Craving Control in Equestrian Sport

danger but this isnt true. 
Uncertainty simply means possibility. When we dont know what is going to happen that means there is an amazing range of possible outcomes from terrible to wonderful and everything in between. If you dont know how high your horse can jump yet then he may not get as far as you hope or he might surpass what you currently imagine is possible. Facing the uncertainty of the future can be scary if we believe we need certainty to be okay. It is only through accepting that we can never be truly certain about the future and recognising that we can thrive without certainty and in fact we have been doing this our entire lives that we can start to be free of our fear of losing control.
Form a realistic understanding of what you control and what you do not. 
Most individuals who have an unhealthy relationship with control sit on the extreme ends of the control spectrum which ranges from zero control to absolute control. On the zero control end they decide that one cannot control anything in life and accepting that is the only way to be okay. Those on the absolute control end decide that one must control everything to be okay. Neither extreme works very well because reality sits somewhere in the middle. Yes we cant control a lot of the things in our lives. But instead of letting that overwhelm you the most helpful thing is to recognise that the short list of things we do fully control is powerful. 
What if we became exceptionally good at putting our focus and energy into this short list instead of getting constantly distracted by the things we cant control? When we control the controllables we can have an amazing amount of positive influence over the quality of our rides and our lives.
Here is a list of things we DO NOT control but which often distract us
The weather
The thoughts and opinions of the people watching us ride
The decisions and actions of other riders sharing the arena
Our horses reactions and decisions
How this moment will impact our future possibilities
Past events and experiences.
Here are the things we DO control that we benefit from focusing on while riding
Our thinking. Think about what you want to have happen instead of what you dont want to have happen. I want to ride a balanced trot through the corner instead of