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"The Bit - Straight from the horse's mouth"

Coping With Nerves

Competition nerves are a common occurrence for lots of us, regardless of what sport it is, but this can be especially noticeable in horse riding if you have one horse and this is your one chance to succeed. 

​Zoe Taylor from Taylored Mindset talks us through how to handle your nerves.
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Nerves before a competition, or competitive anxiety can be identified into two categories:
1. Psychological (cognitive)
OR
2. Physiological (somatic)

An example of psychological anxiety could be an internal dialogue in your head, highlighting all of your concerns, whereas an example of physiological anxiety could be that flutter of nerves you feel in your stomach.

Self-awareness

The key to coping with nerves, first starts with self-awareness. We need to notice when these feelings or thoughts start to occur, what triggers them and how we are currently coping or are we just hoping they’ll be gone by the time we finish the test or course.

It is about knowing your beliefs, your values and your identity. This can be protective to our self when we are in potentially anxiety inducing scenarios.

Self-regulation

Once we are aware and noticing our anxiety, then this gives us the power to adopt a self-regulatory approach, which allows us to develop individual coping skills, reducing the likelihood of the potentially undesirable behaviour being the result, such as forgetting our dressage test.

There are many methods of self-regulation, such as breathing and relaxation techniques which are routed in mindfulness, or cognitive behavioural techniques such as self-talk, thought stopping, thought restructuring or even simply humour!

A simple framework for self-regulation:

Problem identification – Returning to competition after a break: nerves over how you will perform
Commitment – motivated by the opportunity to compete again and improve your previous score (intrinsically motivated – task focussed)
Execution – Strategy for emotional control – self talk
Environmental management – Controlling the controllables by designing and planning a pre-performance routine which incorporates moves that you are confident with
Generalisation – Rehearse this pre-performance routine in training
Once we are self-aware and self-regulating, then we can start to self-monitor!

Self-monitoring

Self-monitoring allows you to evaluate and asses your response to a potentially anxiety provoking situation and then reinforce your new coping method. This allows you to focus on the process which helps to build motivation and belief in yourself and your own unique process.

What self-monitoring looks like:

Monitoring – “How am I doing?”, “Do I feel the wayI would like to before I perform?”
Plan and select responses – “I notice tension in my arms and shoulders” “I can hear myself thinking “all of the other horses have better paces than mine””
Organise and execute a response – “I will go back to warming up a skill I am good at which relaxes me” “Self-talk. Focus on myself. Trust my process and training. I can’t control what the other horses look like or ride like. I can control mine and how I present myself and my horse”
Evaluate the consequence – For example “I feel better now” “Now I feel ready to take on that challenge of warming up that skill or move”
Learning – Utilise reflection as part of your post competition routine so that you can look for trends and start to notice sources of confidence so that you can work towards these on competition day.
 In this scenario, the learning is that you notice tension (physiologically) and an internal dialogue of negative self-talk (psychological). By becoming more self-aware, we can start to learn what are the most effective coping strategies for ourselves to self-regulate.

When it comes to self-monitoring, I like to think of the rider being like a race horse with blinkers on. We create our own blinkers by preparing ourselves for these potentially anxiety provoking situations and therefore allow ourselves to regulate and monitor accordingly to allow for the best possible and most controllable situation.

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  • Home
  • About
    • The Bit Team
  • The What's On Bit
  • The Feature Bit
    • A lot of love for Albion
    • From Mucking Out to Going Out
    • Winter Riding
    • Behind The Lens
    • A day in the life of
    • 5 Minutes With - Sophie Wells >
      • 5 Minutes With - Imogen Murray
    • 10 Things Only..Non-Eventers know >
      • 10 Things Only...Level Playing Field
      • 10 Things Only...A Winter Owner Knows
      • 10 Things Only...Eventers
  • The Foodie Bit
  • The Training Bit
    • Train With Harriet
  • The Bit Bank
    • Dressage Style
    • How to poultice
    • Managing Bacteria In Hay
    • It's in the bag
    • Late Summer Style
    • New Season Essentials
    • Perfecting The Warm Up
    • What to look for in a livery yard
    • Hot To Trot (Up): Burghley Edit
    • Therapeutic Jewellery
    • The Eventing Bit >
      • Hot To Trot (Up): Burghley Review
      • Burghley - Post Dressage Thoughts
      • The Eventing Report >
        • St. James's Place Barbury International
        • Belton International
        • Rockingham International
        • The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials
        • Land Rover Kentucky
        • Tattersalls' International
      • Saddles For Eventing
    • Coping With Nerves
    • The health threat of ammonia
    • Fashion Inspiration From Badminton
    • A British Brand Making Waves
    • Thank You Valegro
    • It's All About The Cape
    • Photography - Are You Breaking The Law?
    • Burghley Styling: Evemy & Evemy
    • The Bit Meets Ludwig Svennerstal
    • How To Walk In High Heels
    • BEVsOnTour
    • Eventing It Boys
    • A Touch Of Glamour
    • At Home With Caroline Smail
    • Sophie Leonard Country Clothing
    • Horse Scout - Equestrian Networking
    • At Home With Alice Hurley
    • Controlling Your Mindset For Peak Performance
    • Time For A Spring Clean
    • Trotting Out In Style
    • Mixing Competing With Student Life
    • The Badminton Bit
    • Thermoregulation & Rugging
    • The Spectator Style Guide: Badminton Edit
    • Hot To Trot: Summer Style
    • Chester's Bits
    • The Funny Bits
    • Bandaging Tricky Areas
    • Hot To Trot (Up): Burghley And Blenheim Edit
    • Equine Nutrition
    • Stabling away from home
    • The persistent cough - what does it mean?
    • Coping With Fireworks
    • A lot of love for Albion
  • Contact