A late post and a new release

by Kate Lattey

This post is a little behind schedule - sorry about that! I've been away all weekend at a New Zealand Pony Club Assn Coaching Conference, which was alternately freezing cold (in the indoor) and stiflingly warm (in the classroom).

In amongst the practical coaching sessions and some very informative talks on equine nutrition and physical wellbeing, we had a session with Andrew Scott, a former international eventing rider turned coach and motivational speaker.

(Note: It's currently quarter past 1 in the morning and I am in the process of releasing my latest book, so this is going to be brief.)

Here are a few of the gems of wisdom that Andrew passed along during his talk:

Everyone's brain can be divided into three essential parts - the "Chimp Factor" (our ape brain, which controls our survival mechanism - like a virus that overrides our computer system), the Human Side (which is what life has taught us and allows us to override the chimp brain - like apps installed to combat the virus), and the Computer (which stores all the accumulated data). The Chimp will always react 20x faster than the Human side!

Riding nerves can generally be divided into three categories:
1. Fear of injury.
2. Fear of failure.
3. Fear of embarrassment.
(And sometimes all of them at once!)

Horses generally can't sense the difference between nerves and anger from their rider (I thought that was fascinating!)


So here are some apps to install, if you have a tendency towards nervousness:

Smile when you're nervous - it releases endorphins.

Hyperventilate - it will settle your brain (!)

You attract that which you concentrate on most. Focus on good feelings.

NEVER GIVE UP.


And remember:

Success has very little to do with talent. - Andrew Nicholson.

Courage and bravery is not the absence of fear, but the acquired ability to move beyond fear.
- Sam Scott

And on that note...it's time to release FOUR FAULTS, which is all about a young rider struggling to overcome her fears. Seems like a timely release...but I'm heading to bed. Hopefully I'll have a new book online by the morning!