www.RideWithoutFear.com
1-877-650-6679
Are you one of the many riders who’s plagued fear? Are you mentally short-changing yourself on horseback, either due to physical fears, or anxiety about performance or learning, that you can’t get out of your mind? In other words, is your brain getting in the way of your riding?
Ange Dickson Finn, teacher and practitioner of a powerful and quick method to overcome fears and boost peak performance, says that many riders are frustrated with their progress or their relationship with their horses due to unresolved fears.
“Fear is the most-mentioned problem for horseback riders when asked what keeps them from riding as much as they want. And everyone who rides knows that our horses pick up on our emotions: when we’re tense and scared, our horse gets tense and frightened. It’s a vicious cycle—but one that can be easily interrupted and then fixed.”
The latest research on neuroscience tells us that our brains lay down neural pathways based on what we spend a lot of time doing—or even just vividly imagining.
“For the mind, there’s very little difference between something that happens in real time and something that happens in our imagination. That means our brain can actually be trained to be more fearful every time we recall a bad incident, such as falling off a horse, or simply imagine a scary scenario, such as having a bad ride in the show arena. We’re effectively rehearsing that fear or anxiety, along with all the emotion it arouses, and carving it more deeply into our brain,” explains Ms. Finn.
“When the fear response is evoked, we lose the ability to think quickly, to stay relaxed, and to problem-solve or learn new things. We tend to repeat the same programmed, non-productive actions over and over.”
The typical approach to fear uses some form of progressive desensitization. For example, fear after a fall might be approached by only spending a few minutes at the walk for as long as it takes the rider to become calmer, and ready to proceed to a few trot steps.
It can take days or weeks to overcome fear this way. Some people spend so much time trying to overcome mental and emotional blocks to riding that they give up their goals completely.
Fortunately, new methods of working with fear are producing much quicker results, and allowing riders to rid themselves of fearful memories and build in positive responses. Ms. Finn uses a technique she calls Relaxation Tapping with riders to accomplish quicker release of fears.
“Relaxation Tapping is based on meridian tapping techniques that have been shown to literally ‘re-wire’ the brain and reduce our body’s fight-or-flight response. To do the technique, a rider taps on specific points on the face, upper body, and hands while at the same time thinking about or verbalizing a fearful memory or thought process. The great thing about it is, once it’s learned, it can be applied anywhere—even while on your horse. And the improvements tend to be permanent, so you’re building on your skills.”
Relaxation Tapping works on:
• Fear after a fall from a horse, or fear of falling from a horse
• Performance anxiety and nerves in the show ring
• Fear of jumping, or difficulty holding your position over jumps
• Fear of loping or cantering
• Frustration with learning a new skill, such as transition to canter, shoulder-in, spins, leg-yields, or any technique
• Grief over the loss of a horse
• Giving yourself a mental edge in the competitive arena
To learn more about busting fears and boosting peak performance on your horse, visit Ms. Finn’s site www.RideWithoutFear.com, email info@ridewithoutfear.com, or call 1-877-650-6679.
About Ange: Ange Dickson Finn is a writer and meridian tapping therapies practitioner. She has been trained in Emotional Freedom Technique, and teaches and practices it with a specialization in helping equestrians. She has been a clinician at Lynn Palm’s Women Luv Horses conferences, and writes regularly for equestrian magazines. She rides and shows Arabian horses, and enjoys helping people accomplish their riding goals.
