In order to accomplish anything, you must first have a goal. You must decide what you want to become or what you want to achieve. For riders, that often is best accomplished by watching other successful riders – mirroring the image of the rider they want to become.
Find someone who rides the way you would like to ride; someone that achieves the standard that you find ideal. Look for images of the rider you aspire to be like and post them in your tack room where you see it every time you go to ride. Watch videos of their winning runs, post photos where you will see them daily and remind yourself often of your role model.
Without a goal, something to aim for, you will fall short of fulfilling your desires. Finding a rider whose form you would like to mimic gives you a mental image to plant in your head. As you ride or practice, imagine you are that person. Keep the image of the ideal rider vividly in your head. Imagine what that rider would do, how they would hold themselves and how they would act.
It is imperative that you keep this mental image alive and think of it often – even when you are not at the barn. The more often you can imagine your winning run the more quickly you will find yourself achieving the desired outcome – to ride like your role model.
Don’t be envious of people with greater skills than yours. Instead, watch what they do, imitate them and have a little fun while you are doing it. Recently while at a clinic and talking about how to improve student’s Showmanship scores, one woman demonstrated her “runway walk”. Everyone laughed. Students imitated one individual or another and poked fun at each other in a light hearted atmosphere.
After our lunch talk about Showmanship with the fun demo where everyone could laugh and practice their “runway walk”, students had a pleasant image in their mind – someone fresh to mimic. Rather than begrudging an accomplished showman, students admiringly practiced and tried to create a successful Showmanship walk of their own. They indeed walked with more style, purpose and presence when we practiced that afternoon.
Sometimes, a person does not know what they want to do or accomplish until they see it. Horse shows, have hooked us, sucked us in. Each of us went to a horse show, observed others showing their horse and decided that is what we wanted to do. Observation is a proven method of learning. According to Albert Bandura, it is based on our ability to pay attention to something, remember then reproduce what was noticed and deliver the behavior with improved probability in a similar environment.
Next time you go for your lesson, attend a clinic or go to a horse show, pay attention to details about the winners. Establish good models to emulate. Keep their image in your mind as you practice – each and every time. Enjoy yourself as you impersonate winners. And know that you are one step closer to being the one to imitate!
About Stephanie Lynn: Professional Horseman Stephanie Lynn coached her first AQHA World Champion in 1988. She has since coached, trained and shown World, Congress and Honor Roll horses across disciplines. She is a judge for AQHA, NSBA and APHA and has judged World Championship shows for each association. Most recently, Stephanie is the author of The Good Rider Series and A Lifetime Affair: Lessons Learned Living My Passion. The Good Rider Series is a library of resource material that is both practical and applicable in the barn and show ring for riders. Stephanie can always be reached through her website: http://www.stephanielynn.net to answer your questions, schedule a clinic or lesson.
