Untacked

c h r o n o f h o r s e . c o m ja n ua r y/ f e b r ua r y 2 015 47 powerlessness: is there any feeling more frustrating for a rider? when all the hard work you've done with your horse comes unraveled on the day it counts, thanks to something that should be well within your control—your mind. it happens to all of us, more times than we'd like to admit. You enter the ring with a plan, and slowly, or maybe even quickly, that plan falls apart. how can 2015 be different? By making a plan for mental positivity, says dr. Jenny susser, a sports psy- chologist who's worked with numerous top athletes, and erasing the idea that you can tackle the issue the way you'd originally thought. Fear Won't—And Shouldn't— Ever Go Away Completely "e quick and gritty is that there's no such thing as overcoming fear," says susser. "when we say 'over- coming fear' that's like saying 'overcoming hunger.' "fear is a natural response that's a survival mecha- nism; horses are frightening," she continues. "e thing about fear is that the more powerfully related to it you can become, the better things will go. if you have something scaring you, you need to address it in a powerful way." taking control over your fears, becoming what susser describes as "powerfully related" to them, requires first making good decisions. ose good choices lead to confidence in your own decision-mak- ing abilities, and that in turn creates even more confi- dence in the saddle. Stay Confident Under Judgment But you first need education about what makes a good decision versus a bad one—and once you've gathered the relevant information about a situation and come to the conclusion you feel is correct, you may experience judgment from others about those actions. "i have a 17-hand holsteiner, and i was riding him on a January day when some snow slid off the roof," susser explains. "he took off galloping and bucking, and i got bucked off. i didn't have the knowledge that there was snow on the roof. A year later, i'm recovered from that, and i'm riding him, and something outside the ring spooks him. i have no control over him—he's not bolting, but i have no control over his big neck. "i stopped him, and i got off, and i took him to the window and let him look out. my trainer was like, 'what the hell are you doing?' i had more than a twinge of humiliation and shame," she continues. "But i took him to the window, and he figured out what was going on. he took a deep breath, and his neck went down. we finished our ride beautifully." in that scenario, susser admits, it was hard to dis- mount. ere was a shame and humiliation factor, "and my trainer was busting my chops," she recalls. "But afterward she came over and said, 'You were right,' and my horse also said, 'You were right,' " susser says. "ere are those moments where we make those decisions, and mine was, 'do i try and fight through this or get off and be safe?' at just opened the door for me to make better and better decisions. "when you make a good decision and have a good result," she adds, "even if the decision isn't to ride that day, you may have a twinge of humiliation, but it will be followed by a twinge of empowerment." Understand Setbacks Are normal But what if you do make the wrong decision—you invite disaster by raising the jump cups one hole too high, or you get hurt because you didn't have all the right information on the day? how can you get your decisions back on the right track and steer away from fear? first: understand that failure is natural. "we're somehow surprised when setbacks occur," "e quick and gritty is that there's no such thing as overcoming fear," says Dr. Jenny Susser. "When we say 'overcoming fear' that's like saying 'overcoming hunger.' "

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