Bringing Mindfulness to the Competition Arena

My theme for moving forward with Leo is "go with the crazy." No better place to really put it to the test then at our first competition of the season, Plantation Field.

The competition started off with Dressage and Stadium on Saturday. I thought Leo did a very nice test. Even though we only scored a 39, I was pleased with his effort! Stadium was going great until I missed my distance coming up hill into the double. I got there on a half stride and Leo struggled to make it out of the combination. The rail on the second fence got caught between his legs and I found myself staring at the ground for a second. When I realized I wasn't going to fall off, I kicked on down the line to the next fence. We finished the rest of the course without fault. It was a damn impressive recovery for me! Two years ago that would have destroyed my round and Leo's confidence. Not now! I'm happy to have experienced that problem and to see how I was able to handle the situation. It gives me enormous confidence in myself and Leo, which is strangely more valuable than a clear round.

I walked the cross country course first with Becca and then with Sally. The course was straight forward, though some of the fences were quite big. Probably some of the biggest prelim fences I have jumped. This is the first time I have ridden the prelim course at Plantation and it involves, jumping a bank complex at the barn ruins. For some reason I found that combination intimidating but Sally and Becca both said it always rode very well. I didn't think too much about the course on Saturday. It was a long day with Becca riding in the novice division and by the time we got home, I was just too tired to think.

On Sunday morning, as Becca and I got on the road, we turned on the radio and just happened to find ourselves listening to a news broadcast about a teacher at a local school that taught her second grade students mindfulness and integrated the exercises into daily class work. The teacher explained that she focused on breathing in order to get the children back into the moment, and often instructed them to find their "sound" when she wanted them to focus in the present. The sound could be anything - a bird, leaves rustling, a fan, etc.

Listening to this broadcast, Becca and I just got to talking about our lives in a bigger way. We actually stepped back and took a moment in the car to look at the big picture. Here we were, driving a $70,000 rig, loaded with a couple of wonderful horses, to a prestigious horse competition where we would ride in the same ring as Olympians. We are both employed, have homes, and enough income to support one of the most expensive hobbies out there. We have the emotional support of great friends and family. We also have a wonderful network of fellow riders on the circuit who participate in our journey. We've done really well for ourselves. It's really quite incredible.

And there was something really big and beautiful in that moment, when we took a second to reflect on what we had created out of our lives. I decided I was going to be in the present that day. When I was a kid, I wanted to jump the biggest and scariest fences. Somewhere along the way, I forgot about the pure joy that jumping a horse gave me. As an adult, I feel the joy when it's over....when I am looking into the past. I want to move that joy into the present.

That morning I didn't allow myself to worry about the course. I walked it twice the day before; I reviewed it in my mind to make sure I knew what lines I wanted to ride and what the striding was. Then every time my mind wanted to worry about the height of anything, I stopped my train of thought and came back to the present moment and reminded myself that in that moment, I was not riding the course. I told myself I knew what I needed to know and that until I was on course, I didn't need to think about it. I wouldn't know how anything was going to unfold until I was in that moment, riding at a fence. It worked. I felt no nerves.

At the 1-minute call to the start box, I found my sound: some birds chirping. I took conscious deep breathes and listened to that sound. I gave Leo a pat. I kept listening to those birds right up until they said "15 seconds." Then I let my mind turn to the course. We had a great ride - even when I messed up one of the bank combinations.

So next competition day, when the anxiety starts to rise, try it out...

• Conscious deep breaths
• Stop to notice a pleasant sound (birds) or even a pleasant object (flower) - and take a moment to focus on nothing but that thing

Massive brush table, landing was downhill 

Leo making nothing of that table

Skinny Log, 3 Strides down the bank into the ruins, gallop across and jump the stone wall out the other side

Leo into the ruins

Second bank combination - Skinny, 3 strides to bank, 4 short strides to a brush skinny (Leo really worked to get out of this combination; that 4th stride buried him at the third element)

Table 6 bending strides to a corner

Photo opp with Sally's new puppy Thomas!