How an amateur rider can overcome fear in favor of concentration

Photo: https://www.noellefloyd.com

Coach Annette Paterakis shared the story of her student Katie McNairto show how you can help amateur riders gain confidence.

Katie faced concentration problems which led the rider to disappointing results in competition. In addition, as a mother, it was difficult for her to distribute time and attention between the family and the horses. However, her story shows what can be found balance between areas of their lives and at the same time achieve success in sports.

Annette Katie was recommended by her coach, Sally Amsterdamer. Katie returned to the saddle after taking a break to manage her family life, but her return to the saddle resulted in an unfortunate competition fall and a broken hip. This, in turn, led to a fear of more serious and high jumps.

For two years, Katie struggled with the fear left by the fall. According to the athlete, already at the warm-up, unpleasant memories began to torment her. These feelings seeped into Katie’s personal life as well.

Her self-confidence was noticeably reduced, and trying to balance her attention between training, caring for the horses, and making the children happy only added to the rider’s stress. The feeling of maternal guilt oppressed her, household duties did not want to get out of her head even during training, and Katie was already sure that she simply could not achieve something more in sports.

First step To correct this difficult situation, Katie decided that the results of the competition should not interfere with the enjoyment of riding. When she turned to Annette, she began by explaining basic things: how the brain of a person under pressure works, why for stable success in competitions it is important, first of all, to establish certain habits that relieve psychological stress.

However, even this caused problems. Katie’s first goal was to dedicate 10 minutes to herself every morning. This time had to be reduced to 2 minutes so that the new “custom” was uncomplicated and easily fit into the regimen. It is in these properties that Annette sees the key to the gradual formation of a set “healthy habits”.

Annette and Katie started with of three such habits. The first is breathing exercises in the morning. The second is to spend one minute in direct contact with each horse. The third is to choose one thing that the athlete would fully focus on during the competition. This set gave a result: Katie began to feel calmer and more confident in the saddle, her results in tournaments began to improve. So, the rider got a motivation for further psychological work on herself.

With the help of Annette, Katie began to plan her day in advance from the evening. This helped organize our actions and thoughts (of which, as Annette points out, we have about 60,000 flashes through our heads a day). Concentration the athlete began to improve, and in six months she went from a difficult struggle with jumps 120 centimeters high to success at 140.

Katie believes that sometimes athletes forget how much horses work for them and, as a result, deserve XNUMX% attention and focus in return. Thanks to the work on herself under the guidance of Annette, she learned to enjoy training, regardless of the results, and to give herself completely to the process of working with a horse.

The path traveled helped Katie in relationships with children. Now she herself teaches them to believe in themselves, cope with difficulties and move forward. Katie thanks Annette for her life lesson.

Source: https://www.noellefloyd.com