B ST(i)LL

   "Pony Club presents Daniel Stewart's Sport Psychology Seminar.  A humorous and upbeat seminar teaching stress management, goal setting, positive thinking and visualization techniques to help riders maximize success, focus, enjoyment and confidence by learning how to minimize stress, nerves, distractions & show jitters.  Thursday at 6pm."
     Ever since someone had hung up the flyer at the veterinary office I had been talking myself into and out of  going.  Daniel Stewart is an international horse trainer that has coached riders to success in the World Equestrian Games and the Olympics.  He is an  internationally acclaimed author of "Ride Right" and considered one of the world's leading experts on equestrian sport psychology.      
     On one hand it was on Thursday night, right after work and I would be in a walking coma by that time.  He trains fancy show horse and riders and I am a trail rider that sometimes competes in the local horse shows where, on most occasions, my only competition is myself and the ground.  At one show, I was in the arena, all alone doing my solo routine when the announcer told me, and the rest of the competitors, over the loud speaker that all I had to do was not fall off.  Luckily I got the first place and beat the ground.
     On the other hand, this was a world class coach coming to our in-the-middle-of-nowhere town.  The flyer said "humorous and upbeat" which are pretty brave words to describe a two hour sport psychology seminar being held after work and before dinner at the end of the week. It also claimed that it would help me enjoy riding more by becoming a more confident and less distracted rider.  I could use all of that when riding a jittery Autumn in the woods. I decided to go.
    Daniel Stewart was great and had me cracking up throughout the seminar.  He gave us tips on how to deal with the stressful and unpredictable encounters we can experience as riders.  He gave us ideas on how to get ourselves pumped up to be in good moods, to stay positive and to stop thinking about that time your horse jumped to the side and as you were falling to meet the ground, in slow motion, you were trying to remember what your insurance deductible was and then wondered what the hell is a deductible anyway? And hoped that when you hit the ground that you wouldn't have to stay home from work because you couldn't afford to take any days off because you needed to buy a ton of hay that week and the shoer was coming that next week and....splat. 
   He told us to pick out a few songs to get yourself pumped up to be in a good, positive mood like "Don't Worry Be Happy" or "I like to Move it Move it".  I thought this would be easy as I scrolled through my IPod.  It was a little shocking when I realized I listened to a lot of depressing crap and Taylor Swift who basically just falls in or out of love in every song.  I turned on the radio in hopes of finding a catchy feel good song.  I tuned into the middle of a James Brown song... "You got to have the feeling. Get on up. Sure as born get on up.  Get on up. Get it together. Right on, right on." Yeah! I thought.  It was funky and sounded like a good getting on up and riding song.  As I was doing my funk bop in the car James Brown took me over the bridge and I realized my feel good riding song was Sexmachine...don't judge me.
   Daniel Stewart also said to find a "cue word".  This could be a couple letter word that you make into an acronym to help focus your mind off a stressor.  Some examples being: PAT Patience And Trust or BLAST Breathe Laugh And Smile Today.  Over the next few days I worked on my cue word and came up with B STILL...Breathe  Stop To Listen & Love.  I know, I forgot the "I" in Still but if you are a dedicated Jackson Hill Horsey Girl reader you already know that I don't have any spelling bee trophies sitting on my mantel.  I choose this misspelled acronym due the constant tornado sweeping through my thoughts all the time. 
     Daniel Stewart's seminar was over before I could yawn.  He armed me with ways to trade any bad thoughts for the best thoughts I could imagine.   He left us with one final thought,  "When you've done everything right and it still goes wrong remember to Laugh, Learn and Love."
    It was a  simple reminder of why we want to be around our horses. 
    Since the seminar, every time Autumn tenses up I Breathe, Stop thinking about deductibles, Listen to what Autumn is telling me and I Love that I'm riding my horse that is my best friend...all to the tune of Sexmachine. 

It amazes me how sometimes I'm not STLL and Autumn carries me right by scenes like this and  I totally miss it.  Not anymore.  This Sexmachine is taking time to Stop, Listen and Love every minute I have with Autumn.

   Thanks for reading.   If you would like to be added to my mailing list or would like to leave a comment please contact me at Jacksonhillhorseygirl@aol.com .

Copyright (c) 2013 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com July 17, 2013