Pause for thought

When your riding has to take a back seat, it can feel as if your life has been put on hold. Whether it’s due to an injury, recovery following an illness, adverse weather or lack of facilities, if you find yourself grounded, it can be frustrating when all you want to do is get back on your horse and ride.

The good news is that there are various practical, manageable steps you can take to stay connected with your horse and your inner self. And, as an added bonus, they’ll also increase your confidence and resilience so that when the time comes, you can get back to riding at your best.

Imagine this

Using visualisation is like creating your very own Netflix film or documentary featuring you and your horse doing everything together that you love. As it’s your personal streaming channel, you can pick and choose what you watch in your mind’s eye, based on your goals, hopes and dreams.

And whether something’s real or imagined, your mind won’t know the difference and will soak up whatever you give it, so why not take this opportunity to create the films and documentaries that you actually want to watch?

A new angle

Turning off thinking is impossible and neither can we stop negative thoughts, but we can flip them and make them more helpful. Reframing negative thoughts is essentially tweaking the narrative in your mind so it works with, instead of against, you.

So, if you’re unable to ride, practise flipping an unhelpful approach to ‘I can use this time positively to plan/do/learn/change XYZ’ or ‘while I can’t ride at the moment, I can plan/learn/do/change XYZ’.

Instead of dwelling on what you can’t do right now, focus on things that are under your control – you’ll soon notice other opportunities and possibilities. You may learn something new, you could become part of a new community, or you might explore different ways of building your connection and partnership with your horse.

Think of it as being similar to rebalancing your horse when riding so you’re training a correct way of going. When you practise adjusting your thoughts positively, you’re effectively performing a half-halt in your head and rebalancing your mindset.

Check out more of Alison Buttery’s expert advice for staying connected in January Horse&Rider – pick up your copy today!