CANTERING WITH CONFIDENCE

Transcription

1 CANTERING WITH CONFIDENCE Faye Low Equestrian Confidence & NLP Performance Coach Faye Low Coaching Company Limited

2 Canter That dreaded word that sends the less than confident quaking in their boots and all sorts of crazy thoughts start flocking in the brain. But why? Especially when you ve been riding for many years and have tons of experience. Let s look at this from two different angles. What the brain is saying? And, How the body is reacting?

3 The Brain: Lacking confidence means that we are plugged into problems. What could happen? Or, what might happen? Even if it s a long shot you never know it just could happen! Canter is the fastest pace! Yes yes I know you are thinking No it s not gallop is. However, canter develops into gallop. So in your head you are fearing the canter just in case it develops into a bolt and a flat out gallop. Over time you have filled your brain with lots of information about what could go wrong. You have provided evidence to your brain on situations that have gone wrong i.e. friends who have had accidents, seeing it in the magazines, on the TV, hearing it on the News etc. You ve made the fear real in your eyes! Remember the key here is whatever you in-put into your brain is information that your brain can out-put and reflect back to you at whatever time you wish to use it based on your question? If your question to your brain is canter means that my horse is going to bolt off then your brain will shuffle through its filing cabinet and show you all the files it has on canter, running off bad experience etc. As a visual effect think about the Google search box and enter the search words fast canter and then what do you think Google will bring back to you? I bet it isn t a nice slow controlled paced one.

4 If your focus is on the problems and what could happen. Then your brain is going to reflect to you evidence to support that theory. The Body Remember that every Thought has an attached Feeling and a subsequent Behaviour. If your thought is I m scared of cantering your body will automatically give you the associated feeling and behaviour. Let s do this exercise: Sit in a chair with your feet flat against the floor and you are sitting upright. Now place your palms face down under your seat bones. Notice how that feels. Now imagine you are on your horse and you are about to ask for canter and you are worried he might bolt off.

5 What can you feel on your hands? What are your legs doing? Where do you feel the emotion? Usually you can feel your seat bones dig into your hands, your legs tighten and grip and you feel anxious in your chest area. Your thought has just activated a feeling and a behaviour. The Horse When you are on your horse and you are doing a nice little trot but you start thinking OMG I m going to ask for canter. As soon as you think of the C word your body has the automatic response as above, which is fear. This means that before you ve even progressed with the canter you have sent your horse a massive signal that something is about to happen and it scares you. You are gripping with your legs, you are blocking with your seat bones and your heart is beating a million to 1 which remember your horse can sense.

6 He is now on high alert! You throw yourself into canter and you hang on to the reins, he panics hollows his back and then rushes off. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that something bad was going to happen and in all honesty because of your thinking process you called this to you. Where focus goes energy flows! Your focus was on OMG I ve got to ask for canter and your thoughts were linked to all the problems that could happen. So guess what? You had a bad canter experience. We have examined the process for why bad canters sometimes happen for a less than confident rider. Now let s focus on how you can get really good at cantering. To make it easy I m going to section each part.

7 Achieving a Great Canter Rule No.1 Ask, Believe, Receive Ask for the canter and believe it s going to happen just as you want it to, then let it come to you. Feeding the brain: The first thing we need to do is feed the brain with the information that we want it to focus on. We want to focus on a lovely smooth gentle canter. So let s gather some evidence for it. Watch friends riding Watch professionals on TV Read articles Look at pictures Practise on a simulator

8 Here are some You Tube Video links of some people cantering to get your started. Feel free to find your own. Now I know you are all letting your brains go haywire and focusing on problems and one being but I m not a professional and they have trained horses etc. Remember because you are less than confident you are picking out problems to justify your situation. Just pop those thoughts out of your head for now and only let s focus (send energy to) what we want instead. Your only focus that you are allowed to send thoughts about is that you are watching and inputting the actual canter into your brain. Nothing else. Just watch and input everything about the canter. Watch and feel the rhythm of the canter and say it in a rhythmic way in time with the canter. Say can-ter, can-ter, can-ter and feel it. Imagine yourself sitting on that horse and being the rider and focus on the smoothness and the rhythm.

9 Watch your chosen video daily for at least 7 days doing all of the above. This will set a rhythm and stride in your mind and create a new neural pathway, i.e. your brain will already think it has done it before. Feel it This may sound daft but a good thing to do is practice the canter transition at home (without your horse). By building a process in your head and learning to control your thoughts off your horse you can then try it on your horse. Remember visualisation and neural pathways! With the curtains shut and no one else in the room I want you to walk around and then jog (this is your trot) and then we are going to canter (this is skipping). You aim is to control the feelings and to have mental preparation. Technically what we are doing is creating a thought (canter) and attaching it to a new feeling and a new behaviour. Walk around your room and as you walk I want you to mentally prepare yourself for the trot transition, stay relaxed and up to trot (jog). Then mentally prepare for the canter (skipping). Use the process below for your mental preparation

10 Rising trot focus on the rhythm everything stays the same keep the energy the same. Sitting trot relaxed focus on the rhythm everything stays the same keep the energy low sit deep. Mentally tell yourself you are only asking the transition nothing else just the transition and everything stays the same. Ask for canter move into a smooth transition focus on the rhythm can-ter canter can-ter. Everything stays the same, relax legs, relax seat. When you feel ready come back to trot but keep everything the same keep the rhythm the same focus on the beat of the rhythm. Again from sitting trot ask for canter keep the rhythm and keep relaxed let yourself move with your horse can-ter can-ter can-ter try for a little bit further keep your weight in your seat and not in your hands. Relax and focus on the keeping the rhythm the same and back to trot Do this a few times around your living room. Count out loud if need be go from 1-2 rhythm of trot and move to the can-ter can-ter rhythm. You are creating a neural pathway in your brain which is to focus and tune into the rhythm of trot to canter which is generating a new feeling of being in control and relaxed and behaviour which is relaxed and not tense. Practise this loads until you feel you are keeping everything the same but you are mentally asking for canter and back to trot easily and your focus is on the rhythm and relaxed seat. Training your horse so that he understands I m a big believer in teaching your horse what you mean on the ground first and then transferring it to the saddle.

11 With this in mind lunging is a great tool as it gets your horse accustomed to your voice and energy on the ground first. This takes the pressure of him and you can visibly see what he s doing. But the best part is if you train him to a word he will recognise that and give you canter so you have less pressure to apply the aids and get it right. Lunge your horse and start training transitions trot to canter. Give him a verbal voice cue mine is and canter I use the and as a preparation to this is what is coming and it gives him time to mentally engage and prepare to strike off. This works a treat ridden as I give the and just before sitting trot then as soon as I sit and give the aids he is ready to canter and off we go. Teach trot to canter transitions on both reins use the same voice cue and use energy to push him forward but control the speed don t let him run off likewise don t let him slip down to doing nothing. Think forward! Remember your rhythm even say it out loud can-ter can-ter can-ter and then who hoo for a slowing down to trot. Your body language can be upright pushing forward and then on the transition down your slow yourself down and hunch over a little. I sometimes imagine my body as a wave pushing up for the up transition and then the wave washing out for the downwards transition.

12 Let s Do it Now let s come to riding the canter. Firstly nothing changes from above except the fact that you are now on your horse. Practise your trot so that you have a rhythm of 1-2 and it is controlled at a nice pace and your horse feels relaxed. Carry on doing this on a 20 metre circle. Your next focus is all we are asking for is the canter transition in rhythm nothing else. So after the transition you can come straight back down if you wish to trot or you can go with the flow but what we are focusing on is a rhythmic transition from 1-2 to can-ter. Keep a nice 20 m circle and a nice rhythm. When you feel like you are relaxed sitting trot and ask remember focus rhythm and focus on everything is the same. Relax when you are ready come back to rising trot and carry on with the 20 metre circle get organised with your thinking and then repeat. Come back down. Get organised ask again. By doing transitions in this way we are flooding the brain that canter is not a big deal and all we are doing is asking for the transition in a relaxed way and then back. So we have control it is not going out of hand everything stays in our box of relaxedness. Then set yourself a target ask for 10 strides of canter and then back to trot keeping the rhythm and focus at all times. Nothing else. Keep your thoughts locked on rhythm and pace. Block everything else Sing a song if need be in time with the canter. Hey guess what?

13 You are cantering!! This is what you need to work on from now on. Keeping relaxed in rhythm. Repetition is the mother of all things for you and your horse. The more you do it and it s not a big deal the easier it becomes and the more confident you become. Your horse will start to tune into your aids and become more relaxed as you become more relaxed. Practise makes perfect! Happy Cantering!!!

14 Disclaimer: This document has been written by Faye Low and is the result of many years of research and study. We hope that you will benefit from it and that you enjoy using the information. This information is given to help the reader become self-aware and for them to be able to help themselves move forward by giving information which the reader can then action. This document is protected by worldwide copyright laws. Whilst composing this document the greatest care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herewith. Faye Low cannot be held responsible for any incorrect information in this document. Faye Low is not responsible for any damages arising whether directly or indirectly from any inaccuracies, omissions and/or misuse of the information herein. Faye Low is not responsible for the improper use of any of the training concepts and techniques. You are reminded to use your judgement when riding your horse. Please wear the correct riding equipment and ride a suitable healthy horse. Copyright 2014 International copyright laws Faye Low, Horse Confidence is a company owned by Faye Low Coaching Company Limited