Resolute Organisational (Warrior) Personality type

Characteristics: Persons primarily influenced by ‘Warrior type’ characteristics will be purposeful, hardworking, moral and have very high standards. They are likely to be task-orientated, resourceful and extremely logical. Their language and appearance all indicate their desire to be in control.

Stress caused by: Anything that indicates danger of loss of control, for instance other peoples’ perceived low standards or illogicality, over-emotion of other people, failure to achieve goals.

Stress behaviour: As this personality type becomes more stressed they will become more and more single-minded, seeing only their own point of view. They will become increasingly controlling. They may become very arrogant and aggressive in arguments and will not be able to take account of other people’s different views. They will be focused on the goals and so discount the people around. They will communicate predominantly in ‘thought’ language.

Helping to reduce stress: These are the kind of behaviours which will help someone who is responding to stress with their ‘Warrior’ instincts: -

1. If the person is being very competitive, ignore it.
2. Don’t get involved in arguments that are focused on comparisons e.g. “you don’t work as hard as I do”.
3. Reassurance that they are ‘not to blame’. Be especially careful to avoid ‘unfair’ criticism.
4. Be punctual and keep agreements with them.
5. If you have a difference of opinion express your own values with conviction.
6. If you have to confront them, do it gently, firmly and calmly.
7. Show appreciation of their achievements.
8. Give them the facts.
   

Resolute Intuitive (Warrior/Settler combination) Personality type

Characteristics: This personality carries characteristics like self-sufficiency, helpfulness and reliability. People who have dominant Resolute Intuitive personality traits often enjoy tasks which are repetitive and like working on their own. They are extremely stoical in the face of difficulties and will carry on regardless. Particularly when under stress they prefer not to expose their vulnerability and words like ‘one’ or ‘we’ are used in place of ‘I’ to hide any evidence of feelings that may infer weakness.

Stress caused by: Being seen as unable to cope. Being considered weak or vulnerable. Feeling insecure/disliked.

Stress behaviour: Stress tends to lead to rather withdrawn, withholding behaviour. The individual becomes quieter and reluctant to communicate.

Helping to reduce stress:

1. Praise them for consideration and kindness because they often get taken for granted.
2. Do not be effusive.
3. Don’t force them into expressions of vulnerability.
4. Don’t shout; they will retreat even further.
5. If you want something done, give them clear, detailed instructions.
6. Establish clear boundaries – and stick to them!

Intuitive Adaptable (Settler) Personality Type

Characteristics: This personality type may appear something of a chameleon, so good are they at adapting to the needs of others. They are usually skilled communicators and like to take care of people. They are as pleasant as possible to everyone, law abiding and helpful, concerned with doing the right thing. A characteristic language pattern is to start off a sentence positively and end it negatively.

Stress caused by: Being ignored; being criticised; not being ‘heard’. Their fear is that to be found at fault will lead to rejection.

Stress behaviour: Stress tends to generate increasingly emotional behaviour and an inability to respond to demands to be logical. Language becomes peppered with clichés and if the stress increases they will be unable to say ‘no’ to anyone. One of the most destructive aspects of this stress pattern is the urge to rescue anyone and everyone. Rescuing is frequently destructive for others as each time you rescue a person, they are deprived of the opportunity to do it for themselves and therefore learn from that situation.

Helping to reduce stress:

1. Thank them politely for their help.
2. Stay near the surface of communication, unless you are able and willing to cope with the amount of emotion that may be uncovered.
3. Never lose your temper. If you are angry express your feeling assertively and politely.
4. If you have to confront them, do it with patience.
5. Provide them with a model by letting them see your autonomy.
6. Acknowledge them for being the person they are as well as their achievements i.e. “I really enjoy working with you/having you as part of the team”.
   

Charismatic Intuitive (Nomad/Settler combination) Personality type

Characteristics: Charismatic Intuitives are generally easy-going and pleasant, fairly confident, optimistic, of a ‘sunny’ disposition and popular. They are often lighthearted but can be surprisingly changeable and may suddenly throw a ‘wobbly’ if things aren’t quite to their liking.

Stress caused by: Being alone or ignored, feeling restricted (whether imagined or otherwise), no outlet for creativity.

Stress behaviour: Stress may sometimes produce an out-of-character display of unreliability - more often than not the result of pique: "You've made me feel so bad I simply can't go into work today," is a possible example.

Helping to reduce stress:

1. Be direct, fair and avoid ambiguity. This personality needs to know where they stand but be aware that attempts to impose restrictions could generate covert resistance.
2. Aggression will be counter-productive; kindness will be well rewarded. All that is usually required is to ASK!
3. Ensure there are ample opportunities to talk and share.
4. Provide outlets for creativity.
5. Make sure there is always something new and interesting happening!

Charismatic (Nomad) Personality Type

Characteristics: This person will be lively; adventurous; excited; often described as “the life and soul of the party”; enthusiastic, quick and with a capacity for doing lots of things at once.

Stress caused by: Time to think; silence; having ‘nothing to do’; mundane routines

Stress behaviour: As the stress increases, activity becomes more and more frenetic. More and more mistakes are made.

Helping to reduce stress:

1. Praise for efficiency.
2. Enjoy their spontaneity.
3. Never be intimidated by their outbursts.
4. Refrain from praising/rewarding for speed or for the ability to do several things at once.
5. Praise/reward for taking time, e.g. “I really appreciate the time you are taking over this”.
   

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A Mind to Ride - for Stress-free Competitions

by Sue McIntyre - published in 'England's Equestrian' Magazine.

If you’re stressed out taking your horse to competitions, you’re not alone. Confidence isn’t a stable commodity (yes, I do know it’s a dreadful pun!) and even the most experienced of riders suffer competition nerves. These can vary in severity from the odd butterfly suddenly deciding to strut its stuff in your stomach to absolute, downright debilitating FEAR. The Fight, Flight or Freeze Response Your reaction to stress is largely generated by the so-called ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ response. This is very much an emergency primitive survival strategy and many of my clients are amazed to discover that we are still using stone-age tactics in our space-age world!

What you/your body does Fight, Flight or Freeze Response Quick intake of breath Tense muscles. Fuel reserves are mobilised and sent to the brain and muscles. Extra oxygen is taken in to burn the fuel. Heart pounds Headaches. Blood pressure and breathing rate increases making the heart beat faster. Sweaty palms and feet Palms and feet get sweaty to give better grip (i.e. on spear or for climbing trees etc.). Cold feet (can still be sweaty!) Blood is shunted away from the extremities, where it is not needed – also reduces blood loss in event of injury. ‘Butterflies’ in stomach. Loss of appetite. Dry mouth. Energy consuming digestive processes are closed down, including the production of saliva. Loss of peripheral vision - becoming excessively focussed on object of ‘fear’. Concentration improves. The pupils dilate to let in more light. Feel sick Urgent need to go to the toilet. If the situation becomes really life threatening, we may even vomit or defecate to make the body lighter and less appetising. Get ‘goose’ pimples and/or hair ‘prickles’ on back of neck. Muscles under the skin partially contract so that hair stands on end to make us look larger and more threatening to potential predators.

These physical and mental adaptations are brought about by chemical changes in the body. It is our perception of the challenge or threat that determines the cocktail of chemicals released and these in turn determine our emotional response. Contrary to popular belief, it is noradrenaline (not adrenaline) that gives rise to those lovely feelings of excitement and drive as well as physical strength. For this reason noradrenaline has been named the ‘kick’ or high performance hormone which in large amounts stimulates special areas in the brain that produce a feeling of pleasure. In contrast, the feelings and sensations associated with high levels of adrenaline are not pleasant – these are the ones generating the need to flee, leaving us overwhelmed, inadequate and afraid. I guess most of us would prefer to feel pleasure and excitement at the prospect of competing rather than plainly petrified and of course, it does make a big difference to our ability to get good results! Clearly the place to start is where it all begins – with the way we choose to look at the whole thing, with our perceptions. Stress Management is a personal issue Doctor Paul Martin in his book “The Sickening Mind” defines psychological stress as “the state arising when the individual perceives the demands placed on them exceed (or threaten to exceed) their capacity to cope”. This definition is useful not only because it suggests an opportunity for intervention – we can reduce the demands, increase the capacity to cope (maybe even both!) - but most importantly, it emphasises the individual nature of the perception of threat. What stresses you may not stress someone else. It’s easy to deduce that if for example, your equanimity is threatened by insufficient planning or lack of time, the best thing you can do to improve your performance is to improve your organisation. However, some people positively revel in the excitement of last-minute arrangements. My clients don’t usually need me to tell them those sorts of things – they know already! The most successful stress management strategies are those that address individual issues. In a perfect world we could all have personal coaches to enable us to realise our performance potential; since that is not always practical, then recognition that stress triggers can be personality specific is a very viable alternative. Personality Profiling and LifeMapper You can try out the LifeMapper Personality Profiler FREE by clicking here. It's not the complete programme but it will give you some ideas and its good fun! If you don’t have access to the Internet, send an SAE to A Mind to Ride at 28, College Street, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset TA8 1AT (with stamps attached to the value of £0.47 for the UK) and we’ll send you a free Profiler CD-Rom to load on any PC running Windows 98 or later versions. If your primary personality comes out as Resolute (or any of the Resolute combinations), then you are probably an archetypal ‘Warrior’ equestrian. I’d guess that you’re pretty competitive, well organised and disciplined. You are most likely to feel threatened by anything that indicates danger of loss of control – of yourself or your horse, other peoples’ perceived low standards or illogicality, over-emotion of other people, failure to achieve goals. It may be that a certain lack of flexibility is inhibiting your performance potential so give that possibility some thought. Use your determination and your logical, rational abilities to help you manage your competition stress. Perhaps you’re an archetypal ‘Settler’ equestrian? In which case, your profiler will show predominantly ‘Intuitive’ personality traits. You are an excellent communicator and good both with people and with animals. You seek to form a real partnership with your horse and will see a competition as a joint venture. Some of your competition stress may well come from worrying about what other people might be thinking and whether you are going to let others/your horse down. You can help yourself by avoiding ‘what if’ projections and keeping a tight rein (oops, another pun!) on your imagination. Archetypal ‘Nomad’ equestrians are Charismatic – lively, adventurous, excited, often described as “the life and soul of the party”, enthusiastic, quick and with a capacity for doing lots of things at once. Not for this equestrian the worry of performing in front of others. You love the limelight; in fact it brings a real ‘edge’ to your competition abilities. The main threat inherent in a competition situation for you is the potential for loss of ‘face’ because of the high value you put on your image. However, you can use this to your advantage by acting the part - just behave ‘as if’ you can do it or pretend that you are Mary Wanless, William Fox Pitt or Pippa Funnel. It will also help if you can guard against your inclination to become rather frenetic when stressed. More likely than not, this will simply result in you upsetting your horse and making ever escalating mistakes! Hypnotherapy can Help – ‘Equinimity’ Self-hypnosis by definition has to be a very personal experience. The art of creating a self-hypnosis CD that necessarily has the same words on it for everyone, is to be what is known as ‘artfully vague’. This means that the suggestions are crafted in such a way as to leave room for individual interpretation. Of course, it’s very much easier to do this when you are a horse rider yourself because at least you can talk the talk! ‘Equinimity’ offers the rider much more than simple suggestions for positive change; it also contains therapeutic metaphors, embedded commands, double binds, truisms and other hypnotic language patterns within a powerful intervention to persuade the subconscious mind to make those changes at a very deep and profound level. In equestrian terms this equates to the difference between simply telling your horse what to do and creating the most favourable environment in which to ask - skilfully, sensitively and successfully. In an ideology that shares similarities with natural horsemanship, the secret is to encourage the very best of what comes naturally and to respect your ability to work in the right way for you. The objective is to resolve rather than generate conflicts, to enable you to realise your potential as a rider without compromising your integrity as a human being. In addition to specific skills in personal development and coaching, Sue has extensive experience as a private practitioner and an integrative skills base incorporating hypnotherapy, NLP, advice and guidance, counselling and stress management techniques. She is a Supervisory Member of the Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy, an Accredited Member of The National Council for Hypnotherapy, a LifeMapper Senior Therapist/Coach and a full member of the International Stress Management Association. Contact me for more information.

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A Mind to Ride - In Search of Magic

by Sue McIntyre - (published in 'Ride With Your Mind (Mary Wanless) Network News').

I wish I knew it. I really do! I’d be rich and you’d be happy. But the bad news is that, to the very best of my knowledge there is no single, magic solution to all the vast and myriad challenges that arise in the sport of horse riding. I’ve spent quite a lot of time presenting seminars to riders over the past few years and in common with many of the clients who I see in my private practice, lots of them hope for nothing short of a miracle. And they think that perhaps I have the answer. So that’s the bad news – for us both! I don’t. The good news is that you DO have the answer. Somewhere, tucked away in the depths of your knowledge, creativity, experiences and understandings is the perfect solution to your particular (and often unique) problem. More good news – you don’t have to make big changes to generate big results. People are very often surprised to discover that a relatively small shift can manifest in huge differences. That’s because we’re pre-programmed to look for evidence to support our beliefs. A process called ‘selective observation’ means for example, that if you get a new red car, you’ll suddenly notice all the other people who have that car, even though this information had completely escaped your attention previously. Similarly if you start with a positive belief you will consciously or subconsciously use the same process to verify that belief. The Positive Cycle

It will become a self-fulfilling prophecy because a positive belief will build a more positive attitude that in turn leads to more positive expectations. This expectation means that you will start noticing when you behave differently and more positively and so you start to notice the little improvements in performance. And the positive circle continues because as you notice these improvements, so more positive beliefs will grow. Great! But unfortunately (as we all know), it works the other way round too. Which is why, I suspect, that if I fall off once I seem to fall off (or nearly fall off) again quite soon afterwards. I sort of come to expect it having been reminded that unfortunately these things do sometimes happen and then - I do it again! Its almost as if some perverse part is looking for an opportunity or excuse to do it. Again. I guess that riders enjoying life in the positive circle do their very best to stay there and may not be interested in reading about how to escape from the negative circle. The reality of course is that wherever you are now, you could end up somewhere different very soon! Confidence is not a stable commodity (and yes, I do know it’s a dreadful pun!). Which circle you are in will depend to some extent on the chemicals released into the body during the so-called ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ response. This, as you may well know, is a primitive survival mechanism that allowed our ancestors to speed up their reactions in the face of threat or danger. In order to keep the process as fast as possible, information is taken into the brain from the five senses and bypassing our conscious, critical facilities is matched directly against our store of emotional memories to assess, amongst other things, whether or not something is a threat. Consequently, and most importantly for riders I think, our response will depend very much on our perception of the threat. Doctor Paul Martin in his book “The Sickening Mind” defines psychological stress as “the state arising when the individual perceives the demands placed on them exceed (or threaten to exceed) their capacity to cope”. It is psychological stress that gives rise to the ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ response and so this definition already offers us an opportunity – we can reduce the demands, increase the capacity to cope (maybe even both!) and we can work on an individual basis to change our perception of the threat. It has to be on an individual basis because everyone perceives threats differently because everyone has a different store of emotional memories to match them against. It would be a very strange rider indeed who didn’t experience some arousal of the ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ response at some time or another. In fact, don’t most of us enjoy at least an element of the challenge it presents for us – most of the time? Liz Morrison writing about the NLP Approach to Confident Riding suggests that “Perhaps one of the gifts a horse offers is a chance to explore constructive ways to meet danger and manage our private fears. Horses can give us confidence in our own innate resourcefulness, reminding us that we have the ability, intuition and flexibility to pass through challenging events”. It is our perception of the challenge that determines the cocktail of chemicals released into the body and these in turn determine our emotional response. Contrary to popular belief, it is noradrenaline (not adrenaline) which gives rise to those lovely feelings of excitement and drive as well as physical strength. For this reason noradrenaline has been named the ‘kick’ or high performance hormone which in large amounts stimulates special areas in the brain that produce a feeling of pleasure. In contrast, the feelings and sensations associated with high levels of adrenaline are not pleasant – these are the ones generating the need to flee, leaving us overwhelmed, inadequate and afraid. So if there is a secret, I think it has to be to intervene at the thin end of the wedge where its much easier to get a handle on our thoughts and emotions before they run riot with us. A good place to start would be to begin to explore, re-evaluate and if necessary modify our perceptions. A Mind to Ride offers you that opportunity – but the magic is YOU! In addition to specific skills in personal development and coaching, Sue has extensive experience as a private practitioner and an integrative skills base incorporating hypnotherapy, NLP, advice and guidance, counselling and stress management techniques. She is a LifeMapper Senior Therapist/Coach, a Supervisory Member of the Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy and an Accredited Member of The National Council for Hypnotherapy. For more information, contact me. Top of Page

World Cup Show Jumping - Bordeaux February 2005
by Sue McIntyre

Following my seminar with the International Showjump Judges Club at the World Cup in February, Ruth Loney who writes for the equestrian section of 'Farming Life' interviewed me. Here is a transcript of the interview.

Ruth: "Tell me a bit about yourself speaking in Bordeaux etc"

Sue: "Well, I gather the ISJC 'googled' me! As you probably know, they usually have seminars for their members about things like course building, veterinary issues and rule updates around their annual General Assembly. This year they decided to do something a bit different. They wanted someone who could help them with stress and conflict management but didn't think it would work unless the speaker also had a foot in the world of horses. I've been in practice since 1989 helping people to realise their personal, business and sporting potential (specialising in helping Equestrians) and up I popped.

I had some very positive feedback and a great time. They really are a super lot!"

Ruth: "And of course on 'A Mind to Ride' and anything else….."

Sue: "I started riding horses something like 18 years ago at about the same time that I started training in psychotherapy. I thought that it would be a good idea to have a hobby that got me exercising outside since I rather planned to spend my working life sitting still inside. I expected that the learning processes would run parallel. I didn't expect that I would end up using my training in hypnotherapy, counselling, stress management and personal development to help riders deal with the challenges of riding - but that's exactly what has happened! 'A Mind to Ride' is the result.

I'd had a fair bit of success in helping riders using hypnotherapy and had been thinking for some time that it would be a good idea to produce an hypnotherapy CD especially for equestrians. Some types of hypnotic suggestion work best by repetition and as the majority of riders don't have a lot of spare time (or spare cash!), it seemed like a time/cost effective solution. The drawback is that sometimes more work is needed than can be achieved simply by listening to a CD however good it is, so I felt that there would be limitations in only having one string to the bow.

Then I trained as a Life Coach with LifeMapper™. Life coaching is about helping people to get from where they are to where they want to be and at first I just saw it as another tool with which to help my clients. However, to the best of my knowledge, LifeMapper™ is unique in that it uses an interactive CD-ROM so that people can work independently. The auto profiling system of the LifeMapper™ Motivator allows clients to email their data file to me if they wish, so that I immediately have all the information I need to effectively help, advise and support them. And this can also be done at a distance, in the UK and abroad, by telephone or email. Hey! Here is the second string to the bow I thought! This complements an hypnotherapy CD perfectly. And what a fantastic thing for horse-riders who don't want to spend good riding time working on something they could do instead when it's icy, chucking it down with rain or dark! So I produced the 'Equinimity' self-hypnosis CD, put the two together and called it 'A Mind to Ride'. 'Equinimity' and 'LifeMapper™' are also available separately - you can buy them via my website at www.theconsultingrooms.co.uk"

Ruth: "What is the main benefit to riders using your expertise?"

Sue: "You should probably ask them that! Here's some of the feedback I've received about 'Equinimity'"

"I was just thinking I must get back in touch with you and thank you for the CD. I have already listened to it a few times and find it is very, very good. Every time I listen to it I awake feeling much more positive. Thank you."
Steve (UK)

" I used the Cd on quite a regular basis during the first few months and felt I have made real progress especially in my approach to dressage........... I had a super cross-country schooling a couple of weeks ago and will use my CD before this weekend and the next cross-country. "
Margaret (UK)

"I've stopped worrying about jumping while I'm at work now as well. I just go home and get on with it. Definitely an improvement. Thank you."
Jo (UK)

"YOUR CD IS WONDERFUL!, I know the confidence and new subconscious habits I gained from your CD made all the difference in the world. I AM riding every step (like my instructors always told me too), I am maintaining balance and impulsion, and I AM reminding myself that it's mostly mind over matter, and it all shows in my proud, confident posture."
Cathy (USA)

"I personally think the main benefit has to come from the confidence, congruity and focus that working with 'A Mind to Ride' can bring. Both the 'Equinimity' audio CD and the 'LifeMapper™' CD-ROM are aimed at enabling us to recognise and resolve our conflicts so that we can move forward with integrity and self-belief towards our goals, whatever they may be. When both parts of the mind work together, the potential is enormous (some would say unlimited!) but if there are conflicts where part wants to do one thing and another part wants to do something else entirely, each takes energy from the other. The result is a loss of focus, performance, motivation and commitment. In equestrian terms, its a bit like comparing the experience of those magical moments when horse and rider are in absolute harmony (i.e. 'getting it together') with the times where one has a completely different agenda to the other - and we all know how horrible that feels!"

Ruth: "Why do organisers use you for conflict management?"

Sue: "I think organisers, stewards and judges can find themselves confronted with conflictual situations which they may be ill-equipped to deal with. Working as they often do in a high-voltage environment where tensions and excitement are never that far from the surface, it's hardly surprising that sparks can fly from time to time. It would be unrealistic to expect otherwise but equally, it can be unrealistic to expect that everyone has the knowledge and skills to manage these situations effectively without some extra help. I see my job as that of enabling organisers to explore, discover and clarify ways of creating a mutually positive focus so that they can be confident, flexible and resourceful in resolving conflicts by generating win/win solutions.

I think they use me because I enjoy it and I'm good at it! It probably also helps that I'm well qualified to do the work. I'm a trained trainer and in addition to specific skills in personal development and coaching, I have extensive experience as a practitioner and an integrative skills base incorporating hypnotherapy, NLP, advice and guidance, counselling and stress management techniques. I also currently provide staff support services to two large local employers. So just about all of my training and all of my working life is about working with conflict. Come to think of it, maybe my horse 'Sid' has taught me more about conflict than anyone else so there must be a fair bit of it around in my leisure time too!"

Ruth: "Do you think riders who have dope tested positive can avail of you for help with their stressful situations?"

Sue: "Of course - although the perception of 'control' is a huge factor in determining the level of stress experienced in any situation and I assume that the riders would have had no control in this scenario. Several studies (which I can't quote off the top of my head) have shown evidence that in employment for example, those trapped in work over which they have no control are likelier to have heart attacks than top managers.

When working with people to help manage stress, I always prefer to encourage them to be proactive in preventing situations from becoming too challenging in the first place! You know, the old premise of 'prevention being better than cure'. Of course, this isn't always possible and sometimes the best you can do is deal with the stress that has been generated. Because stress is such an individual thing, there is no one-size-fits-all solution and my work in this case would depend to some extent on the situation and personality of the rider concerned."

Ruth: "Why should international riders have a therapist like you on board?"

Sue: "Well, Pippa Funnel has made no secret of the difference that it made for her so the evidence speaks for itself here I think! There is also evidence to be found in other sports - I was fascinated to watch Jonny Wilkinson's 'anchoring' technique during the Rugby World Cup for example.

I don't think anyone doubts that its tough at the top - hard to get there and hard to stay there too. Why not make the most of all the help that's available? I can for example, help riders to explore their personal resources for success and teach them how to utilise these to keep the competitive 'edge'. This might involve managing stress, re-defining goals, working to resolve conflicts (everyone has them!) or learning how to re-create the positive cycle when things go wrong (as they do!). Very simply, I can enable them to maintain a focused positive mental attitude so increasing motivation, self-belief and confidence and enhancing performance. What I really wouldn't want to do is ride their horses - when I saw that course at the World Cup, I was seriously impressed!

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A Mind to Ride – Mind over Matter

by Sue McIntyre MNCH (Acc); MISMA - (published in ‘West Country Riders’).

“Before something happens in the external world, it must first happen in the internal world”.

This is an article for all those riders like me whose confidence ebbs and flows and whose battle with their 'nerves' seems endless. I am not qualified to comment on the physical aspects of riding but I do have qualifications in hypnotherapy, counselling and coaching which can help me to make some sense of what happens under the rider's hat when riding. It’s the part that generates either your confidence or your anxieties, depending largely on how you use it!

First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling nervous on a horse. Lots of people feel nervous in situations which some riders might perceive as being much safer - think dentists, lifts, heights, motorways etc.! So resist the temptation to beat yourself up about it. Ask yourself instead whether feeling nervous actually improves your chances of survival on horseback. In most situations it does not because fear severely limits both the choice and speed of your responses. As human beings our primitive survival mechanism means that we tend to respond to danger with our own particular version of 'fight', 'flight' or 'freeze'. We all know that these sorts of responses together with innumerable variations of the foetal crouch do not actually help. So what might help?

Working within your personal comfort zone helps. Very simply there are three areas in which we can operate and they are the comfort zone, the stretch zone and the over-stretch zone. The basic principle is that we need to work mostly in the comfort zone, occasionally in the stretch zone and never in the over-stretch zone! (The same applies to your horse). In practical terms this means that if you only feel reasonably safe walking your horse in a quiet lane knowing that you could just about cope with the odd shy - do that! And keep on doing that until the odd shy seems nothing at all and one fine and sunny morning (no wind of course!) you suddenly decide that perhaps you could trot after all. Your comfort zone has then increased to incorporate the odd shy and your stretch zone has then become a trot. In my experience, the biggest destroyer of confidence is too many stretches - too many falls, too many near misses, perhaps even the odd rear and the next thing you know, you are over stretched and all your hard-won confidence has evaporated into the ether.

Except that it hasn't really, its just that your subconscious mind has imprinted lots of 'negative' experiences and each time these are triggered, you feel scared and when you feel scared, you stop actually riding your horse and become a rather ineffective passenger. Its useful to think of memories like mini-films stored in your mind. Each time our senses supply information to our brain, the information is matched against our store of films primarily to ascertain whether the sum of the information equals a threat to our survival. So if you have an experience on your horse which your brain interprets as 'threatening', each time either the same or sufficiently similar information is passed to your brain it is likely to activate the 'survival response' I mentioned earlier. When you are afraid, your attention becomes very focused and it is often difficult to pay attention to anything other than the object of your fear. The combination of these factors can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think it also helps to have some understanding of how the mind works. Most authorities agree that there are basically two parts to your mind. As an Hypnotherapist I tend to think of the "conscious" mind (situated on the left side of your brain) that deals with logical, rational thought and sophisticated language and the "subconscious" mind (situated on the right side of your brain), which basically deals with all the rest! The subconscious mind understands language in images (pictures) and stores all your memories, intuitions and conditioned responses (habits?). It is also very significant that the subconscious mind has no way of differentiating between what is real and what is imagined. The conscious mind has your willpower; the subconscious mind your imagination. Imagination is much more powerful than willpower and this is important so just in case you don't believe me, I'll prove it to you!

Just imagine that I have laid a very ordinary plank (like a floorboard) on your field and I ask you to walk along it. Could you? Chances are that you could manage that quite happily. Now I take exactly the same plank and suspend it thousands of feet in the air between two skyscrapers. Are you happy to walk it now? If not, why not? It’s exactly the same plank! Because of your imagination. It would not matter how much willpower and logic you applied, in your mind's eye you would probably see yourself wobbling and falling off.

So it can be helpful to keep a check on your imagination. I know that it can be very easy to get caught up in the "what if" syndrome. Remember that your subconscious mind has no way of knowing whether the images and mini-films you are creating are real or imagined. "What if he runs out?" "What if he bolts?" "What if he bucks?" No wonder you feel scared if your horse has already bucked 20 times and then bolted off down the beach - without you even getting him out of the stable! As far as your subconscious mind is concerned, the worst has just happened and your body and mind are reacting accordingly. Beware particularly of doing this sort of thing when you get "stretched" on a ride. I rode down a drove with a friend last Saturday and when we turned to retrace our tracks, the horses became quite excited. My imagination began to run riot and before I knew it, we had galloped off, jumped a six-foot gate and fallen in the ditch etc.etc.etc! Scary or what?

Thankfully, the imagination works the other way around as well. I think it was Linford Christie who said that he never ran a race he had not run many times before. He meant of course that he ran it through in his mind in the way in which he hoped to run it when he competed. Hypnotherapists call this 'positive future pacing'. Muhammad Ali was a great advocate of the technique. Set yourself realistic goals and imagine yourself achieving them. Pay particular attention to the detail of what you will see, hear and feel when you get where you want to be. If you have a problem with this, experiment with riding 'as if' - you are brave, Mary King (or William Fox-Pitt!), an apparently fearless friend or whatever.

These techniques together with a lot of encouragement from my instructors and friends, have helped keep me in the saddle (literally) and keep me riding - through four riding holidays, through numerous fun rides and long-distance hacks, over the odd jump or two and in several local dressage competitions. I even won a dressage class once! Magic.

I wouldn't mind betting that the overwhelming difference between you and more confident riders is only the way in which you use what's under your hat. Enjoy your riding.

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A Mind to Ride - Resourceful Riding
by Sue McIntyre - (published in ‘The Hypnotherapy Journal’).

I started riding horses sixteen years ago at about the same time that I started training to be a hypnotherapist. I thought that it would be a good thing to have a hobby that got me exercising outside since I rather planned to spend my working life sitting still inside. I expected that the learning processes would run parallel. I didn’t expect that I would end up specialising in using my training in hypnotherapy, counselling and personal development to help riders deal with the challenges of riding – but that’s exactly what has happened! A Mind to Ride is the result.

Horses are not motorbikes

It would be a big mistake to think that riding a horse is just about climbing on, sitting and steering. Horses are not motorbikes – they have a mind of their own! Mostly they are generous and indulge their riders by responding predictably to tension on a rein or the squeeze of a leg or a shift of weight in the saddle. Sometimes they ignore all of that and do pretty much as they please or their natural survival instincts take over and they respond just as their untamed ancestors would have done hundreds of years ago. Horses are physically and mentally adapted for life as a browser/grazer on an open plain or mountain. They do not eat meat and are not hunters – on the contrary, they are almost totally defenceless and are designed for flight rather than fight. This is probably the single most important influence in their psychological make-up. A horse must be constantly alert to danger and will run away first and think about it later.

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