112 SIDELINES JANUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
e
Sports Psychology
By Ann S. Reilly, Ph.D.
Colby Hassfurter, trained since childhood by Connie Stevens
(Matchmaker, LTD of Lake Bluff, Illinois) and Michael Henaghan,
started the 2013 Winter Equestrian Festival show season with
two championships on her Younger Amateur Owner steed
Optimized, familiarly known as Catcher and lovingly known as
Super Horse.
They are an extraordinary pair and they have a truly
unified and special partnership. They exemplified confidence,
concentration and composure at WEF. After only competing at
eight “AA” shows they earned enough points to show at The
Pennsylvania National Horse Show and were second on the
waiting list for the National Horse Show.
During the summer something happened. Colby and Catcher
were having problems getting in the groove on course. Connie
felt that Colby had lost her confidence and that is when Colby
began working with me. Connie also felt there were some
aspects of Colby’s position and control of Catcher that needed
some changes.
Colby rose to the occasion and worked very hard to change
her riding position and learn how to relax her hands, getting a
better feel of Catcher’s mouth to the first jump. Since she had to
learn these changes and then quickly return to school she was
forced to maintain these technique changes without being able
to ride Catcher until right before The Penn National in October.
With an A+ attitude, Colby attacked her sport psychology
training with an open mind and serious commitment. We worked
through my book,
A Sport Psychology Workbook for Riders
,
which is modeled after the Introduction to Sport Psychology
course I taught with Robert Rotella at the University of Virginia
for many years. For Colby and Catcher’s last shows in August,
we did very intense visualization sessions of the courses and
got Colby to her peak mental performance level before each
class. Colby’s performance improved, but not quite to the level
where she could win at her first trip to the indoor shows.
During September and October, before she could go home
and train for three days with Connie and Michael, we did bi-
weekly sessions. We worked on issues like Colby’s tendency
to sometimes want to win too much and did long visualization
sessions during which Colby was deeply relaxed and thinking
of practicing riding Catcher in the upcoming shows.
Despite the soreness Colby experience during her three day
Penn National clinic with Connie and Michael, she got her seat,
legs, feel, and rhythm back very quickly. Later that week Colby
and Catcher earned the championship honors. After winning
the Handy Hunter class, Colby astonishingly commented to me,
“Competing is half mental, half physical!” I have known that for
over 30 years but it is fulfilling to me when a rider I work with
realizes just how important it is to learn, practice and apply it
in the show ring.
Next to tackle were the big nerves of the National Horse
Show. The nerves were not related to competitive stress, they
were related to whether or not Colby and Catcher would show,
as they were second on the waiting list. Connie took Catcher
down to the show a few days before, and we all decided to just
pretend the team was “in.”
Ann S. Reilly, Ph.D. is a sport psychologist and author of “A
Sport Psychology Workbook for Riders,” available from amazon.
com. Questions for Ms. Reilly’s column can be addressed to
.
The Three C’s: Colby, Catcher and Connie =
Confidence, Concentration and Composure
Late Wednesday night, Colby was accepted to show. In
their first class, Colby and Catcher did well, but not quite good
enough for a ribbon. For her second class, I said something to
Colby I have never said to a rider as I don’t usually focus on
results. I could tell Colby was in the right place mentally for
me to say, “Do you want to win the Handy?” Of course Colby’s
answer was “Yes!” so we worked hard, making her believe,
through visualization of her exact plan, that she had already
ridden the course.
Colby and Catcher went in and rocked the round with Catcher
jumping out of his skin and Colby riding him beautifully. They
went around the serpentine-like roll backs and using Connie’s
years of experience chose the harder galloping option that
most of the other riders in the class didn’t choose to perform.
Colby and Catcher won the Handy class!
Since Colby and Connie believe in animal communication, for
the first time in 30 years of training and practice I came out of
the closet, so to speak, and shared my skill openly with Colby
and Connie. Communicating with Super Horse, as Catcher
calls himself, helped Team Colby prepare better. It also was
instrumental in fixing the riding aids problem, which had caused
Colby and Catcher’s summer performance to plummet. I know
not everyone believes in animal communication, but most are
converts when they are at the end of the road with a horse
problem.
Colby and Catcher, with the help of Connie and Mike’s
training, will show this winter at WEF as well. Colby’s future
goals are to ride jumpers and maybe even make an Olympic
Team in the future.
