Optimise your training

Atrusted trainer can unlock the potential in a horse-rider partnership and fine-tune your performance, helping you to bring your ‘A’ game to the competition arena. Quality coaching is often the key to success, but how can you make the most of the professional help you’re paying for?

Alison Short, a BDCC Level 3 Accredited Coach and BD Youth Coach and Assessor, offers advice.

“Take a strategic approach to lesson planning,” says Alison. “Rather than cramming a coaching session into any available window, prioritise sufficient time and headspace. If there’s a stressful date on the calendar involving heavy work commitments or the school run, the dentist, the weekly shop and more, don’t book a lesson on that day. An important part of a healthy mindset is self-compassion. Feeling like a failure for being five minutes late won’t set the scene for a productive session, so identify those hectic times and give your horse a day off or pop him on the lunge instead.”

“We’re accustomed to everything in an instant in our busy modern lives, but ‘instant’ doesn’t work with horses. They soon pick up on our emotions and sense if we’re too quick, sharp or demanding, so we must find ways of controlling our own mindbody connection and reducing our heart rate or anxiety.

“As the rider, you’re the channel between the coach and your horse. This means being in touch with yourself and fully tuned in to how your horse is feeling. Arrive ready to train by allowing a few minutes before the lesson for some breath work or relaxation, perhaps using an app for guidance.”

“Choose a regular coach you can gel with. The right trainer will identify your style of learning and deliver instruction in a clear and confident way and discuss with you why you’re doing something. But a trainer who only talks at you, rather than asking what you feel, may not bring out the best in your performance. Work out what works for you.

“If you struggle with self-belief, a trainer who relies on negative criticism is not ideal. There is an element of needing to leave your baggage at home, but if you’re going into your lessons with 100% commitment to listening and being open-minded and they’re getting frustrated with your progress, maybe they don’t have the skills to coach you.”

“While goal setting can be useful, make a flexible plan rather than giving yourself training targets that put you under duress. Instead of aiming for percentages and wins, identify three things important to you that season, such as achieving feel or rhythm. That can take you a long way up the leaderboard.”

“A safe training space is the perfect environment for exploring tension. Try tensing your whole body then slowly counting back from 10, releasing the tension until every part is in the right state. The aim is a balance of core control and fluidity.

“Make a habit of checking in on your tension levels, wherever you are. A good trick is to think of yourself as a thermostat with a dial. If your stress level is 10 and it doesn’t need to be, dial it down to something more appropriate.”

“Building trust goes beyond training, as a good coach will be supportive if issues outside of riding are affecting your performance. While you can’t expect them to be available on the other end of the phone in the middle of the night, ideally you’ll feel that you can ask them any question and discuss your confidence levels.

“Tell your trainer about any specific learning needs, disabilities or mobility issues and don’t be afraid to request something less challenging if you’re feeling under par on a certain day.”

“If you’re being challenged by your coach, you’re in the ‘highest learning zone’. That’s good, but not necessarily mid-competition season. The state of flow – the optimum level of focus and total absorption where the task in hand seems effortless – only comes when you’re operating within your comfort zone.

“Being challenged will push up your heart and respiratory rate, so don’t compete at that level during a particularly testing training phase. Similarly, avoid scheduling a clinic with a visiting coach before a competition. If they make fundamental change, you’ll need time to re-adjust on home ground without the additional pressure of being judged.”

“Use the time between lessons to try bonding groundwork techniques such as in-hand work and mirroring. Hire different venues with friends for training and rehearse your warm-up plan in the run-up to a show, but avoid too much test riding in case you compound any problems without the guidance of your coach.

“Work on your own mind-body control, perhaps with positive visualisation, yoga or journaling, where you write down your thoughts and feelings to understand them more clearly. With more understanding and self-compassion, you’ll then find it easier to make that tranquil connection with your horse.”

“Before tacking up I spend a few minutes in the lorry with my horse, having a cuddle and a scratch, so we go out there as a team,” says Sarah Oram, describing the pre-lesson routine she builds in prior to coaching sessions with Alison. “If you’re flustered and not together with your horse when you get on, you won’t work together. I take that time to chill out and breathe, even if it makes me five minutes late for the lesson.”

Sarah finds the technique invaluable with her seasoned para campaigner Tamrik Captain Jack Sparrow, now winning at Medium, and even more so with her five-yearold Total US gelding Mylano.

“My youngster is such a handful that I need that grounding time before we start,” she adds.

“No matter what might have happened at the yard or on the way, it helps me settle my breathing and make that connection with him. And with Jack, before a competition, it gives me the chance to get my game face on.” alisonshort.co.uk

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