May 29, 2025 
There is a moment that high performance mental coach Dirk Stroda has learned to recognize on the face of his clients.
It usually happens at a critical point in competition when the stakes couldn’t be higher—perhaps the night before an Olympic Games. In that instant, an equestrian athlete’s long-honed resolve might begin to waiver ever so slightly, letting the weight of the moment rush in.
That’s when Stroda uses a technique that seems counterintuitive but has proven to be reliably effective.
“The expectations are high; from the team, from the coaches, from the national federations. When the stress gets, really, really, big, and takes him or her away from what is going on in the moment, it’s always good to remember your first pony ride.”
Simple as it may be, the emotions we experienced the first time we swung a leg over a horse rarely fade, even decades in the rearview. “That was a moment of love. That was the moment when the horse [“bug”] really got us, and now we’re here at [a major competition],” Stroda explained.
“So you capture that emotional anchor from years and years ago, and transport that back into reality, in that moment, and then things look way better and less stressful.”
After all, love of the horse is central to equestrian sport. And while only a handful of us will ever scale the heights of the championship level, remembering our original “why” at key moments is a trick that every rider’s can add to their mental playbook.
