Post by Bridget RA on Aug 15, 2012 1:02:11 GMT 1
After reading the thread 'A tip for overcoming fear' and after a discussion with a nervous client the other night I thought I would share the following war story...
Those of you who know me will know I have been a keen TREC competitor for about a decade and you probably know of the appropriately named Rebel who is the horse who really got me into IH. Several years ago, when Rebel was still living up to his name, I returned from the TREC GB Championships where I had been placed on my sisters pony, feeling all inspired and determined to turn Rebel into a TREC pony. I decided therefore that I was going to have a go at offside mounting. Now this was BEFORE I was an RA so I was allowed to do stupid things back then (!!) but I decided to attempt this in a very stupid place in a very stupid way. I won't bore you with details but suffice to say the net result was a trip to A&E on a spinal board with a suspected broken neck (it wasn't thank God).
Funnily enough I had an extreme mental block about mounting from the right after this... I overcame this fear with other horses reasonably easily but not with Rebel.
After some time, I did, as planned turn Rebel into a TREC pony. But if Offside Mounting was one of the PTV obstacles I just used to say 'thanks, I'll pass'. Then a few years back we were unfairly awarded ten penalty points for leaving the map room late when the judge had forgotten to tell me my time was up. Being of a rather competitive nature I decided the only way to balance this injustice was to pick up ten points somewhere I wouldn't normally have got them. Yup, you guessed it - there was an offside mount on the PTV the next day. So I spent the following morning, before we set off on course, mounting and re-mounting from the offside... Sure enough we got 10 out of 10 for our offside mount and finished third qualifying us for the GB's.
So the key for me in overcoming my fear was sufficient motivation. I realise not everyone is as competitive as that but is there a way you can turn your fear into a CHALLENGE rather than a problem?
Rebel now has four GB Championships under his belt, has taken up Endurance more recently and is now busy teaching our starters the ropes - so he's overcome a few of his fears too!
Happy confidence building!
Bridget x
Those of you who know me will know I have been a keen TREC competitor for about a decade and you probably know of the appropriately named Rebel who is the horse who really got me into IH. Several years ago, when Rebel was still living up to his name, I returned from the TREC GB Championships where I had been placed on my sisters pony, feeling all inspired and determined to turn Rebel into a TREC pony. I decided therefore that I was going to have a go at offside mounting. Now this was BEFORE I was an RA so I was allowed to do stupid things back then (!!) but I decided to attempt this in a very stupid place in a very stupid way. I won't bore you with details but suffice to say the net result was a trip to A&E on a spinal board with a suspected broken neck (it wasn't thank God).
Funnily enough I had an extreme mental block about mounting from the right after this... I overcame this fear with other horses reasonably easily but not with Rebel.
After some time, I did, as planned turn Rebel into a TREC pony. But if Offside Mounting was one of the PTV obstacles I just used to say 'thanks, I'll pass'. Then a few years back we were unfairly awarded ten penalty points for leaving the map room late when the judge had forgotten to tell me my time was up. Being of a rather competitive nature I decided the only way to balance this injustice was to pick up ten points somewhere I wouldn't normally have got them. Yup, you guessed it - there was an offside mount on the PTV the next day. So I spent the following morning, before we set off on course, mounting and re-mounting from the offside... Sure enough we got 10 out of 10 for our offside mount and finished third qualifying us for the GB's.
So the key for me in overcoming my fear was sufficient motivation. I realise not everyone is as competitive as that but is there a way you can turn your fear into a CHALLENGE rather than a problem?
Rebel now has four GB Championships under his belt, has taken up Endurance more recently and is now busy teaching our starters the ropes - so he's overcome a few of his fears too!
Happy confidence building!
Bridget x
I'm beginning to enjoy competing again at a local level....the key has been changing my outlook on it and allowing the word 'fun' to enter the equation! I want to prove to myself that I can do it, whereas before I was worried about what others would think of me.
