6 Tips to Help Control Nervousness Come Race Day! 

One of the most commonly asked questions in the barrel racing groups that I frequent, is “How do I control my nerves”? Through the years of being a coach and helping students, as well as myself, I have learned a thing or two. I now, rarely struggle with my nerves. But when I do, I still employ any and all of these techniques. Horses can feed off our anxiety and nerves so the more successful we are at learning to control them, the better off we will be as a team! Don’t forget to rub your horse for every ride they give you! They owe us nothing!

Anxiety is that feeling of fear (what if I hit a barrel? will my horse run off? am I going to look dumb?), dread (not wanting to do something because you’ve told yourself it’s hard, or you’re afraid of failure), and uneasiness (that feeling that you’re not confident it will go well). It may cause you to sweat, feel restless and tense, have a tight throat, want to cry, or have a rapid heartbeat.

In many cases, before you run your horse, if you’re new to competition this may be something you experience. And for some people, it may be a much more crippling problem for them than this – in which case they may need medication to help them through it! I took anxiety medication for several years and it changed my life. But you know what else helped me – the tips I’m going to share with you below!

1. Practice 4 square breathing.

This is a breathing technique that helps center and ground you. It is shown to reduce/relieve anxiety. Anxiety is nervousness/nerves.

Here’s how you do it:You inhale to a count of four, hold to a count of four, exhale to a count of four, hold to a count of four. Repeat. I have found this to be a very helpful tool when I feel myself getting anxious. It allows me to count, and focus on anything other than what I am anxious about at the moment.

2. Visualize.

Find a quiet place prior to your run, and visualize the perfect run in your head. See it, believe it, feel it.  Know how good your practice run(s) felt and repeat that that feeling. You cannot underestimate the power of good muscle memory. If you can see it in your head, you will train your brain to make it happen in real life, and then your nervousness won’t take over.

3. Sing!

Sing along with whatever song is playing over the PA system. Or say your ABCs, silly as it sounds. Doing this will take your mind off whatever it is you’re anxious about. If your horse is nervous this will help them as well – horses feed off of us, so our nerves directly affect them! The quieter we can stay, the better off we can all perform. It’s never as bad in our heads as we think it will be.

4. Stretch.

Grounding yoga poses are an excellent way to recenter your mind and body!!

They help ground you and reduce anxiety! If you don’t already practice yoga, I highly recommend it. There’s many apps available and some are even free! It’s great for strengthening the mind-body connection, and for toning, stretching and strengthening us!

5. Keep a Routine.

Develop a pre-run routine and stick with it! Routine helps us stay centered and not nervous either. Here’s my routine:

• I start warming my horse up about 35-40 runners before depending upon how fast the race is going. About 30 minutes is all the time I want to spend.
• The warm up consists of about 5 minutes of walking, making sure my horse is soft laterally. That’s followed by about 5 minutes of jog and long trotting both directions. Then we do another 5-7 minutes of loping both ways, and some rollbacks. Then we walk again to let them air up.
• 10 runners before I’ll get off my horse, check my cinches, put on our sports boots and I stretch.
• Go into the holding pen and keep my horse quiet by walking little circles if necessary, or let them park if they want.
• Smoke a run when my name is called!
• When I’m done, my boots are immediately removed and we start the cool out.

6. Have FUN!

Remember, that you’re the one putting pressure on yourself. You’re there to have fun and enjoy your horse.  Leave the pressure to the pros!  Trust me when I say those that may judge you for the quality of your run aren’t the people you want in your life anyway! Turn your nerves into excitement and gratitude! Be grateful for the opportunity and excited you get to be there!

If you can’t have fun, then why do it? We can’t all win, every single race. In fact, I’ve gone about 15 years without actually winning a barrel race. Life is about the try, the improvement and the journey. So enjoy the journey, take a breath, keep doing the work and the rest will take care of itself. We will talk in a future blog post about how to help your horses while you’re working on your nerves!

Until then – Happy Riding!

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