Have you ever heard those champion athletes who say that pressure gives them an added edge, and that they perform best under pressure? Are you one of those people?
The truth is, all of us are inhibited by pressure at some point in our riding careers; it can make us forget our course, override or underride, or generally feel frazzled. Most of us are in our comfort zones when we’re riding at home, in ideal conditions, without an audience, on a calm and predictable horse. But when elements that you find pressurizing are added in (someone is watching you, there’s other horses in the ring, you’re offsite for a lesson, you are at a show…) we suffer some effect to our performance.
There is a great deal of mental training that can help you expand your threshold for pressure and still perform well in different situations and environments (more on that at the end of the quiz), but first, you have to get to know a bit about how YOU react to pressure.
So, let’s get started. [View full screen here.]