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Transcript of CD - disc 1

Ride With CONFIDENCE 10 Proven Steps to Overcome Challenges and Meet Your Goals

By Barbra Schulte Visit our website:

www.barbraschulte.com

Introduction Welcome to Riding with Confidence, a sport, science-based training program to help you reach your riding potential. Your trainer is internationally acclaimed personal performance coach, clinician, author and professional horse trainer, Barbra Schulte. Barbra coaches riders in all disciplines in mentally tough skills through clinics, courses, video and audio tapes. She is a licensed professional performance coach by LGE Sports Science Incorporated of Orlando, Florida. LGE is the world leader in peak performance technology. As a

professional horsewoman and trainer, Barbra has earned numerous national cutting competition titles. On this tape you will be introduced to mentally touch training for riders. Barbra will give you 10 proven steps to unlock your potential and become the rider you’ve always dreamed of. As you understand, practice and apply these steps when you ride you’ll be confident and relaxed, yet, alert and focused. You will have that ability no matter what’s going on around you or what’s happened in the past. You’re on your way to riding with confidence and learning some wonderful new ways to improve your life. Barbra Schulte Hi and welcome. I was visiting with a woman the other day who’s a dressage and endurance rider. At the starting point of her endurance ride she feels like superwoman, totally confident and ready. But right before a dressage competition she’s grinding her teeth and feeling like she has to throw up. She feels good about her horse in both situations, but not herself. It’s as if two different riders live in the same body. I also talk to people who have been fearless riders at some point in their lives that have lost those good feelings. It may have been a long sabbatical from riding, an accident or worry about their age.

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There’s another common complaint about the lack of ability to be consistent, to pull up their best in pressure situations. Many riders feel at the mercy of people and things around them. Feeling calm, focused and confident can be like the wind and when those feelings evaporate, many feel helpless to get them back. If any of those things sound familiar, I’m going to help you with that. No more being the victim and feeling helpless. No more hating when things don’t work out. If you practice these 10 steps you will bring up feelings of calm, confidence, focus and energy in a moment. You will have a great understanding of what it takes to get stronger mentally, emotionally and physically, for your riding and for your life. As you practice and become skilled I promise you’ll see your horse’s performance improve, too. So, if your horse’s performance improves when your confidence improves, what is the relationship of your horse to your confidence? Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? I have two different scenarios for you. You decide which one suits you best.

1. The first is when you feel well-suited to your horse. It doesn’t have to be perfect because it never is, but you do enjoy your horse and feel that he or she suits your needs. Whether you are competing or pleasure riding, you know, that you and your horse can bring out each other’s best. So, your job is to have a plan.

Part 1 of the plan is to decide how to improve your technical riding skills and your horse’s technical skills.

Part 2 of the plan is to decide how to train your emotional and mental skills. You

keep improving the process never ends.

2. The second scenario is more complex and could be the subject of a very long discussion, but I’ll make it short. This is when you do not feel comfortable with your horse.

Having a horse that is not well-suited to you can be a huge blow to your confidence. As a clinician I see many people with horses who don’t fit them. Sometimes the horse isn’t trained enough. Sometimes it’s too advanced and difficult to ride. Sometimes the rider has had an accident and the horse has painful negative associations with it. Sometimes a horse has the potential to fit a rider, but only with professional help. If the rider doesn’t get the support needed she might blame herself. There a jillion reasons why a horse and a person don’t suit each other. Take an honest look at your horse and your situation. It takes many pieces of a puzzle to come together for you to develop confidence and have fun in your riding. One of the main pieces is to have a horse that suits your goals.

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If you’re not feeling good about your horse make some decisions. Decide if you need a professional’s opinion or support. If so, decide how much time you will give that situation before getting a new game plan. If you know deep down that this is definitely not the horse for you, take action. Get out of old habitual ways of thinking. Be creative. Buy, sell, trade, lease, barter or adopt a new training plan, but arrange it so you are with a horse you enjoy and that meets your needs. Why this Information is Powerful and Works It is based in sports science. For the past 20 years a team of professionals at LGE Sports Science in Orlando, Florida has studied human performance and the research continues today. The LGE staff has a passion to understand what makes people perform at maximum levels under pressure. What you’re about to hear is state-of-the-art technology based on research with Olympic and professional athletes. The name of the program is Mentally Tough. It applies to you as a rider as much as it does to a world-class Olympian. It is training for the entire person mind, body and emotion. It is for performance on demand and for living. The information is unique and has been developed by a team of professionals, not just one specialization. The research is pioneered by Dr. James Loehr, a world-renowned sports psychologist. Other professionals include an exercise physiologist, a biomechanist, a nutritionist, a sports medicine professional and a psychoneuroimmunologist. You’re going to hear about a program that approaches your riding from many sides. The 10 steps are guidelines for you to begin mental, emotional and physical training. When I introduce you to a new step, I will explain what it is, why it works and how to do it. Viewed individually the steps are simple, but it is the combination of them, over time, that unlocks your potential and makes challenges tremendous opportunities to learn, excel and have fun. We never stop growing. No one ever makes it to a place where there is nothing more to learn. My love for riding is expressed in cutting. Although I have been fortunate enough to achieve some accomplishments, I still feel I have only experienced the tip of the iceberg in cutting and in knowing horses, in general. None of us ever arrive. We are simply on our own paths of experience. My path is not your path. The secret is to learn to enjoy where you are now and make striving for excellence fun. The fundamentals on this tape show you how to relax, enjoy your own journey and go for it. It is a condition within and the process, which determine your joy. Understand these 10 steps, commit to train to be your best and follow through with action. I promise you will discover more joy, fun, calmness and confidence in your riding and in your life.

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The Ideal Performance State

1. Step 1 is understanding the Ideal Performance State. I’ll refer to this by its initials IPS. It is a condition within and is at the center of everything I’ll talk about. LGE's research has shown that all great performers have something happening deep within their physiology when they are achieving peak levels. They could all summon the following emotions:

• Confidence – they knew they could do it. • Calmness or a very profound sense of inner stillness. • Energized, a feeling of boundless physical energy.

• Fatigue or feeling beat up were out of the question.

They felt relaxed, free of fear, as if pressure did not exist.

• Focused, intently tuned in.

They felt in control no matter how crazy things were around them and most of all they were having fun. There was a sense of total enjoyment, even through they knew they could lose it all if it didn’t happen.

IPS or feeling in the zone is the combination of these positive emotions all at the same time. You don’t just feel energized or just feel calm or just feel focused, you feel them all at once. That’s what makes IPS unique and exhilarating. I’m sure you’ve felt this way from time to time and you probably didn’t realize it was even happening. Take a moment and remember a time in your riding or in your life when you felt nothing could go wrong. You were in total control, relaxed, free and loving the energy of the moment. You knew you could handle anything. It was as if great white lights had been turned on and you were the lucky recipient. The only bummer might have been when it was all over. You didn’t know how to repeat the experience or if it would come back again. Here’s the really great news. Acquiring the white lights of IPS is a skill. You learn it the same way you learn any other skill. You understand what it is, why it’s important and how to do it. The more committed you are to practicing, the more skilled you become. Now that you know what IPS is, here’s why it’s important. There is no separation of mind, body and emotion. Every emotion you feel has corresponding body chemistry. That biochemistry has a direct affect on your ability to perform technical, physical skills. I’ve heard people say I don’t need that mental stuff, so and so needs that, but it’s not for me. What that person doesn’t know is that thinking and emotions are not invisible. Thinking is an electrochemical event in the brain and therefore, physical. Emotions are neurochemical and

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therefore, physical. When you are feeling positive emotions you’re brainwaves have a specific wave pattern. Your muscles are more relaxed. Your vision is softer and broader. When you’re in IPS you have the potential to ride at your best level of talent and skill. When you’re not, you don’t. When you feel negative and you ride your body chemistry blocks your performance physically. You can perform at some level, but not at your best, so what we’re after is IPS control. Your ability to call up IPS on demand determines if your personal talent and skill come to life when you want it most. If you haven’t been able to do that before now, it’s only because you haven’t learned how and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. You’ll be able to access those high, positive feelings anytime and anywhere. Dreaming Great Dream Have you ever had some grandiose ideas about your riding and then thought I could never do that? I’m referring to ideas about being an absolutely controlled, confident, capable rider. If that’s what you want to be it’s important for you to dream that dream in detail.

2. Step 2 is about creating who you want to be as a rider in your mind and on paper. Wave a magic wand. Dream in detail about the elegant, controlled, focused, confident rider you want to be. Think it through thoroughly then take the time to write out your description. Be specific. When you read it back to yourself it should excite you, I mean really excite you. This step is as important as anything else you do in your training and here’s why. This exercise forces you to decide exactly how you want to ride. Then, your subconscious goes to work on its own to bring reality in line with the image. Without the picture your riding will be scattered without a clear destination. Most people do two things:

First, they don’t take the time or the discipline to write their dream on paper. Because they are not specific they don’t know what they’re shooting for.

Secondly, they are so consumed with where they’re at now and usually those

thoughts are about what they don’t want.

They know they don’t want to lose their balance, squeeze with their knees. They don’t want to be embarrassed or make a stupid mistake, but they haven’t identified what they do want.

So here’s your task. Sit in a big easy chair, close your eyes and wave your wand. There are no limits here. If you have the thought that you could never do that tell yourself you can because you have the wand. Enjoy the process. Put emotion and brilliance into the scene.

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If you have trouble getting a picture in your mind, think of a rider you admire and bring that image to life as your own. Watch a video of different riders, if that helps. You can even combine riders or add a thing or two here or there to suit your own unique style. Then, when it’s fun, just thinking about it, capture it on paper. Go ahead and add the words graceful, in control, assertive or calm to give you the feeling and look you want. Read your description often. Let it get you excited. Carve the images and feelings into your mind permanently. As you gain new information embellish your picture to make it even better. That picture is your guiding light. Dream a great dream and never let it go. This step is as important as anything else you’ll do. Evaluating Your Personal Mental, Emotional and Physical Strengths and Weaknesses One of the things I love the most about being a personal performance coach is the experience of all equestrian disciplines. I appreciate them by watching, talking with other riders or catching a ride on a school horse after a clinic. The problem is I’m not sure how to cut, jump, run barrels, do dressage and reign all at the same time. Recently, at the Spruce Meadows Masters, I was watching international world-class jumping competitors. As I watched my mouth was watering. I wanted to be in that very arena going for it. Then I added a little humor to it as I pretended to be on my three-year old cutting futurity horse. I entertained myself as I went over each jump with my horse, affectionately known as Michael Jordan. Now, the reality of my personal time constraints at the moment definitely limits my world-class jumping potential. But what if I decided to get serious, learn to jump and be as competitive as possible? I would go to a trainer, he or she would evaluate my strengths and weaknesses and I would begin training. The same is true for you for IPS training. You have to decide it is of value, get serious and evaluate your mental, emotional and physical strengths and weaknesses for riding. It’s important because without a starting point, you will again wander in your efforts to gain emotional control. In Step 2 you established a target for where you want to go.

3. Step 3- in this step you establish where you are now. Soon you’ll have a starting point and a destination and your training can begin. Here’s how you do it. Get a piece of paper and put the following three headings across the top of the page:

• Negative feeling. • When/where. • Positive replacement.

Then divide the vertical side of the page into three sections:

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• Days before you ride. • Day of the ride. • During your ride.

The days before you ride refers to the days, weeks or months before the actual day you ride. Day of the ride includes the time from when you wake up until you enter the arena. And during your ride refers to the time of your riding goal, whether you’re are showing, practicing or riding for fun. Now, identify any negative feelings, like nervous, fearful, angry, defensive or any others you have within the times in the left margin of the paper. Reflect on exactly when or where that feeling occurs, like on the way to the show or at the entrance gate of the arena. Identifying what you feel and exactly when and where is critical. It is at these precise times that you will target your training. Then, in the positive replacement column, identify the wonderful feeling you would prefer to have instead of its negative counterpart, like calm, confident, relaxed, open, free or instinctive. The rest of this tape will be about training those positive replacements. You then apply the training at the times you have identified and in the rest of your life, in general. This works because you can never get rid of any negative feeling by wanting to get rid of it. You must replace it with its positive counterpart and then train it as you would train any other skill. Discover what’s happening and when, condition the positive and then practice. Using Acting Techniques to Achieve Your Ideal Performance State

4. Step 4 is about using your body to call up positive emotions. You become an actress or an actor in the arena and your script is always the same, confidence, calm, focused, energy and fun in any situation no matter how out of control it seems to be all around you. If you’re a bad actress you can’t bring positive feelings to life on demand. If you’re feeling badly you act that way, even at crucial times; slumped shoulders, tight mouth, eyes down and head shaking. You know what I’m talking about. Let’s say you woke up late for a show. You rush around like a crazy person getting dressed. You went out to the barn and as you were feeding, fire ants covered your arms. You start to load up your horse and there’s a flat tire on the rig. Because all that happened, you got to the show late with very little time to warm up. Then it rains and you get drenched. Now here’s the big question. If you really feel tired, nervous, frustrated, rushed like a maniac or angry, will you show it when you enter the arena? A bad actor will, but a person skilled in IPS control will never show any negative emotion on the outside.

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Signal loud and clear with your body that you love being right where you are. Only show strength on the outside. It works and here’s why. There is no separation of mind, body and emotion. God wired them all together. Different body positions connect to different emotional states. The physiology of sadness is shoulders slumped, eyes down, a turned down mouth, drawn facial muscles and shallow breathing. Obviously, the physiology of confidence and joy is so different. Right now, take a moment and bring to memory your fondest dream. Get a really exciting one. Now don’t be wimpy. Get excited okay, got it? Imagine how you would feel if the genie in the lamp appeared and your wish was her command. Or, better yet, if you trained hard and achieved that dream, what would you do with your body? I bet shoulders back, chin up, eyes up and sparkling with a wide vision, smiles and deep breathing. From now on, instead of letting your body be at the mercy of your emotions, you will control your emotions by controlling your body. When you train on the outside you automatically train on the inside. By conditioning your body to act like a calm, confident and successful rider, you become that rider. This is how you do it. There are three main acting skills:

I. Breathing. II. Eye control, and III. Posture control.

I’ll talk about breathing first, because it immediately improves your emotional state. Measured, deliberate breathing accomplishes three things at once:

I. It slows your brainwave activity, which allows you to think clearly. II. It increases the oxygen flow to your muscles, which relaxes them, and III. It provides an internal focus, which calms you and helps you concentrate.

Here’s the first step. When you become aware that you are feeling any negative emotions, start breathing all the way into your abdomen. Inhale slowly and deeply. Let your tummy expand like a balloon. Let it fall as you exhale slowly. Make the exhalation cycle longer than the inhalation. Then get into a comfortable breathing rhythm. Do as many of these rhythmic repetitions as you like. The more you do the calmer and more focused you will become. Eye control is critical, because your mind follows your eyes. When you’re anxious or nervous your eyes go down and your vision narrows. The affect is like a vise closing in on your head with huge side blinders. But, when you keep your eyes up, your focus wide and scanning no matter how you really feel, your mind will stay focused on what you want to accomplish. You feel calmer and see all the options at hand.

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Even if your particular style of riding contains speed, you will feel as if everything around you is controlled and you have plenty of time. Plan where your eyes will be moment to moment in your ride as carefully as you plan anything else. Posture control simply means you look confident no matter what. We’re all conditioned to believe that we can act confident only after we’ve earned that right through some accomplishment. Acting that way, no matter how you really feel, is key to accessing positive feelings. Sit in the saddle with your shoulders back, proud an erect. Keep your chin level or slightly raised all the time. If your discipline calls for a different type of riding style, at times, do what you have to do, but remember, at all other times get the look that brings the confidence. Become a great actor or actress by controlling your breathing, eyes and posture. Never show any weakness on the outside and feel only strength on the inside. Thinking Strategically with Positive Words and Images

5. Step 5 is about using two mental conditioning tools called scripting and imaging. It is the use of words and images to control IPS. With practice these skills become highly disciplined before, during and after you ride.

Both scripting and imaging keep you focused. You become aware of negative words and mental images. Then you replace them with what you want to happen. These skills also help you handle errors and distractions in a positive way. Let’s talk about imaging first. When you create a picture of a great rider in your mind you fill your mind with the positive of what you want to be, instead of having some vague idea and hoping it all works out. Once the images are created they automatically program your subconscious. Your subconscious then goes to work on its own to bring that picture into reality. You become what you imagine. That goes for the good stuff and the bad stuff. When we worry we fill our minds with mental pictures about what we fear. Without realizing it we actually set up that very situation to happen. Let’s make this real. Think of something that really frightens you. It could be with your horse or without your horse, but put yourself in almost a state of panic. Can you see vivid images of whatever it is? Most people can see those mental pictures no problem, but it’s the positive ones we have the trouble with, because most of us don’t practice them. The highest level of visualization is the ability to see clear pictures of a great performance any time and under any conditions. You can call up vivid, positive images of the entire ride or a tiny portion of it. You decide what you need in a particular situation, but the important thing is to be able to do it no matter what. An example would be that you watch 10 riders and they all made horrible mistake and one fell. In an untrained state you’d start imaging the same errors and accident happening to you.

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But when you clearly focus on what you’re going to do and what you plan to happen that consumes your mind. Here’s how to develop that high-level skill. It takes practice. Start at home in your favorite easy chair or lie on your bed and arrange for 15 to 20 minutes of uninterrupted time. Listen to calming music -- without words -- for at least three to five minutes. Your only job during this part is to completely relax. You don’t have to have the music, but it helps to naturally slow your brainwaves. You become more open and receptive to ideas you might normally reject. The next part is to visualize your ride in as much detail as possible. If you make an audio tape, record five minutes of music -- without words -- that you find powerful and stirring. ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ or ‘Chariots of Fire’ movie themes are great ones. Then, create in great detail, the kind of ride you want to have. It’s most effective to add vibrant color, sound and smells. Smell the hair coat conditioner. Hear the crowd. See the shinning color of your horse. Feel the coarse hair of your horse’s mane and don’t forget to charge your mental image with emotion. Feel a sense of excitement. Believe deeply in yourself and your horse and enjoy the confidence. Know that the thrill of putting it all on the line is much more than the results of one ride. Go for it. LGE's research has shown that 25 to 30 repetitions of this exercise dramatically-improves performance. You don’t have to use the music, but it helps because music is such a powerful mover of emotion. Or, if you prefer, you can use an audio tape produced by Dr. Loehr in his work with top athletes. The name of the tape is the ‘Get Touch Tape’ and it has one added dimension. Between the relaxing music and the powerful music, he takes you through two and one-half minutes of wonderful affirmations. You don’t have to have a music tape, you can simply relax, totally let go and then visualize with emotion. The important thing is to do it. The second tough thinking tool is scripting. You program yourself for positive emotions and actions by using words strategically. It’s like having a personal coach or a guardian angel on your shoulder saying the right stuff to keep you on track. The idea is to program yourself for positive results and encourage yourself when times get tough. Here are five suggestions to make scripting easy and effective:

A. First, plan what you’re going to say to yourself for both the warm up and the actual event.

You can be detailed for the warm up. Coach yourself then about things to do with your horse and talk to yourself about staying cool and feeling good and confident. Because you need to be more instinctive in the show arena, only plan a word or phrase at key times to keep you on track, like easy if you feel yourself getting wound up or eyes up if you know you tend to drop your eyes at a certain time.

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B. The second suggestion is be sure to coach yourself in the positive.

For example, say sit deep and quiet instead of don’t lean.

C. Here’s the third tip. Tell yourself to stay tough when things get rough.

When everything seems to be falling apart coach yourself hang in there. If I can do it today I can do it anytime. Come on let’s go. This is fun. I want more problems. I can handle it. If it sounds absurd try it. For sure you’ll laugh, which is a great relaxer and then you might just replace those old emotions with some positive ones.

D. The fourth tough thinking tools are two phrases:

No problem, and Next time.

Say no problem the instant an error occurs. It keeps you from replaying the error in your mind. You stay on target and in the moment. The phrase next time let’s you replace what didn’t work with the idea you can do the next time an opportunity comes up. It also affirms a belief in yourself that you can do it.

E. The fifth tough thinking tools are two questions. Both help you tune out the stuff over which you have no control and they keep you focused on your job.

Consider this powerful fact. As a rider all you have is yourself, your horse and the task at hand. Everything else, the outcome of the event, the noise in the stands, the judge, the ground, the people around you making rude comments, all those things are out of your control and concerning yourself with them is not your job. Your job is to get you and your horse ready mentally, emotionally and physically. Do your job in the warm up and in the arena. After your ride is over then interpret the results. If you keep asking yourself what’s my job and what do I have control of, you will do your job at your highest level and all the other people and things over which you have no control will never affect you. Triggering Positive Emotions on Demand Through Rituals You’ve prepared your horse perfectly. You’re in the final moments, right before you go into the arena. You lift your chin, pull your shoulders back, breath deeply several times and say to yourself, this is going to be a great ride. I feel good. Now stay cool. Okay, buddy, we can do it. Ready- let’s go, that’s an example of a ritual.

6. Step 6 is all about, triggering IPS with habitual ways of thinking and acting. Rituals call up positive feelings in an instant.

They can be mental, physical or both. They serve as anchors and prepare you to do your best. They are extremely personal. What works for you may or may not work for someone else. What matters is that you find one or several that work.

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Condition the ritual’s association with IPS and then be consistent in using it, no matter how hectic things get. Rituals are powerful. They work and here’s why. The association of what you do mentally and physically, with strong positive emotions, becomes conditioned deep within the physiology. When the ritual has been sufficiently been conditioned, all you have to do is do the ritual and IPS is yours, automatically. To get started, try some on for size. I recommend you combine some acting and thinking strategies from Steps 4 and 5. Then, condition the ritual by being mindful of feeling calm and energized, yet alert and focused as you do it. Practice and stay consistent with how you act and how you think. You can also experiment with a series of them from what and when you eat and drink to doing some relaxation exercises; to doing a mini visualization while you synch up your horse; to doing breathing and imaging during your warm up. A series of rituals can work wonderfully. You feel perfectly prepared. But here are two things to keep in mind:

• The first is to be very flexible, if time runs out for any reason and you don’t get to

do each ritual in your series. Flexibility is a key part of IPS. Just tell yourself that it’s okay and then let them go.

• The second idea is to have one main ritual that always happens before you ride.

Make that one the one you never let go of, no matter what. Remember, rituals are like anchors. You want to make sure your anchored in the feelings of IPS before you show or embark on that part of your riding that can feel more pressured. When things get hectic it’s easy to feel rushed, like there’s no time for anything but to get in there. That way of approaching things is now past for you. If things get really crazy make sure you still do a 5-to-10 second ritual. There’s always time for that and you’ll love how great you feel. You can also develop some rituals for during your ride. Because your riding needs to stay instinctive and spontaneous, it’s best to have short, preplanned rituals, like saying eyes up at a certain spot where your eyes tend to drop or saying easy if you feel your heart rate come up. Develop some to help you deal with errors and distractions, like saying no problem, if something happens. And last, but not least, try some rituals for after you ride. This seems to be the time when emotions can be really high and what is the first thing you and other people tend to do? Be critical. It’s so typical for us to see a ride in terms of what went wrong. The reality is that every ride has parts that met or exceeded our expectation and parts to improve.

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I suggest you have a post-ride ritual that does two things:

One is for you to have some time to relax before any discussion. That might be five seconds for one person or an hour for someone else.

The second one is a discipline to review and feel good about the things that worked

before you discuss the replacements. You could even go so far as to get excited about the good stuff.

Then, after you and the support people around you have allowed those two things to happen, discuss the technical and emotional spots you want to replace for the next time. The emphasis here is on replacement, not on judgments of your ability. You and your support group, consisting of a trainer or a spouse, a parent, a friend or all of the above, need to know and honor a post-ride ritual that feels good to you. It gives everyone a way to stay positive. Using Stress to Build Mental and Emotional Toughness Have you ever noticed that when you hear or think about the word stress it almost makes you nervous? When I see stress referred to in magazine articles or on TV, it’s almost as if it’s a disease and we have got to get it out of our lives. Well, I have a new way for you to think about stress.

7. In Step 7 I’m going to show you how to use stress to build mental and emotional toughness. Believe it or not, stress is good for you. In fact, it’s the stimulus for growth.

Here’s a new definition for stress. Think of it simply as putting energy out. Now, think of the term recovery as getting energy back. Our goal will be to put energy out and then get energy back in a way that maintains balance. See living things pulsate and nonliving things do not. In fact, one of the most basic needs of humans is to oscillate between episodes of stress – putting energy out – and recovery – getting energy back. The problem we have in our culture is not the stress, but instead, our lack of recovery. Stress is actually good for us. It stimulates our growth, but we must have recovery, too, because that is when we grow. Stress without recovery is deadly and that’s what usually gets us. Have you ever had your arm in a cast? When the cast was removed your arm was weak. Your doctor instructed you to keep your arm in a sling, except for a few times during the day when you were to take it out and use it a little. Stress for the arm was taking it out of the sling. The arm needed that stimulus or it would never have gotten stronger. Recovery was when the arm was in the sling and that was actually the time when the arm got stronger.

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It’s the same in our daily lives. It’s not the full day of activity that wipes us out, it’s when we don’t get a good nights sleep or we don’t take a break during a hectic day or we don’t stop to eat. We can all handle massive doses of stress as long as we recover. Much of the research at LGE has been on training recovery for special events, as well as in our lives. For developing confidence in your riding, I’m going to share three of those key ideas with you. At LGE they wanted to know some key factors that separated athletes of equal talent and skill in competition. Some of their studies were with tennis players. They looked at during-point time and between-point time. Studying the during-point time gave them very few clues about what separated competitors, especially when it came to mental and emotional skills. The real insight came during the study between points. The non-playing time was discovered to be an opportunity for top competitors to gain mental, emotional and physical recovery. There was a sense of calmness, generally slowing down and as the mental stress decreased mental focus broadened. Mental recovery was associated with a sense of control, imagery and creativity. There was a huge feeling of relief and the players could regroup. Along with the mental relief came physical and emotional relief, too. As they studied more sports they discovered that most of them have from two to 30 seconds of recovery time between critical play times. In their study poor players didn’t or couldn’t take advantage of that time. Instead of taking the time to rest their eyes, to control excitement or distraction or breath deeply and rhythmically, they threw away that opportunity to stay controlled and consistent. By contrast, high-level players had a plan for their eyes, their breathing and their body at strategic times so that when they went back into play they were sharp. They created a wave of stress and recovery, even if only for a few seconds. The ability to recovery was the key mentally tough skill that separated two equally-matched competitors. So, let’s get back to you. In your riding, where are the opportunities to recovery, if only for two to three seconds? Here are some examples to help you identify them:

• In reigning it’s during a momentary pause between maneuvers. • In a hunter class it’s at the end of a line. • In cutting it’s between cattle. • In dressage it could be during the extended walk. • On a cross-country course it’s between obstacles.

Make a plan for your eyes, your breathing and your thinking. In competition it can be the factor which places you above equally-matched competitors. If you’re pleasure riding a recovery plan will allow you to stay focused without feeling a growing sense of losing control.

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So, as you can see, the stress or putting yourself on the line in your riding is the stimulus for your riding to improve. Stress is good, but it’s your ability to recover, even if only for a few seconds, that will determine if you maintain your focus and keep your sense of control and confidence. There are two more recovery strategies crucial to your performance.

• The first is the most important recovery activity of life – sleeping. You need seven to eight hours of sleep every night. A well-rested body has reserves of energy at critical times. When you have energy you can go for it. When the energy is gone the fight is over, period. Sleep is our body’s most essential means of recapturing energy. Ironically, the more stress you feel the less you sleep, which is the very thing you need the most. Fear, guilt, frustration and anger can overpower the body’s natural need for sleep. So sleep is a very sensitive indicator of the overall stress in your life. Here are a few suggestions to help you sleep well:

o If you drink caffeine, be careful to drink it only before lunch. o Finish your evening meal two to three hours before retiring, and o Develop rituals for sleep, like going to bed and waking up at a similar time each

day and making sure you relax before falling asleep, like reading a book. • The next recovery strategy is strategic eating.

Eat often, eat light and eat with variety. Every 90 to 120 minutes our blood sugar drops. When blood sugar drops energy drops along with emotional strength, so the trick is to eat every 90 to 120 minutes. Make sure it’s healthy food, low in fat and sugar. It’s called grazing. Enjoy your new-found permission to eat all day, just make sure it’s the right stuff. Strengthening Your Physical Body and Increasing Your Capacity to Manage Stress I have met people who’ve said I only want one way to get stronger mentally and emotionally, but I’m not going to take the time to do a lot of different things. Give me only one thing to do; I say become physically conditioned.

8. Step 8 is about strengthening your physical body and at the same time increasing your capacity to handle stress. The physical toughening program includes:

Abdominal strengthening, Interval aerobic exercise, Upper and lower body strengthening, and Flexibility training.

Here’s why physical conditioning is so powerful. Because of the intimate connection of the mind, body and emotions, becoming physically stronger immediately correlates to mental and emotional toughness.

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Great coaches in all sports have always understood the connection between fitness, energy and confidence. When you’re physically fit you feel good. Positive hormones and endorphins stream through your body. The discipline it takes to be physically fit naturally carries over into the mental and emotional realms. Becoming physically stronger deepens your belief in yourself. You start knowing you can bring things back your way when all seems to be going against you. Plus, physical fitness is a direct measure of your capacity to expend energy over time. When you increase your ability to handle physical stress, you increase your ability to sustain IPS, over time. There are four elements of the physical toughening program.

I. The first and most important one might surprise you and that is abdominal and oblique strengthening.

The abdominals represent the very core of your entire body strength. If your abdominals are weak you cannot be physically fit. If we don’t keep our abdominals strong as we age we all get problems with movement in general, low back pain and poor posture. Poor posture brings on poor breathing, which causes a lack of oxygen in the blood, which affects all internal functions. When you ride strong abs connect you with your center of balance and your horse’s center of balance. Strength in the core of your body gives you better balance in the saddle when things get fast and unpredictable. Strong abs and oblique’s help you change your seat position in the saddle quickly, like in jumping, barrel racing, three-day eventing or roping, or they help you with the strength and precision of seat movements required in dressage, cutting and reigning. The recommended number of curls per day is 100. You don’t have to do them all at once, do them in sets. I promise you will notice a difference in your riding.

II. The second physical fitness priority is interval aerobic training. The techniques train your body to relax on demand. You can use them during the recovery phases of your ride and here is how it works.

o When you stress yourself physically your heart rate goes up. o When you are relaxed your heart rate is down. o When you get stressed mentally or emotionally the same physical response

happens in your body – your heart rate increases. Our bodies respond the same to stress, whether it is mental, physical or emotional. Ideally, we want to reduce our heart rate on demand, especially when it comes to emotional stress. You can train yourself to do that with interval aerobic exercise. You’ll be able to stand at an arena gate, feel your heart begin to race and bring your heart rate down in a moment. Here’s how to do it. First, find your personal aerobic training zone. There are three steps involved:

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a. Number one– find your maximum heart rate by taking 220 and subtracting your age. If you are 30 years old it would be 190.

b. Number two– determine your upper aerobic limit by taking your maximum heart rate

and multiplying it by 85%– 190 x 85% is 161. c. Number three– find your lower aerobic limit by taking your maximum heart rate and

multiplying it by 70%– 190 x 70% is 133. Interval exercise calls for moving your heart rate up and down between 70 and 85% of your maximum heart rate. So, if you’re 30 you would exercise in waves of stress and recovery with your heart rate pulsating between 161 and 133. Here’s how a workout would go. Choose your favorite style of aerobic exercise, like walking, jogging or a combination of both, swimming, biking or exercise machines. Then decide how you’re going to keep track of your heart rate. You have the options of investing in a heart rate monitor, which is fun, easy and accurate, but does require a basic investment. Or, you can use your own perceptions of when you feel you heart rate has increased enough, as well as when it has come down enough. Now you’re ready. We’ll do this workout pretending you’re 30. Warm up until your pulse reaches 133, your lower aerobic limit. Then gradually increase your speed until your heart rate reaches your upper aerobic limit or 161. During this phase of stress exaggerate, chin up and shoulders open. Think strong positive thoughts like I feel great. I’m confident. I’m completely in control. Keep your eyes up and soft, scanning what lies ahead. Get into the feeling of IPS as you move your body chemistry in the right direction. Feel your heart rate go up. Have fun and listen to your body. Experience what your body does as you go through a wave of physical stress. Then, when your heart rate reaches 161, ease off the exercise and let your heart, body and mind recover. As you’re slowing down, put your thumb and index finger together on both hands. Think. Just relax, everything’s okay. Just let go. Let completely go. Let your eyes drop slightly. Relax your chin and shoulders. Take some long, deep breaths. Totally let go. Mentally go to the beach. Experience a wave of recovery until your heart rate reaches 133. Then go for another wave of stress. Expend energy. Get into IPS until your heart rate reaches 161 again. Then get into another wave of recovery. Let go again, condition the trigger of your index finger, and thumb together as an immediate sign for your heart rate to decrease. Keep repeating the stress recovery cycles for 20 to 30 minutes. Eighty percent of your workout should be within your personal aerobic zone. The other 20% should be in cycles briefly spiking above and briefly going below your aerobic zones. It’s ideal to do this workout three to four times a week.

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What’s so exciting is that training your body to respond positively to physical stress trains it to respond positively to emotional and mental stress. When you train yourself to reduce your heart rate on demand you can do it at the entry gate or anywhere else you need it. All you have to do is put your index fingers and thumbs together. That will trigger a positive mind, body and emotion response to stress. Your heart rate will go down and your muscles will relax. Be sure to use your scripting and imaging skills at the same time. Enjoy it. Have fun exercising and using your new skills in tight situations.

III. The third physical fitness priority is total body strengthening. The ability to generate and resist physical force translates to emotional and mental strength. Become physically stronger and experience increased IPS control automatically. Free weights, weight machines and flexible tubing bands are all great ways to strengthen yourself. A consultation with a physical trainer is a great way to get started. Whatever the demands of your discipline, upper and lower body strengthening will give you more riding control.

IV. The fourth physical fitness priority is flexibility training. Stretching allows you to experience your muscles full range of motion. Many people move better and exercise more with less pain after improving flexibility. The low back, neck, hamstring and shoulder areas are great ones to concentrate on. As you become more flexible you’ll notice you can stay more centered in the saddle as your horse stops, swerves, moves fast from side to side, jumps or even spooks. Your body can just go with the flow easier. You’ll also be able to do other riding skills better, like keeping your heels down or rounding your lower back for cutting, reigning or folding your body to go over a jump. Just make sure you always warm up first. Stretch gently and never bounce as you stretch. Don’t force it. Go as far as is comfortable and hold it for 15 to 20 seconds. Stretch at least four times a week and, preferably, every day. Testing Your Skills The first eight steps have led you through a process. You understand what IPS is and why it’s critical to your riding. You have a picture of the elegant rider you are becoming. You have a starting point for your training and you’ve been conditioning positive emotions with acting, mental conditioning, ritual and recovery skills. You’re getting stronger physically, which translates to emotional strength and great health. You feel certain the training is working, but how can you know for sure?

9. The answer is Step 9- you’ve got to test it. Testing is important, without it your skill development wanders. It’s so easy to give a half-hearted effort to getting stronger.

There are several ways to test.

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- The first is with a riding plan.

Take the time to write out your script and plan your acting, mental, recovery and ritual skills. Break the plan down into the same timeframes you listed on your evaluation sheet in Step 3. Across the top, however, you would have the headings of:

• Positive emotion, which is what you’re training for, • When and where, • Acting, • Mental Conditioning, • Rituals, and • Recovery.

You fill-in the blanks and plan what you’re going to train for, when and where and how you’re going to do it. Now that you have your plan on paper, review it after you ride. Decide what worked and celebrate that. And, review what didn’t work and decide if you need more work on conditioning your skills or finding new replacements. The more specific you are the more in control of yourself and the situation you will feel.

- The second testing technique is mental. Close your eyes and imagine your riding situation. In this step I’m not talking about doing a regular visualization exercise when you take the time to totally relax and work through all the weak areas, I’m talking about mentally putting yourself in a situation zappo, like a laser gun. Notice how you react. Let’s say you had trained to stay calm and focused in the presence of a certain person. In the past, every time that person stood by the ring you felt destroyed. To mentally test your emotional strength all you have to do is close your eyes and imagine that person standing by the ring. Notice how you feel, do you feel the way you conditioned yourself or do you feel the old way? If you feel the old way you have to go back through Steps 1 through 8. Either you haven’t conditioned IPS enough or you need to be sure you’re using your thinking, acting, ritual and recovery skills effectively. Perhaps you’re not clear on what you really want. Maybe the picture needs to get focused. View testing as a fine-tuning device that keeps you on track. No negative judgments about your ability to achieve your dreams, only observations of what worked and what didn’t work. Create a new plan and move on.

10. Step 10 again and again it’s about understanding that becoming stronger is a process that never ends. It’s a commitment to become the best you can be indefinitely.

No matter how old you are, how young you are, or how strong or weak, you can get stronger. Keep training your mind, body and soul and enjoy the journey. Results happen by themselves.

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Going For It Again– I BELIEVE IN MYSELF In this next section entitled “I Believe in Myself”, you have the choice to passively listen or interact with the words and music. As you listen to “How to Become a Great Performer”, see yourself as the rider of your dreams. Let the music and words inspire you. Put into motion the physical, mental and emotional power of a great rider. I love to ride. I love riding for pleasure and in competition. Challenges and problems are opportunities to grow, stay in control and have fun. Fun is what makes riding well possible for me. I can have fun no matter what. Winning happens by itself. I simply ride and do my job. I focus only on the things over which I have control. I am learning to love when problems arise. They give me the test I need of inner strength. I know that mistakes are a necessary part of my growing, of my becoming the best that I can be. I know I cannot control situations, but I can control the way I see them. I control how I think and how I act when the going gets tough. If I find myself fearing failure, looking bad or not living up to expectations, I realize there’s no reason to be afraid. No matter what I will be fine. No single event can ever make or break me as a rider or as a person. When I make a stupid mistake and don’t measure up, I never turn against myself or my horse, instead I reaffirm my commitment to summon the positive emotions of calmness, confidence, focus and belief in myself. Positive emotions are beginning to be my most natural state and they are very powerful. Like other great riders I love this process of riding. I love the challenge. I can create fun in an instant. I accept the bad with the good. No complaining. I exercise, eat and train right. Self-discipline brings the confidence I search for. I take charge of how I feel. I am in control of my emotions. I take time to relax and simply let go. Recovery is as important as anything else I do in my training. I have a plan to follow and that plan keeps me focused and organized. I never say if I only had time, if I want the time I take it. I find humor in my mistakes. When I can smile inside I am in control. I do ordinary things extraordinarily well. I am in the process of becoming.

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I believe in myself. You have my sincere wish that your fondest dreams come true. Be yourself. Let your spirit shine and have fun. Closing For more information about Barbra Schulte’s Mentally Tough Programs and products for riders, you may contact: The Center for Equestrian Performance 2000 South Market, Ste. 219 Brenham, Texas 77833