Show Reports - Part 2 - In good times and in bad...

Saturday we were heading East close to my parent’s home for the next horse show. I felt awkward in the sense of having had two lessons with a new trainer and working so much within the last few weeks on my posture that I completely lost my feeling. Anyway, I was brave enough to declare entry to two tests (first and second level) and the plan was to start the first level test around 3 pm and the second level around 5 pm. At the registration office I was told that I need to ride the other second level test in case that I want to take part in the trophy. So far so good I was all of a sudden stressed to get Hafl ready (and right then it started to rain heavily!) and warm him up for a test never ridden before nor ever trained. So I was completely nervous but still gave it a try and well you know there are times when you feel like YAY and in reality it is NAY. That was the case in that test. I could follow judge’s comments in the protocol afterwards but still – I had such a different feeling. Whatever, there was not much time to think about it as there was already the second test, this time first level. I thought that this should be an easy one but again – we failed. Oh yes, we did. In a horrible way. One can only be ashamed. You better start crying now. Or stop competing. Yes, these were my first thoughts when I brought back home worse results that EVER in 2013.

Last time we had such MODERATE results back in May 2012

What was going on?! I was training enough, training went better from day to day and still – there seemed to be a major gap! I was confused. There were mistakes in the protocol described that I haven’t seen before and the marks in the first level test are mysterious to me too. I haven’t seen a protocol of that though as I forgot to collect it. Anyway, the only conclusion can be that I have not been training enough. Not in a physical way but in a mental way. Right now, my thoughts on my riding are rather negative (i.e. very negative!).

On this weekend, I plan to show again but you can imagine that my thoughts are very worrisome on my performance abilities. So what I need to concentrate on this week is to work on my inner pictures of us riding. Mental training is a major issue for many top sportsmen and athletes but it is not only good for them, also amateurs can benefit from it. I will start a new series on tips and trick on mental training with this.

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