I still remember one of my first ever dressage tests, when my stubborn shetland pony decided he would pick that day, of all days, to refuse to go into canter. I left the arena. I was an 8 year old in tears and my mother said to me, "If you ever leave the arena in that state again, I will give your pony away!"
I never forgot that and still to this day, I slap on a big smile at the final salute, even if on the inside I'm horribly disappointed. The lesson that my mother was trying to highlight was that our sport should be fun and we should remember that we are there to enjoy it. At the end of the day, win, lose, break in the canter, or pig-root over the puddles, you should both, horse and rider, be having fun!
However, while every athlete faces many pressures in their pursuit of success, the sport of dressage is particularly complex, especially given that we are not the only emotional entity in the arena. When a runner loses a race, they can easily reflect and decide what they can improve on, or where they went wrong. A rider can do this to a certain extent, but if your horse suddenly leaps out of the ring for no apparent reason, it is a little more complicated to ask him why he chose that moment to do so. Sometimes we try so hard to do the perfect test, that we forget to ride it, or our horse senses our tension, and won't let us ride it. Whatever the reason, in dressage we face many ups and downs, in and out of the arena.
We have all left a competition frustrated that our best test was marked particularly badly, while the test we thought was a complete shamble put us in first place. We all know the rather puzzling realization, or self critique, that we seem to be doing worse this week, rather than better. Or that at our last competition we believed we had finally mastered something, only to have it return at a greater degree at the competition following.
Unfortunately our sport is judged subjectively and it isn't just a matter of crossing the line first, or throwing the hammer the furthest. In addition to these challenges, there is an even greater element to our sport, that calls for the great ability to not only cope with loss, but the strength to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again emotionally and hopefully not so often physically!
I'm talking of course about losing our partner, whether it be due to politics, money, or health, our horses cannot simply be replaced, nor can the years of work ever be salvaged. If a runner breaks a sneaker, he can buy a new one, but for hopefully all of us, our horses are more than our equipment, they are our friends, and quite often they are irreplaceable. My mum says never get attached to your horses, but she and I both know that this is impossible. As riders we must learn that like everything in life the good times must get us through the bad, the good rides motivating us through the hard ones.
With a Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology, specializing in Sport Psychology, Seana Adamson has been training dressage and event horses for over 30 years, and as such is well aware of the hardships involved in equestrian sport. "I am a United States Dressage Federation Gold Medalist and on several occasions was listed on the United States Equestrian Team Developing Rider list. Throughout this time I have been working with dressage riders in the field of sport Psychology for over 15 years."
Riding hunt seat as a junior in addition to her eventing and dressage pursuits, Seana has a good understanding of the challenges required in all equine Olympic disciplines. "The equestrian sports are unique in the mental toughness required of the human athletes (not to mention the horses) for many reasons. First of all there is the unpredictable nature of our equine partners. Imagine a top golfer who could never predict whether his golf club was going to spook at the ball? Or a great tennis player whose racket suddenly decides it wants to run back to the locker room, or a race car driver whose car refuses to go forward. How demoralizing and stressful would this type of unpredictability be? Yet equestrians work with this type of stress every day!"
Adding that in equestrian sports there is no such thing as a level playing field, Seana points out that while one rider may be mounted on a $1000 horse, the next may literally be a 1 million dollar ride. "Finances play a huge role here, hence the term, “Sport of Kings”," she said.
Psychologically speaking, Seana says that anything that is out of the athlete’s control can lead to increased stress, and so given the amount of unpredictability of a sport that relies on another animal dressage is a very stressful arena indeed. "Soundness issues, temperament issues, and financial issues can all leave an equestrian athlete very prone to anxiety," Seana said.
Reiterating that each challenging equine situation is unique, a sport psychologist can help to reduce these stresses, and their causes, in a variety of different ways. "Sometimes a rider might need to be coached through relaxation techniques, focus and concentration, anxiety reduction, or visualization skills. Other times they might need help with communication (either with their horse or with human clients), grief counselling (after the loss of a horse), or relationship issues (“My husband just doesn’t understand!”)."
Compared with most other sports, Seana describes dressage as a sport of fine motor skills, skills that are vulnerable to outside pressures. As opposed to the brute force of a sport like weight lifting or running, the fine motor skills involved in dressage can be easily disrupted by mental tension in either horse or rider. Of course any rider will know that a horse responds to the change in their own emotional state and a tense rider can certainly make for a tense horse.
"Emotions are physical events in the body and have an immediate biochemical and neurological impact," Adamson explained. "In the midst of a top performance the rider is typically so focused on the moment that there is not time to process any emotions. This is called Flow State, and is a state of complete concentration on the task at hand. Any awareness of emotions can of course lead to distraction, and effect the horses ability to perform."
While positive emotions such as happiness, confidence, and security all help prepare a rider for achieving this laser beam focused state known as Flow State, negative emotions limit one's ability to work as one with their partner.
"Positive emotions create a helpful biochemistry in the body that makes it easier to stay relaxed and concentrated. Negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, anger or frustration all lead to biochemical changes in the rider’s body that make it difficult to achieve the focus of Flow State. This negative biochemistry even leads to physical changes in the athlete’s body, such as weakness, lack of coordination, and forgetfulness."
Reminding us that horses have tremendous social intelligence, Seana says that as herd animals horses quickly pick up on the emotional state of those around them. They easily feel when their rider is under stress and may begin to feel a stress state of their own as a result.
Adding to the already delicate balance of trust and relaxation between horse and rider the looming chance of losing that top horse is something every rider must weather.
"Absolutely this possibility effects every rider. The chance of horse injury effects every decision a rider makes. How long and hard to work, what trainers to get help from, and what venues to ride in. The impact of losing a horse that you’ve put years of work into, can be devastating and the grieving process can be powerful and persistent. The loss of a friend and partner can affect a rider not only emotionally, but can also have terrible financial consequences, and may shatter years of carefully planned dreams."
Talking with a trained therapist can often help the rider process this grief and it is Seana's goal to help that rider begin to rebuild a vision for the future. But there is more. Losing a top horse or losing the mental capacity to stay focused in the saddle is just the beginning and even if you perform the rightful winning test, it may not bring you to victory.
"The fact that dressage is subjective, is another element of the sport that is basically out of the athlete’s control," said Seana. "This can become a source of great stress if the athlete is not careful."
Seana's advice is to "never waste energy focusing on factors of life that are out of your control", and while you cannot control the judges, and you cannot control your competitors, you can control your ability to shine. "Just focus on displaying the most fluid, synchronized performance you are capable of with your horse."
Asked if the world of dressage is a highly pressurized arena for the athlete Seana can certainly understand as a dressage rider herself what a lot of her dressage patients are going through.
"The dressage athlete is being asked to demonstrate complete control in a situation where many things are out of their control. All of the factors discussed above can lead to a highly pressurized state. All that I mentioned above, soundness issues, financial factors, subjective judging and inflated egos, can all become very stressful- especially to professionals whose livelihood may depend on performance standards in a highly competitive world."
With help from professionals, and a lot of determination, there are of course ways to overcome the psychological aspects of our sport, but unfortunately a lot of it comes down to what I told myself that day when I was eight!
Suck it up, and have fun!
by Sarah Warne for Eurodressage
Related Links
Sport Psychology for Dressage by Seana Adamson
Classical Training Articles by Sarah Warne