Tonya Johnston – Mental Skills Coach

Mental Skills as an Equestrian

What am I thinking about? How am I feeling? What intention do I have?

Week six of the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge was one of my favorite weeks thus far. Though mental skills is not a chapter in the study guide, Kristin and I felt that this is a huge part of being an equestrian. In our sport, we really tend to focus on our horse and what we are producing rather than where we, as riders, are mentally.  Tonya Johnston, mental skills coach based out of Northern California, graciously took the time out of her busy schedule to FaceTime our girls and talk to them about mental skills of an equestrian. In the 30 minutes we had Tonya online, we all learned SO much and it was perfect timing with horse show season right around the corner (we left for a show the next day!).

Each of us took home something so vastly different as we are all unique riders and have different strengths and weaknesses. Here is a recap on how Tonya helped me and how I was able to quickly put everything I learned to use – within 24 hours – as well as skills she covered to overall help all riders.

Confidence + Accomplishment + Trust = C.A.T.

As we all know, Cat is the center of my world. When reading through Tonya’s book we were prompted to create a motivation statement by writing down everything we feel and strive to be as an equestrian. We were then asked to narrow everything down and pick three words that stood out to create a motivation statement. Coincidentally, my three words spelled out Cat (totally not on purpose!).

Here’s how I came up with C.A.T.:

• Confidence: When asked “what type of rider do I want to be?”, the word confident instantly pops into my mind. But, not only to I want to be a confident rider, I want my confidence to be a part of Cat and a part of our partnership. If I can ride ever step, every turn and every jump with confidence, then I know I’m doing the best I possibly can and providing Cat with the support she needs to perform her best.
• Accomplishment: This is the feeling I get every time I step foot into the arena. I have accomplished SO much with Cat over the last 12.5 years and every single day I’m with her is an accomplishment. It’s more than winning, it’s more than showing, and it’s more than riding. Over the last 12.5 years, Cat and I graduated high school, college, grad school, been married, moved to Colorado; all of that is an accomplishment we achieved together. She helps me through the best of days, worst of days and loves me unconditionally. That’s the biggest accomplishment of them all.
• Trust: Trust is the baseline of my partnership with Cat. She can be complex, sensitive, and temperamental, but we trust each other with all that we have. With our trust, we can truly be anything we want to be as a pair. Whether it’s a distance I don’t see to a long approach oxer or that rabbit in the tall grass on a trail ride, Cat and I trust each other so much that everything seems, feels and is possible.

Through confidence, trust and reminders that we can accomplish whatever we set our hearts to, Cat and I are unstoppable. We are the perfect pair for each other and nothing with ever come between us.

Know Yourself – Most Important Pieces of Mental Skills

Tonya spoke about the most important pieces of our mental skills as equestrians:

• Get to know yourself
• Build your awareness
  • What am I aware of that I know I can do well?
• Handle the horse show as an opportunity to go demonstrate your strengths
  • What is going well in my training?
• The horse show is simply an extension of the things we’re doing well with at home
  • It’s just more riding!
• What has been going well and what do I feel comfortable with bringing to the show?
  • Keep it simple and focus on your strengths!
• Find something small to direct your energy towards

Performance Goals

Each of us have a couple of things we are working on in our riding. Performance goals give you a place to put your energy towards, giving you something to feel good about that’s in your control. They’re something small and manageable that you can wrap your arms around. These are things we know and we’ve done before – something we know we can bring to the show ring with us. Performance goals give us more confidence and comfort in ourselves – we own them and they are always in our control. Tonya had each of us write down 2-3 of our performance goals (performance goals must always be positive!). Here are my three with Cat:

• Get. It. Done. – land from the jump and get Cat back so we can relax
• Straighten left wrist to keep a straight line to Cat’s mouth
• Relax through the turn – let Cat use herself

Be Present in Every Single Step

Where and when do I want to remind myself of my performance goals? Create a checkpoint. Have a place, away from the jumps, where you shrink that performance goals down into something “bite size”, small and easy to remember . This will have your focus stay on point and you’ll stay more in the moment. When you really think about it, all our job is in the show ring is to stay in the moment and ride what you have – that’s the most you can hope for yourself. Being present every single step is really the key and checkpoints will help with that focus. Ride the rhythm and focus on the goals that you know and trust.

You Get to Create Your Own Mental Approach

Yes, nerves are real and nerves are perfectly normal. But how can we use our nerves and put that energy into something positive? I don’t know about everyone else, but those few seconds when I sit at the back gate before I walk into the ring, butterflies are fluttering hard in my stomach. But with Tonya’s mental skills approach to nerves, I learned to redirect that nerve into positive energy.

This past weekend I was showing at The Colorado Horse Park and those butterflies were dancing and prancing. But, I walked into the ring and used the dancing and prancing to keep my left wrist straight – focusing all of the energy to that straight line to Cat’s mouth. Next thing I knew, the dancing and prancing butterflies were no longer in my stomach and I was relaxed and breathing. When I relax and breath – Cat relaxes and breaths! What a concept, huh? We get to create our mental approach – this is why being aware of ourselves is key!

Find that Familiar Feeling

It’s okay to acknowledge your fears. For me, it’s watching Kristin put the jumps up in the warm up ring. In the show ring – height isn’t an issue. But in warm-up, it looks monstrous! But Tonya gave me great pointers to use the energy from that “fear”:

• Don’t pretend that it’s not happening – it’s ok to acknowledge the height
• What helps me do that well? Pick your two answers that you know you can control – sit up? Open your shoulders?

When you feel like you’re out of control, switch to something you can control to succeed and find that familiar feeling. Use the time in the warm-up ring to not only warm up your horse physically and mentally, but to warm up yourself mentally, too. Have that positive expectation and add it to the equation. Focus one what you feel and what you trust.

Visualization is Key to Focus

Visualization gives you ownership. It all starts at the beginning when you learn your course – visualize it as if you are riding. Where is your checkpoint? Where will you take the large exhale? Does it help to draw your course? Maybe ride it on foot? Find what works best for your own ride. Visualize your plan so that it’s a part of your course and a part of your plan. Learn your course and walk your course with the presence that you want to carry in the ring with your horse. Visualization is key to building your focus. If you can visualize every step of your course, you’re so much closer to staying focused all the way around the course, too. But always remember to visualize for effectiveness, not perfection.

Mental Skills for Being Happy and Successful with Your Horse

I truly encourage all equestrians to read Tonya’s Book: Inside Your Ride, Mental Skills for Being Happy and Successful with Your Horse. It’s worth every penny. With Tonya’s 30 minutes of help just before our show, I noticed a HUGE difference in my mental game throughout the entire week. I was more relaxed and focused on what I could control. The jumps in the warm up ring didn’t give me the fear that they did before because I knew how to manage that feeling. Those butterflies? They were directed to other places. Relaxing? That totally happened!

After speaking with Tonya, everything Cat and I worked on all winter came together in the ring. I could focus and give Cat the confident, trustworthy ride she loves. Every stride, every turn, every jump was an accomplishment. I enjoyed every single second in the show ring and felt completely in control of my mental game so that I could perform my absolute best for Cat. Having these mental skills made the biggest difference in the world and I am so grateful for Tonya’s 30 minutes!