1627: Make Competition Day More Success and Less Stress, by Sentinel Horse Nutrition

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Coach Jen here, and thanks for tuning in to Horse Tip Daily, episode 1627.

Today's tip features a dressage radio show co-host, Reese and Megan, with some great tips

on making competition days more success and less stress.

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The first one, the mental game, gets sight tip for success.

I love this.

Use mental rehearsal techniques.

I love this because I do a lot of visualization and I think now even visualizing and working

your test is important because I felt this even taking my young horse to this first

horse show.

I hadn't ridden the test in a while, and yeah, right, 20-year school was way harder than

I remember.

I rode through my test, but I'm a visualizer.

Then I rode through my test and I visualized it even at training level at our first show,

but I had other, like I was nervous about the first show, and gosh, that was so helpful.

I love that one.

I agree.

I visualized thousands of times before I even go down center line, which I think is so

important.

I've been working on this number two, yes, to get in the zone.

I've been really struggling with that this year.

What do you do, Reese?

I feel like there's some years I'm like, I really lock in this year.

I am totally scattered.

Well, I think, yeah, because you're running a lot of things.

I think, again, this is, depending on your stress level at work and at the barn and all

the other things, I really try, because this is something I have to do is I have to be

really organized.

I know it's shocking to everyone, but I have to have my clothes packed or lined out like

a week out of time, because I don't like that feeling of trying to figure out what's

happening with my dog and my cats, and then try to pack.

So I start that early, and I think that's really important.

And then I am very diligent, like if I were to see you an hour out from when I have to

get on the horse, I probably wouldn't talk to you.

And I don't need to do that in a mean way, but I put my headset on and I just have to

focus and sort of center myself.

I don't need calls.

I don't answer, you know, if somebody needs something, go somewhere else, like I'm pretty

clear about it.

I'm showing an hour out from the time I get on is sort of my time.

And it's going to talk about this later too, but I also watch my nutrition and I make

sure I'm hydrated and all of those pieces.

But I think that also is when I get on the horse, is just, and they mention this in the

article, is focused on your breathing, you know, kind of center yourself a little bit.

And I think that's really, really helpful.

Huge.

Yeah.

Huge.

And number three, I think this is also important.

I actually talked to a great student this morning and we were talking about this of

managing expectations, she's young horse, and she decided that this year wasn't her

year to go to regionals because she felt like, and it's a young horse, it's a five-year-old

horse, like many regionals.

And I told her, I was like, this is a, this is a marathon on a sprint and it's fine to

not go to regionals.

If you decided, like you qualified, that was the goal and that was getting that horse,

the horse shows and getting it on and off the trailer, all of those things.

I said, no, it's okay, like, and so I think that was a good example of just managing

the expectations and like, what can your horse do?

What did he do?

I think that's a huge one race.

I find with my students, you know, they get a little taste of showing maybe a blue ribbon

and it's like their first year out at that level and the expectations go wild.

And I want to be like, reset, you need to be a, remember why we started?

It's just the first year.

So totally agree.

Yeah, exactly.

And I, I think number four really bleeds into that, right?

No, your horse's strengths and weaknesses and when you know them, you can be realistic.

Yeah, exactly, like, you know, you pretty much know it and I think as you get kind of,

we kind of know going in, what we're going to get, but, you know, it's like, what do we

go to at?

Like, really hone in on that and a weakness, you know, carry on, okay, you missed a change.

You missed some times.

Like, no big deal.

For example, yeah.

Yep.

Yep.

And usually if they're weak at at home, it's going to be worse at the horse show, expect 80%

at a horse show, not a hundred and twenty.

That's right.

That's why you train at that level.

So you know, you're just going to step down a little bit at the horse show.

Yep.

So I love this number five.

Use your on deck time to your advantage and that on deck time, you know, that's sort

of the time that you're going around the arena and that's a tough time because you're

not in the ring yet, but you typically have sort of like left your team, you left your

trainer, you left your parents, whatever it is, and you've gone into the arena.

And that's a tough one.

And you know, I, we actually train this.

I don't know about how you are, Megan, but like, I told my writers exactly what I want

them to do around the ring, because that is a tough time when they're kind of on their

own.

Yep.

And you're like, but if you're like, Hey, I want you to go in and I want you to do transitions

at every letter or every other letter or whatever, or I want you to go forward and

back.

We have a specific game plan going around the arena, but I also practice like there's

a horse show that we go to absolutely love it.

But a lot of things happen like they're late or they're early in trying to rush you or

the side of the arena falls down or a tractor drives by.

So we actually practice that like I'll jump out of the chairs and like try to break their

focus.

But that on deck time, yeah, that's a scary time.

It can make or break you.

Well, there you have it.

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