Bodyzone

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS IS FINALLY BECOMING MORE WIDESPREAD, AND THIS YEAR’S ‘MIND AND BODY’ SERIES IS GOING TO FOCUS ON SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT AFFECT RIDERS. ANDREA OAKES BEGINS WITH THE TOPIC OF ‘LOSING YOUR NERVE’.

Few riders breeze through their dressage career without encountering some bumps in the road. Most of these are merely blips and are soon overcome, but occasionally something far bigger can really knock you off your stride.

When you just can’t find the courage to compete, or you fear the worst will happen in a certain situation, the term typically used is ‘losing your nerve’. This can happen after a single, traumatic event or because of ongoing issues, such as struggling to cope with a new and more di cult horse. Perhaps you’re returning to competition after taking a break to have a baby or raise your family. It’s understandable that your old confidence might desert you, but can you get it back again?

According to Tracey Cole, an accredited Trainer and Master Coach of neuro-linguistic programming NLP traceycolenlp.com , the trigger for this apprehension can be real or imagined.

“Maybe you or someone close to you has had an accident, or you’ve read about something unsettling,” she says. “People who post details of their accidents on social media might feel OK themselves, but they’ve planted those images in someone else’s mind.

“Our minds are very good at being sponges, for both positive and negative events,” adds Tracey. “While we needed to be alert to risks and hazards when we were cavemen, this is not so necessary in the 21st Century when we’re so cosseted. But we still have that wiring.

Once we’ve experienced that danger, or imagined it happening to us, we can’t get it out of our head.

After breaking her back in a fall, Ellie Barlow was understandably nervous about riding a new horse.

“I had zero bottle,” she said. “I was so frightened I wouldn’t even canter.”

With NLP, Ellie is now winning at elementary with Elixer.

“I was amazed at how efficiently it worked,” adds Ellie, who has also used NLP to build confidence with public speaking. “I wouldn’t have imagined that my brain was that malleable. I had sessions by Zoom and the techniques were easy.

“It really bothered me how scared I was and I desperately wanted to ride well,” she adds. “We all make such a big investment in our horses, so to give up and walk away from it all is a big deal.”

“We may have the mental resilience to brush off a short-lived or minor event, but something more prolonged or intense can be troublesome,” she explains. “Some traumatic events can really bowl us over or have a knock-on effect in other areas of our lives.

“When we experience something happening in reality, or imagine it, our mind makes a series of little pictures, like a film. These pictures

then become instructions for our subconscious or unconscious mind, which does not have the capacity to decide whether this is good or bad. Because we keep conjuring up that negative picture, or series of pictures, the brain says: ‘There’s my instructions!’

“By worrying about the worst happening, we’re actually making the outcome we dread more likely,” adds Tracey. “A horse can feel when a rider is nervous and not riding properly. You might stop thinking, or even freeze, as your brain revisits these pictures. Because that part of the mind controls automatic movement, you’re really giving it carte blanche to do what it will.”

“The good news is that we can jam the signal for those pictures,” says Tracey. “Any small change in our behaviour can disrupt this ‘anxiety pattern’; something as simple as making the pictures go dim, scrambling the order they’re in or running them backwards. This can be enough to stop the mind sending these instructions.”

To help riders achieve this, Tracey uses a variety of NLP techniques.

“Doing this alone can be tricky,” she explains. “You’ll probably keep thinking about the ending, and that wasn’t pleasant, but there are lots of NLP techniques that protect you from going into a more negative state. As an NLP practitioner, I would fi rst ask you to describe the situation in detail to collect information about how your mind has put the problem together.

“The words you use will reveal how you’ve built this fear, and will also tell me whether you’re seeing or feeling the disaster pics,” she says, adding that diff erent techniques might then apply. “ ou may have ‘self talk’, the internal monologue that tells you that you’re over-horsed, for example, or simply not good enough. We can also jam that signal, stopping the conversation and the confl icts.” One technique is to fast-forward in your mind to the feeling you would get after the successful completion of an event you had been dreading. “As you’re imagining this, the chances are you’ll hear that little inner voice telling you that this isn’t real,” explains Tracey. “Just say: ‘This is my imagination and I’m in charge; I can ride a unicorn if I like, or scatter pink glitter across the whole arena. All I’m imagining is that I had a terrifi c day.’ “Once you’re over that threshold and batting away that inner voice, anxiety will drop away. “Visualisation is really powerful,” adds Tracey. “Run through a successful test in your mind with the ‘sound’ on. Conjure up your feelings, position and weight, not just thinking about it but physically feeling it. “You may need to practise these techniques for a few minutes a day, or revisit them if you experience a setback,” she says. “But with a method like NLP, you can get your nerve back.”

“It’s like having your own instruction manual for your mind, so you don’t send it the wrong signals,” explains Tracey about NLP. “You can manage your thoughts and get your mind on your side, working with you and for you.”

While NLP self-help tools are available, sessions with an accredited practitioner may be a faster route to tackling confidence issues.

“For low-level anxiety, where you feel constantly on ‘high alert’, a single one-hour session should be sufficient,” says Tracey. “The techniques are easy to learn and you can then self-maintain. But if you’ve had it tough, with a nasty accident or an issue in another area that has influenced your riding, a few sessions may be necessary to change your mindset.”