Reframing an Event
What does the rider do if the last ride was the worst ride of their life? Refrain from negative self-talk. What benefit is it to the rider to talk down to themselves? It doesn’t make a better rider or change a previous event. Identify what went wrong on the horse and the rider’s part. Then picture the event multiple more times, but each time, reframe the event to have the best outcome possible. This will decrease the chance of the same event happening twice because the rider is anticipating it. For example, if a horse tends to buck at a specific place on the trail, the rider will always anticipate this. The rider’s heart rate and hand tension may increase causing the horse to feel anxious and resulting in a buck. If the rider pictures the horse continually going past this point calm without anticipating a buck, the horse won’t feel any tension and may not buck.
