Overcoming Fear
One of the greatest challenges a rider can face is show anxiety. It can be as mild as a little nervousness at the in-gate, or as crippling as the fear that causes you to freeze when you’re halfway through a class. The mental training it takes to overcome this fear can be infinitely more important than any exercise you can jump at home. I think everyone who rides horses must go through a period of learning how to deal with these nerves if they’ve been competing long enough. I sure did. When I started show jumping as a kid, fear wasn’t a huge factor. You went to the jump and you jumped it, which seemed simple enough. But then it got hard. I started competing on a horse that stopped and it taught me to freeze. My brain would just shut off when something went wrong. I fell off multiple times and struggled to figure out what was going on. I ended up in a low place and felt like I couldn’t ride. The next horse that I rode was a blessing in disguise. He was a very spooky six-year-o...