As the big
competition nears, heck as any competition nears my nerves begin to kick in
more. When I was younger and up through
juniors last year, I don’t remember getting nervous. I don’t remember ever getting butterflies or
having trouble tuning out events around me to ride. As I compete at higher levels or perhaps as
dressage became the concentration of my future, it became harder to clamp down
or block out nerves and events around me.
I have learned
ways in which to attempt to deal with blocking out distraction. In the last few years I have asked other
competitors what they do. Because, we
all have to focus, we all have to concentrate in order to be in tune to the
details of our rides. The horse, particularly
the good sensitive ones, are just that; sensitive. They feed on every anxiety. How to find your zone and how to keep out all
of the drama around you? People do it in different ways. I think many of us become almost OCD about
our rituals; perhaps because the show rituals are like training itself. You work towards the end result you want by
building to that moment you enter the ring.
You do that for months. The week
of the event is part of the ritual.
Having stood on the podium before I realize now how much a part of that
feeling is every little detail to get there. We talk about the farriers, vets,
massage therapists, the chiropractors, the trainer, sponsors and our parents
and a whole host of others helping us to get to a point in our training and
competing. So do our mental rituals help
us to obtain our goals? Some of us
visualize. I start months before, but
the month leading up to competition I do it every night for 30 minutes as I lay
in bed. I do it at competition several
times a day. At NAJYRC and FOC you will
see people with headphones on totally focused on visualizing and blocking out
distractions.
We all care about
each other as people; we care about each other’s hopes, dreams and crisis. However, this is the time to focus on your
performance; on your goals. For example, I was warming up in the arena
yesterday and a few “wanders were in the arena.” You know the type, giving lessons from a
horse roaming around the arena with no awareness of anyone around them. It is easy to let them throw you off your
warm up. You try to be polite, follow
the rules of arena etiquette but there is a point they can throw off your whole
ride. Shauntel said to me, “Gunter
always used to say, put your visor down, pick your line and commit. You are on an FEI horse; they will get out of
your way. Heck, if it was Jeremy he’d
push them out of his way a few times and there’d be no more problem. Later we talked about how distracting letting
someone get in your space and changing your routine can be. You have to do what you need to do for your
best performance in your own mind and in your warm up. I look back at what attempted to distract me
last year and in my first two shows this year, and I recommit to focus. It is hard not to let your training in
politeness, your desire to make friends, to renew your old acquaintances and
let your daily life in at a competition, but don’t worry about what others think at this
point. If you are polite, if you are a
kind giving person the rest of the time, if you are a team player every day in
the rest of the year, you don’t need to prove it to others as your actions will
already have done so. The best thing you
can do for your team is to give the best ride you are capable of giving
them. This might mean tuning out and
tuning in to your needs.
Training tips of the day
*Power in extensions isn’t galloping. It is not keeping the leg on to keep him
forward. It is half halting constantly
to keep him just back enough
* Stay powerful in transitions: Keep power level up. It helps with everything. Don’t let up in power.
*Keep pole up even when suppling.
*Be gentle when he gets defensive, otherwise he gets rude.
*When he stiffens his neck, say giving to bend, don’t try to
force him into it, bend him the other way.
Don’t fight the bend, shake it off.
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