How would it be to ride calmly and confidently, more of the time or all of the time? How would it be to communicate to your horse that they’re safe and to be calm and confident too? This is a method borrowed from hypnotherapy, it’s quick and easy and works on multiple levels to make you feel calmer.
If your horse spooks or is generally spooky and on their toes, ask yourself, “What was I thinking and feeling when my horse did X?” Obviously, there are horses who very much have minds of their own and misbehave with even professional riders; there are partnerships that are far from harmonious. There are also very real and frightening situations where a horse can be forgiven for misdemeanours. But it would also make sense to find out what was going through our own minds at the same time.
When I started hacking my horse Lottie out after a long break and to give Lottie the best confidence, it was important for me to be calm and confident. I decided that as soon as we left the comfort of the driveway, I’d use hypnotic language to maintain a positive, calm and assertive state in myself and communicate this to Lottie. I did this using relaxing words and language and I probably sounded more than a little mad, clip-clopping down the lane, using slow, relaxing words.
I remember that it was working well until we had to pass a dead badger lying on the side of the road. Lottie smelt it well before I could see it, she carried on walking, but more and more slowly, requiring me to squeeze her to keep her going forward. As we neared the dead badger, she stopped and started to walk backwards – not ideal with ditches on either side of the lane. I couldn’t afford to lose my calmness, as that would ruin everything we’d been working on. I asked her to come to a halt.
When she was standing perfectly still, I spoke to her, using hypnotic language. I turned her to face the onward journey, gave her a moment, asked her to walk on and she did! All the time, I was telling her, in a slow rhythm, “That’s right, that’s right, that’s right,” She wasn’t overjoyed walking past the rotting animal – neither was I! – but she did it without any backing up or worse!
How to use relaxing language yourself
If you’d like to improve your hacking confidence, try a little hypnotic language yourself. Here are some examples of the types of phrases you can use. Use a slower, lower voice than usual.
- That’s right
- I’m all right now and now and now and now and now and now………
- Breathe in calm [take a breath in], breathe out nerves [breathe out]
If you want to add a little extra, you could try breathing deeply, breathing into your pelvis, breathing into your lower back, with each breath feeling more and more calm and confident (you can also breathe in time to the horse’s footfall, see if you can build it up to breathe in for all 4 feet to move, then out for all 4 feet).
First of all, try the phrases when you’re on your own, away from the yard and sitting quietly at home. Close your eyes as you practise and decide which phrase you like best. Begin to notice how the words have an effect on your breathing, heart rate and busyness of mind. Choose one phrase of mine or one of your own, something you can remember and call on later.
When you’re ready, have a go whilst riding.
What you’re doing inside your mind
You’re giving your conscious, logical mind something to do – you’re remembering and saying a phrase out loud. This stops the self-talk from being predominant. You’re also reiterating to your unconscious mind that all’s well. It’s a self-soothing method for the parts of the mind that might otherwise spring into anxiety and catastrophising.
You are also anchoring yourself in the present moment. Anxiety is all about thinking the worst of the future and being in the moment prevents you from thinking ahead. In this way, those negative anticipatory thoughts and feelings are dampened.
Other times your hypnotic phrase could be used
It’s not only riding that benefits from these phrases and softening of your body and calming of your mind. You can even use these phrases grooming or leading your horse – and as an aside, most animals and particularly cats, seem to love hypnotic phrases too!!
This post was written by Tracey Cole, Mindset Therapy & Coaching.
