Relaxation for Riders: Learn to Chill Out!

If you are like many riders there are times when you wish you could relax on command. Those are the times when your nerves are making your head spin and your stomach is impersonating a tsunami or when your horse is so tense and fresh he is practically vibrating. Of course its very difficult to will yourself into a pleasant lull when you most need to. Fortunately you can learn how to truly relax your body so you can push the relax button in times of stress. It just takes a little work. Before we get to technique consider the myriad of reasons this psychological skill is worth investing in. 

Firstly your body connects you to your horse. All sports are about the power of the body and some require more finesse. The latter is true of horse sports. It can be compared to practicing your diction in order to communicate distinctly with other people.
For riders the most important benefit of learning the skill of managing your body is the improvement in the feel or connection with your horse. Excess tension in your body interferes with the communication between you and your horse. To communicate clearly you need to remove that interference which can be accomplished by regular practice of relaxation strategies. The payoff is more horserider conversations free of conflicting messages that may confuse aids.
A second important reason has to do with the effect that a prolonged unrelaxed state can have on your ride. In the sporting world energy is the gas that drives all performances. Unfortunately stress and excess tension can zap the athlete of this muchneeded resource. Have you ever noticed how tiring it is to be nervous and anxious? Thats because when your body is in this high state of alert it uses a lot of energy. Teach yourself how to get to the state of relaxation and you will have a corner on the power market.
Finally relaxation is the foundation of all other psychological skills such as imagery concentration and arousal control. Before you visualize your superior performances it is important to be relaxed so you pair this feeling with what you are seeing in your mind. Concentration is next to impossible if you are highly charged as I am sure you have experienced. Arousal control has to do with how well you know the state your body has to be in to perform at