Have you noticed a lack of confidence with you and/or your horse following an accident? Perhaps you have lost a horse and are returning to riding on a new horse but struggling to feel that same connection. Hypnotherapy can help you to overcome these issues and enjoy riding and being with your horse again.
Why am I so Scared to ride my horse?
Anxiety around horse riding as actually a very common problem and as is typical for generalised anxiety it can look different for everyone, Some of the more common issues riders face are:
Feeling anxious when riding on the road
Worrying about getting hurt falling off
Fear from a previous accident
Experiencing a panic attack while riding
Overthinking and not being able to jump
Having had time out of riding and worrying about returning
Worrying about messing up in front of people
Performance anxiety
Our mind has a tendency to try and protect us from negative things happening, it does this by remembering or trying to imagine what might happen if something bad did occur. This results in negative forecasting or thinking and the feelings that accompany this are anxious ones.
So anxiety can creep up on us and suddenly even though you might have been riding and even competing professionally for years you suddenly find yourself feeling anxious and losing confidence.
I know that you really want to enjoy your horse riding, you have spent many a cold morning getting up early to go and feed and care for your horse, you have invested so much time and money as it is your passion in it. BUT.... suddenly you find your confidence has suffered whether from a fall, a runaway, being kicked or hurt by your horse.
If you start to experience anxiety at the mere thought of riding or even when you are with your horse, this is going to seriously effect your excitement and pleasure and possibly put you off riding. Some find that the relationship with the horse is hard to get back, your horse will certainly pick up on the anxiety, your body language and connection.
How Hypnotherapy can help with anxiety in horse riding?
Rather than imagining the negative we will use positive visualisation to imagine the way that we would like the experience to go. Using visualisation is shown to have beneficial effects on sports performance with many professional athletes turning to hypnotherapy and visualisation to help them achieve success.
Visualisation is best when it is vivid and detailed, so imagining every detail from the feeling of the air moving past your face and the ground beneath the horse, the sounds of yours and your horses breathing, the beating of your heart. All of these senses help add to the experience. It is better to imagine it as if it is happening now in the present moment, and going through all the steps of the process, trying to feel that same sensation and feeling you get in real life.
Other techniques involve shifting focus using mindfulness, rather than feeling anxious we want to bring the attention and awareness into your breathing, noticing the rise and fall of your chest the cool air on the inhale and warm exhale, even saying breathe in, breathe out in your mind. This helps with getting out of the noise of your head and the distractions both of your thoughts or concerns of being watched or feeling self conscious.
I use something called an anchor which is where we squeeze a part of our body to invoke a practiced state, so a positive memory or an imagined outcome and when repeating this while in a relaxed state such as self hypnosis we are conditioning our brain to learn the response.
I have helped clients who have experienced bad falls and/or been hurt and lost their confidence in themselves, got stuck in their own heads, the horse has felt the anxiety or lack of trust meaning they have struggled to enjoy riding again and stopped competing.
My clients go on to feel the way they used to about riding, enjoy taking their horse out and starting to compete again.
Results are not guaranteed and as with any therapy your participation and dedication is directly related to the results you achieve.
If you would like a free call to discuss how I can support you to regain confidence and reduce anxiety horse riding then get in touch.
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