Rebuilding Confidence & Trust In the Saddle
You know what you should be doing. You know you should breathe, look up, relax your grip, stay soft. You've told yourself to calm down, that you're safe, that you should be able to get past this. And yet in the moment, none of it works. Your body has its own answer, and it doesn't care what you know.
That's not a willpower problem. It's not a mindset problem. It's not even really a riding problem. Your nervous system is running an older, deeper program, one that no amount of conscious effort can simply override. Until you work at that level, you'll keep getting stuck in the same place.
“My relationship and outlook on fear has changed considerably in riding and everyday life…fear isn’t a personal weakness, it’s a nervous system that needs strengthening…. I now have tools that I can trust will help when I’m feeling anxious.” - Client Feedback
This work goes to that level.
Maybe you can point to a specific moment, a fall, a spook that unsettled you more than you expected, one too many close calls. Or maybe it happened gradually. A new horse. A body that feels different than it used to. Getting older and suddenly more aware of what it would mean to get hurt. However it happened, riding no longer feels the way it once did. You know how you want to ride, but your body has other ideas.
This is not a mindset problem.
When you’re nervous system perceives threat, even a subtle one, even a memory of one, it responds before you have any conscious say in the matter. Your muscles brace. Your breath shortens. Your vision narrows. This all happens milliseconds before conscious thought, which is why telling yourself to “relax” rarely changes what your body actually does.
Fear isn’t weakness. It isn’t something you can logic your way out of, or push through often enough that it finally goes away. It’s your nervous sytem doing its job, trying to keep you safe. The work is to update what it understands as safe. It takes time and practice. It requires a different relationship with ‘progress’ than most of us are used to.
“I have experienced positive changes in all areas, not just in the saddle…..I felt my nervous system begin to regulate from the first session.” - Client Feedback
What I want you to know before we go any further.
Sometimes people come to this work and notice positive changes very early on. Something feels easier, and calmer. That’s real, and it’s also just the beginning. Things will come up again, sometimes in new forms, sometimes in old memories that you thought you had moved past. That’s not failure. That’s how the nervous system learns. Real change rarely happens in large breakthroughs. It happens through accumulated experience, through returning to your practice again and again, and in noticing change and improvements.
What I’m really offering - in all the work I do, not just around fear and confidence- is a way of thinking about your body and nervous system in the same way any artist would think about their craft. Not something to fix once and set aside, but something to develop over a lifetime. Something to keep showing up for, even during the plateaus, especially during the plateaus.
Value the process over the outcome.
I do this work myself. I have things I continue to work on in my own body and movement practice. I’ve had to reframe my own relationship with expectations more times than I can count. I keep coming back to the practice, because the practice itself has become meaningful. If you value the process, you will find it easier to continue with your practice, even on the hard days.
What the work actually looks like.
Many programs offering to help riders build confidence, or overcome fear and anxiety in the saddle take a similar approach. They use ideas from sport psychology, and gradual exposure which can both be very helpful. I also incorporate those ideas, but then layer two more key approaches. They draw from my training in the Feldenkrais Method, Applied Neurology and other somatic practices. This combination of methods is gentle, specific, and built around your nervous system, not a template. We work with the sensory systems that create the brain’s sense of safety: your visual system, vestibular system and proprioceptive system. When these systems are well integrated and giving the brain clear information, the nervous system can relax its grip.
We may work with:
Eye movement and visual exercises that can you feel calmer and improve your sense of safety in motion
Vestibular exercises that help improve your orientation and balance
Slow, deliberate movement practices, that help improve your sensory and movement maps
Breathing and grounding tools
All of these methods help you to understand your own nervous system better, so you can work with it and not against it. Progress is measured against your own starting point, not someone else’s.
What becomes possible.
Riders who practice this work describe changes like staying calm when their horse spooks - not because they tried to force themselves to, but because their body simply responded differently. Instead of holding their breath, they notice they continue to breath easily during stressful moments. On the way to the barn they feel excited to ride instead of anxious. They also find that the tools they’ve learned help them in other areas of their lives, too. Coping with stress better, improved sleep, and less physical aches and pains.
“I have definitely experienced positive changes. What feels most different is my nervous system response. I notice that I can stay more grounded and present, even in situations that would previously have triggered anxiety.” - Client Feedback
Who this is for.
This work is for riders, ready to commit to a practice. Riders who are curious about their own nervous system, and enjoy learning and trying things that are a little off the beaten path. For riders who can make peace with the idea that progress isn’t always linear, and that a plateau isn’t the same as going backwards.
It’s for people who are drawn to the idea that developing feel, awareness, and confidence is a craft; something built slowly, layer by layer, over time.
If this is you, I’d love to talk.
“It is so empowering! It feels amazing to have control over my responses and movements and not feel highjacked by old patterns…” - Client Feedback
Working with me.
This work is available through private sessions, and periodically small group programs. Every persons situation is unique, and the work is shaped around where you are, not where you think you should be.
Reach out and we can have a conversation around what you’re experiencing, and whether this work might be a good fit for you.
To hear more from clients about how this work has helped them, please visit my Client Reflections page.