Confidence: Get it - Keep it!

an assertive attitude and excellent timing. Once you have created your list get to work. Like the aspiring actor you will need rehearsal after rehearsal to familiarize yourself with each of your skills and incorporate them into your routine.
That kind of familiarity will bring you confidence. But remember it will not guarantee that you will perform the skill perfectly each time. Distractions mistakes and other things will happen to disrupt your confidence. In fact you could say that by its very nature horse sport can be a real confidencezapper. Top riders have days when their horses dont cooperate. Many leading riders have more losses than wins in a season. There are just too many variables in competitive horse sport to make anything a sure thing.
Keeping It
Once you secure confidence dont think your work is done. Your confidence will require upkeep and this is where your mental skills come into play. There are undesirable mental habits that can prevent you from keeping the confidence you have so carefully earned.
One of the greatest thieves of sport self esteem is the habit of clinging stubbornly to the idea of perfection. Some riders believe if they are not reaching for perfection their goals are not high enough. The truth is perfection is not a high goal its an impossible one.
To illustrate this point I often will ask people in my office to demonstrate what perfection is. I say Lets imagine we are at the world chair sitting championships. Everything hinges on you being able to sit perfectly. How are you going to do that? They inevitably look at me like Ive lost my mind but we always have a good discussion after this. There is no sitting perfectly there is sitting well and this can mean many different things. 
Similarly there is no perfect performance. Each of your performances will be different by virtue of the variables involved. You cannot control everything so dont even try. Aim for excellence in your skills and learn to trust your instincts. These are things you can control.
Fortunately you can control your thoughts. High level athletes have developed precise skill in this area and are very discriminating about which thoughts they allow to dictate their training and performance. This means having a keen sense of self and of personal thought patterns. It also means knowing how to turn the unhelpful patterns into productive ones and being aware enough