The show season has begun and now is a good time to think about what you want to accomplish for the remainder of the year. A successful show season requires more than the physical readiness of your self and your horse. Mental readiness is just as important. Having a clearly defined plan of attack will give you an edge on the competition. This requires a game plan and "tools in your toolbox" to help you achieve your goals.

Reflect on Past Accomplishments – Set Goals
You can begin by taking a few moments to reflect upon last year’s show season. Write down the goals you accomplished last year. Re-live some special moments, accomplishments or classes you had, and some lessons you learned. Pat yourself on the back and carry this positive energy into this year’s planning as you create new goals for 2007. Don’t skip this step. Champions have a dream and athletes who set goals perform better. Setting goals will give you an edge in three important ways. They will provide you with direction, a road map of where you need to go and how to get there. They will give you feedback by letting you know when you are making progress and your goals will give you support. They will keep you going when you might give up as you cross off each one achieved.

Mental Tools to Achieve Goals
Next, think about the mental skills you need to achieve your goals. These skills can be thought of as mental tools in your toolbox which are learned and stored away until they are needed to help you achieve your riding goals. For example, if one of your performance goals is to ride in a relaxed frame of mind you need a strategy/skill to help you control your nerves. How do you control your nerves? If you are like many other riders who get anxious or nervous and can’t get the butterflies in their stomach to fly in formation, you might find that being able to pull out some RELAXATION training or BREATHING EXERCISES would be of great value. Sport Psychology is all about applying learned skills to gain better control of your thoughts and images so you can respond effectively. It is about communication; of being in control of yourself so you can push the right buttons and dance in harmony with your horse.

Do you lack CONFIDENCE?
Do you find yourself saying, "I can’t or I am not good enough?" you might want to befriend yourself and commit to POSITIVE SELF TALK. Nothing breeds confidence like the belief that you can, so out with the negative self statements and in with positive self statements. Learn to control what you say to yourself. Talk to yourself the way you would talk to your best friend.

Do you ever loose your CONCENTRATION?
Being focused on the task at hand is a mental skill. You can’t be distracted and focused at the same time. So the next time the dog runs into the middle of the ring, or you just ran and "chipped" and you are beating yourself up mentally, use the cue word to regain your focus. The cue word will help you re-direct your attention to what you need to do to get the job done, and away from an external distraction (the dog) or a past mistake.