CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to Horse Riding with Confidence Scotland (i.e. to me) on TWENTY fabulous years of working with riders, off horse, in order to help them to grow in confidence with a strong self belief that they are able to fulfil their riding goals, whether they are enjoying a solo hack without fear or tackling an advanced cross country course.

Self congratulation isn’t something that I have ever been particularly comfortable with. This was picked up on by Liz from Equiteam in a recent podcast when she spotted me downplaying my achievements over the years! A recent chat with Sarah from The Stables Retail Consultancy encouraged me to embrace the celebration of this 20th anniversary so this piece is the first of several ways in which I intend to do that.

In 2004 I tentatively placed an advert in the Equiads free magazine offering my services as a newly qualified Hypno-psychotherapist, wondering if there were riders around who might be struggling with their confidence and restricting themselves to a very small comfort zone in the same way that I had done before I learned about anxiety and how to re-train my mind to support me in my riding endeavours.

Those early adverts had an amazing response with many equestrians obviously looking for confidence and mindset support – I had spotted a large gap in the market and my business was born!

THE EARLY DAYS

At the beginning I was seeing all sorts of clients with differing issues and not just horse riders. Looking back at my records from that time people were seeking help with interview nerves, smoking cessation, fear of slipping, writers block as well as riding nerves.

Seeing some of the names again brings back memories and a wonder about how those people are doing all these years later.

I recall one particular rider from the early days who had a mental block about cantering…..on further questioning this really stemmed purely from the language she was using in her self talk which was compounding her natural tendency to doubt her skills and abilities. Hypnosis was my favoured tool at that time and this particular rider was able to completely turn her beliefs around, by changing what she was telling herself, to something far more supportive and, through hypnosis, taking her new beliefs onboard at an unconscious level.

MIDDLE YEARS

With a growing confidence in my own skills as a therapist, and seeing my personal riding confidence grow as I applied these skills to myself as well as to those I worked with, I started to reach out to other professionals in the equestrian world with a view to possible collaboration.

I was uncertain about how riding coaches might respond to someone with my skillset encroaching on their territory but I needn’t have worried.

Without fail other professionals responded positively and either wanted to investigate how we could work together or politely said that this wasn’t for them but that they appreciated the contact.

Round about this time social media was growing in popularity. I resisted for a while but then was fortunate to have a brilliant chat with Liz Daniels who encouraged me to set up a business profile which I duly did! Little did I know at that time just how useful my facebook page would be and how many doors it would open for me. I have always been very grateful to Liz for sharing her time and expertise with me.

During this period I also began giving talks to groups of riders. I had signed up to take part in a fundraising challenge ride in India with The Brooke and had to raise several thousand pounds to be able to go. This ride was pretty far out of my personal comfort zone (too far at times!!) but I was prepared to go for it! I put the word out to all of the riding clubs within driving distance offering confidence boosting talks in return for contributions towards my fundraising and was fortunate that the clubs were keen on the idea and, I seem to remember that, at this time, I gave about eight presentations to various clubs and that this, not only, helped me to raise the necessary funds but it also allowed me to make connections with many riders from all over Scotland.

In these “pre-zoom” days riders were coming to see me from far and wide. I remember a rider coming all the way to Dollar from North of Inverness and another driving the 120 miles from Carlisle on several occasions – obviously feeling that it was well worthwhile making the journey.

Tired but happy at the end of a long ride through Rajasthan

RECENT TIMES

A few years ago I decided that I enjoyed working with riders so much that I made a decision to focus totally on working within equestrian sport.

I had always held back from sharing testimonials from my clients due to the inevitable confidentiality breach but, after much persuasion from various people I realised the importance of building trust by allowing potential clients the opportunity to see how working together has benefited so many riders.

Around the same time I began working with a few riders on a sponsorship basis. The riders benefit from confidence and mindset coaching whilst being prepared to openly share their experiences of working with me.

During covid times I began offering online sessions and this has opened up a whole new market with clients from all over the UK, Ireland, the USA and beyond.

To date, I have worked 1:1 with many hundreds of individual riders from novices to those competing at advanced levels in all sorts of disciplines. I have also reached many hundreds more through talks, workshops and camps plus thousands more via my social media pages .


HOW HAVE I CHANGED OVER TWENTY YEARS?

In some ways I feel exactly the same but I think there has been a gradual evolution over the past two decades.

I still have the same values in both my personal and professional lives valuing each person that I encounter as an individual with their own unique characteristics.

I have the same horses (in 2004 I had three ponies, Judy died about 10 years ago), a different cat and a different dog plus the same husband -Eamonn and live in the same home.

I have always continued to learn, study and expand my skills so after all these years I feel that I have a large tool box which I can dip into as necessary depending on individual client’s needs.

Twenty years ago with the, much loved and always remembered Poacher.

THE FUTURE

I am planning several celebratory events throughout this 20th anniversary year so please do keep your eyes open to see if there is something that you might like to take part in.

Next week (6th Feb 2024) we are having a Pre-Season Mindset Boosting evening to raise funds for Rider’s Minds. At the time of writing this we still have some tickets left and would love you to join us. Get your tickets HERE

Whilst many of my close friends are retired, or are talking about retiring, I intend to keep on doing this job which I have created for myself and which I love.

If YOU would like some confidence and mindset support so that YOU TOO can make the most of riding opportunities please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can make a plan together.