Rider and writer Melinda Folse is just like most of us: juggling work, family, and horses is standard procedure, and with all that she’s trying to balance in her life,...
One of my students came up to me a few weeks ago and started listing her goals for the season. Being a goal oriented person myself, I was intrigued. Claire...
“No matter where you go... there you are.” This quote actually comes to us from Confucius, the well known Chinese teacher, editor, politician and philosopher who lived between 551 and...
We all blame “habits” for our behavior, both good and bad. And most of us understand that the more we do a certain behavior or think a particular thought, the...
When I was fifteen, my trainer pulled my mother aside and recommended that I see a sports psychologist. She said I was a much more capable rider than I gave...
You may think confidence is something you either have or you don’t, but that’s not true. Confidence comes from taking risks, failing, learning, and trying again. It comes from practicing,...
We have all been in a trust exercise at some point in our lives. Your boss gathers your coworkers, or the RA your freshman year of college gathers your fellow undergrads,...
You may have heard the expression “practice makes perfect." You may have also heard this clarified to mean "perfect practice makes perfect." In other words, you have to watch carefully...
Expectations matter. Amy Cuddy's viral Ted Talk on “power posing” left millions clamoring: simply raising our arms above our head can trick our brains into feeling more powerful. We can fake it until...
People watching you. people evaluating you. YOU in the spotlight. This type of fear is a common performance fear. For some, it’s intense and debilitating. For others, an occasional nuisance. So what can...
When I feel let down by friendships, the misunderstandings and absence and one-sidedness, this is where I go. When I feel like my children are suffocating me—the crying and the...
I’ve got a confession to make: I’ve been holding out on you. There is one simple exercise that I uncovered a while ago and haven’t shared here. And it’s a...
Dealing with anxiety at a show, or in any context for that matter, requires the effective application of certain skills. As much as many of us would love a quick...
I do not believe in the old adage that is often said by riding instructors all over the world when a student falls of their horse. “If you fall, you...