Create images that are funny, ridiculous, or just plain weird. When you do this, the images become very memorable. For instance, while holding sponges will certainly create good rein tension, holding a hamster in each hand and not squeezing them too hard (or their eyes will pop out!) is a funny example from one young rider. Here are few other examples of funny images:
• Potty Squat—A young rider learned her two-point position by imagining she was going to the bathroom in a “porta-potty.” The weight’s in her heels, knees open, hips back and hovering over the seat (not touching it!), hands slightly forward reaching for the paper, and never looking down!
• Beach Ball—A rider struggling with her sitting trot knew that her tight hips were causing her to bounce (much like the tight outer “skin” of a beach ball causes it to bounce), so she learned to relax her hips by imagining them as two big beach balls with some of the air let out. Since the outer walls of the balls were no longer so tight, there was no bounce left.
• Wonderbra—A rider learned to open her shoulders by remembering the well-known slogan of the Wonderbra. Instead of forcing her shoulders open she simply reminds herself to “lift and separate!”
Get more great tips from Daniel’s fab new book PRESSURE PROOF YOUR RIDING, available now from the TSB online bookstore, where shipping in the US is FREE.
International trainer, instructor, and sport psychologist Daniel Stewart is getting ready to kick off his popular Summer Clinic Tour! This year he’ll teach 48 clinics in 31 cities in 54 days!
“Last year I taught 40 clinics in 50 days, and I’m getting ready to do it all over again,” says Daniel. “I also donated $4,200 of my clinic earnings to the US Pony Club and look forward to donating even more this year!”
If you’d like to audit or ride in one of Daniel’s summer clinics, check the tour stop list below and contact the organizer using the information following each date:
June 14/15 – Agoura Hills CA
danacphd@gmail.com
June 16/17 – Palos Verdes CA
jannabahny@gmail.com
June 18 – Woodland CA
sunfireequestrian@yahoo.com
June 19 – Gardenville NV
dberonio@guildmortgage.net
June 20/21 – Davis CA
amdennie@sbcglobal.net
June 22 – Gilroy CA
brucette123@aol.com
June 23/24 – Saratoga CA
dcohencc@earthlink.net
June 25 – Woodside CA
MMaroney@carbylan.com
June 26/27 – Bolinas CA
bolinas.hunters@sbcglobal.net
June 28/29 – Whidbey Isle WA
jcgmurphy@comcast.net
July 3/4 – Bend OR
spurranchllc@gmail.com
July 5/6 – Beaverton OR
tracimwheeler@mac.com
July 7 – Springfield OR
clays4@hughes.net
July 9/10 – Snohomish WA
atshideler@hotmail.com
July 12/13 – Hillsboro OR
equinerehab@gmail.com
July 15/17 – Spokane WA
laura_wrght@yahoo.com
July 19/21 – Lexington KY
USPC Festival
July 24/26 – Carbondale CO
staceysevers@gmail.com
July 27/28 – Steamboat CO
athenadesigns@msn.com
July 29/30 – Sedalia CO
manager@tollandfalls.com
Aug 2/3 – Tiverton RI
rachelharris14@hotmail.com
Aug 4/5 – Westchester NY
diavolio@optonline.net
Aug 6/7 – Long Island NY
farmsteadec@optonline.net
Aug 8/9 – Bristol CT
mrkost@sbcglobal.net
Aug 9/10 – Simsbury CT
horseluve@cox.net
Aug 11/12 – Warner NH
cathf28@aol.com
July 24/26 – Lyman ME
athertoneventing@gmail.com