HOSTED by Upper Echelon Academy, I was part of a public panel discussion around the role of psychology in show jumping. Joined by current team World Equestrian Games gold medallists, Laura Kraut and Adrienne Sternlicht as well as sports psychologist Dr Jen Speisman in Wellington, Florida, we explored how these two athletes mentally manage both preparation and the aftermath of competition.

Preparation is something many of us take for granted as being well organised. However there is much more that can be done to mentally and physically put you in the right place to perform.

Eating correctly on the day of show, not just timing wise but nutritionally well can actually have a big impact on how mentally strong you feel. When you are eating healthily, mentally it can make you feel more awake, more in control and more prepared.

The same goes for exercising. Many top riders will now go to a spin class or for a quick run at 6am before a day at the show. It not only wakes them up but mentally releases endorphins to put them in a better mood.

Feeling like you’ve already achieved something is a great confidence booster. For Kraut, exercise has become an important part of her week which she described as helping her to feel both mentally and physically stronger.

Sternlicht and Kraut also discussed the importance of doing different forms of exercise other than riding. It’s a ‘mental break’ from the sport and can be one of the greatest builders of resilience.

Building up yourself as a person and not just a rider is incredibly important.

The sport has changed. The athletes that do well tend to be people that think independently, are not afraid to make their own decisions and, in my opinion, the more willing you are to express yourself as a person, the more it tends to reflect in the saddle. Having outside interests allows you switch off from the sport and then switch back on recharged.

SOCIAL media is a real talking point within younger generations. I personally have a love-hate relationship with the online world.

Social media is a great connector and can be a great confidence giver. It allows you to share your success and many of us relish the positive feedback from our friends or followers. However, as quickly as social media can give us a confidence boost, it can also take it away.

Socal media is undoubtedly a distraction in our daily lives and many hours can be lost scrolling and searching. Many riders use it as a distraction before they jump to ‘escape’ the moment, elevate stress or pass the time.

Unfortunately, this often has the opposite effect.

Firstly, the brain is receiving enormous levels of data from the information offered online. It’s a sensory overload and can often leave the brain feeling exhausted and over stimulated.

Adrienne Sternlicht talked openly about her use of social media. She deleted all her apps during the WEG to minimise distractions. She said this was necessary to stay in the moment and to focus on what was in front of her, not what others were doing. Sternlicht still goes through phases of deleting apps when she feels like she’s not ‘as in the game’ as she should be.

Kraut, while enjoying social media says she would never consider using it before jumping a class – riding is her job and that’s where her focus should be.

From my perspective, distracting yourself before competing can be a useful thing to do if you have a long wait ahead of you.

It can prevent you from overthinking or getting stressed. However, be smart about your choices. Steer clear of overstimulation and opt for watching a movie on Netflix or one of your favourite series. These very small changes can have huge impacts on your mental performance.

The second issue in relation to social media is the emotional impact it can trigger. No one ever feels better after spending half an hour on Instagram or Facebook. It causes us to compare our daily lives to the highlight reel of others.

Often riders describe feelings of inadequacy, self-consciousness and even self-loathing having looked at others edited and filtered photos. It can put pressure on us to create our own highlight reel – whether that’s to look or dress a certain way or perform to a standard deemed social-media-worthy.

Focusing on others social groups also effects younger people who worry they aren’t having as good or as fun a time as their friends appear to be and this can bring great feelings of isolation or loneliness.

While this sounds quite dramatic, next time you’re on Instagram, check in with how you actually feel. Is it jealousy? Are you subconsciously criticising someone else or yourself? These emotions and thoughts are not helpful on show day, save it for the truck home.

AS much as preparation is important we must also think about how we analyse after competing. After we do anything in life there is an internal dialogue in our heads working out what went well and what didn’t as well as how it makes us feel.

This internal conversation we have with ourselves can be both very useful and very debilitating.

This was a huge talking point for both athletes. Laura Kraut and Adrienne Sternlicht talked extensively about how they deal with the aftermath of mistakes on course.

Both acknowledged that they and all other top riders make a multitude of mistakes on a daily basis.

Kraut talked about how she often does things that she could feel embarrassed or frustrated about but she ‘chooses not to’. This is where the word choice becomes very important.

We all have a choice how we talk with ourselves after we make a mistake. We can choose to let ourselves dwell on the moment, create stories about what others must think or ruminate and punish ourselves for our stupidity. Or we can choose not to.

Both athletes absolutely choose not to get stuck on the moment or punish themselves. Kraut even called it the ‘Nick Skelton Rule’ – you’ve got 20 minutes to be upset, angry or embarrassed and then the moment is gone, forget it and don’t mention it.

From a psychological perspective, holding on to mistakes or negative emotions has a strong physical impact and will naturally create tension in your body. Tension is something a horse can immediately pick up on.

Letting go of mistakes and learning to move to the next horse or next round without self-judgement is a skill many top riders continue to work on.

With so many questions from the audience on the night it was clear that the topics raised were very relevant to both younger and older generations.

When things are not going well we tend to check our horse, change our bit or blame things beyond our control. We ourselves are often the very last thing we think to analyse.

Both WEG athletes talked about creating routines and habits around their behaviour, thoughts and actions that have made huge career enhancing changes for the better.

No current situation has to be accepted, there is always a way to build a better well-oiled system.