Chevy's Coaching Blog - Get Gritty With Chevy

Get Gritty With Chevy

Six Essentials of Effective Goal Setting

12/31/2017

Happy New Year!

If you follow my Facebook Page, you have probably noticed I have been talking about the benefits of being values-focused instead of goals-focused.

But this doesn't mean that I don't think that goals are not important-because they are!

You just need to be setting the right goals, that is, goals that are driven by your values. (If you haven't set your values for 2018, click here to download my Value Setting Workbook.)

So, what are the goals that you want to accomplish in 2018?

Then ask yourself, does the actions that I need to take to achieve this goal align with my values?

Your values are your guide, your North Star. They direct your horsemanship journey (and your life journey). The goals that you set for yourself are the things that you do along the way, the mile markers so to speak. If your goals are not aligned with your values, the mile markers that you pass won't direct you to where you want to go.

For example, if you value Adventure, and your goals lead to spending lots of time in an arena, you probably won’t be as happy with your horsemanship journey as if your goals included trail rides to new places.

So how else can you ensure that you are setting effective goals that you will actually achieve?

By following these six essentials:

Do You Have a Post Mistake Ritual?

10/8/2017

We all make mistakes. It is an inevitable part of competing, riding horses, and even just part of life in general.

When we make mistakes in competition, it can cause a domino effect, resulting in a loss of concentration, negative self-talk, and more mistakes. Most riders blame themselves, their horse, or other factors. This causes a negative spiral,

Gritty competitors have a plan for when they make mistakes, to prevent the mistake from affecting the rest of their performance.

You can have the same advantage as these gritty competitors by creating your own post mistake ritual.

The 5 Stages of Team Building in Horse-Rider Relationships (and how to get to the performing stage smoothly!)

10/1/2017

In 1965, psychologist Bruce Tuckman published his Developmental Sequence in Small Groups to describe the path that successful teams take on their path to success. You might be familiar with these stages if you have ever participated in company team building events, in fact, that is where I first heard of these stages. As I learned more about the stages, I noticed a lot of parallels between them and building a relationship with a new horse. Since Horse and Rider are supposed to be a team, it makes sense that these stages apply to horsemanship too! By identifying ad understanding the different stages of team building you will be able to recognize common hurdles that most teams experience. I'll also share strategies to overcome them, so that you and your horse can move smoothly through the stages to perform at your best.

Overcome the Perils of Perfectionism by Daring Greatly

7/15/2017

Many a horsewoman experiences the frustration caused by a never ending, and never satisfied, expectation of perfection. It is common for performance horse riders to have high standards and expect nothing less than perfection from themselves and their horses.
In theory, that sounds like a good thing. Striving for perfection can help performance by being dedicated, by having a commitment to practice, by being focused and paying attention to the little details.
More commonly, however, perfectionism is perilous to performance. When a rider has placed so much pressure on themselves to perform perfectly, they become outcome focused. This leads to anxiety, and anxiety leads to not performing their best. When a perfectionist does not perform well, they tend to become extremely self-critical, leading to becoming overwhelmed and discouraged. This can lead to the rider wanting to quit, and not even try since they feel that they will not be able to perform at the perfect level they expect of themselves.

Read more at Of Horse-Click Here!

Did you get lost on your way to your goals? That’s ok-here is how to get back on the trail!

7/2/2017

It happens to all of us. We dream big dreams and set big goals for our horsemanship. We might even start out on the right foot, and work really hard towards achieving those goals-putting in the practice and riding every day.

Then one day the weather isn’t nice, or we are too tired after work, or too busy. Before we know it, we find ourselves off track, and not making any progress toward our goal. Maybe some unanticipated obstacles have appeared that we don’t know how to overcome. (For more about overcoming obstacles, read my blog on the topic here.) We procrastinate, and lack motivation. We might even feel like giving up.

This is a completely normal occurrence.

In this article, I will share 3 steps to get your back on the trail toward your goals.

Horsemanship Journey: Chevy's Musings on Feel

6/16/2017

You don’t have to do much research about horsemanship to hear that it takes Feel, Timing, Balance and Experience to become a Horseman. Of these words, Balance and Experience are pretty easy concepts to understand. Timing is a little more complicated, but most riders can be taught the idea of the timing of their cues.

Feel, however, is much harder to define, and hard to teach. Feel is a vague word that is often used by trainers, clinicians, and instructors. Most of them agree that to become a True Horseman, you must develop feel. It is a word surrounded by confusion, with the connotation of having an almost magical quality, leaving the reader confused and wondering if “feel” is some magical talent that only horse whisperers possess.

In this blog, I will examine different definitions of Feel. Some of these definitions come from Natural Horsemanship trainers/clinicians, and some from top Performance Horse trainers. I will look at the connection between Feel and Timing, take a quick look at Balance, and also at the role that Experience plays into developing Feel, Timing, and Balance.

Hopefully this will help clear the confusion around “Feel” and help you on your horsemanship journey!

How to be more a mindful rider (especially if meditation isn’t your thing.)

6/4/2017

Mindfulness and horsemanship go together-this isn’t anything new. Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt have advocated for mindful riding for years, and indeed the entire natural horsemanship movement of understanding why the horse reacts how they do and being aware of how your actions influence the horse is mindfulness at work.

However, putting mindfulness into practice when you work with your horse is easier said than done.

So how can you be a more mindful rider?

Mindfulness and Your Horsemanship Journey

5/27/2017

I talk a lot about your "horsemanship journey" around here, because I truly believe that horsemanship is a life-long learning process and that we are never truly finished.

I also talk a lot about shifting your focus from your outcome goals to focusing on your action goals, and the things that you do every day with your horse.

Now, don't get me wrong, having big outcome goals (things like winning in the show pen) is important, as these big goals are inspiring and motivational.

However, to be truly happy and successful along our horsemanship journey, we need to be mindful and aware of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Horses live in the moment. They are not thinking ahead of their performance next month in the show pen. They do not sit in their pasture and replay last weekends horse show events and regret all of the mistakes they made.

Sure, they have memories, and when triggered by a situation or stimuli that reminds they of a previous experience (whether negative or positive) they will respond. For example, a horse that had a bad experience in a trailer may become reluctant to trailer load. But does that horse repay the negative trailer experience while grazing in their pasture? No!

So why do we let all of this negative baggage follow us around?

Let's learn from our horses, and live in the moment. And that is where mindfulness comes in.

Mindfulness, as defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, means "maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment." (Learn more about his mindfulness work at http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition)

Can you see how this awareness, this mindfulness, can be helpful to performance horse riders? How good are you at being mindful when you ride your horse?

It is simpler (although not always easy!) to be aware of the surrounding environment and bodily sensations when we ride. And indeed, starting at this point is a great first step to being mindful when we ride.

I want you to think back to your last ride. We you aware of your thoughts and feelings? I mean, really aware? Did you notice when you felt frustrated with your horse? Did you notice when your thoughts maybe led to labeling your horse as uncooperative or resistant?

By being mindful, and aware, of your thoughts and feelings, you are much more likely to be able to do something about them. By being aware you can remove judgment from them, accept what is, and plan for what you can do to make your riding better. By being mindful and aware of when our thoughts and feelings are leaning more towards the negative, we can pause. We can take a deep breath, step back for a minute and analyze the situation. By focusing on what is happening in the moment with our horse and being aware of our response to it, instead of letting our emotions get away from us and focusing on the outcome, we can be a better horseman.

So how can you start to bring mindfulness to your horsemanship journey?

First, assume best intentions on the part of your horse. They don't spend the night in their stall how they will tick every pole in a trail class, or ignore your leg cues and refuse to lope on the right lead. Remember that they are living in the moment!

Second, practice being aware of the environment and bodily sensations when you ride. Use your senses-what sounds do you hear? What do you see? What do you feel? Smell? Taste? Record this in your journal!

Third, practice being aware of your thoughts and feelings. Pay attention to your inner dialogue, your self-talk. Is it helpful to your riding and being able to communicate more clearly with your horse? What are you feelings? Record this in your journal too!

Next week I'll share some more mindfulness tips and techniques. Until then, I'd love to hear
from you-what are you mindful of when you ride? Leave a comment, or share your thoughts in my free Get Gritty facebook group!

~Chevy

Get Gritty Mental Skills Tip of the Week: The Key to Effective Positive Affirmations

5/13/2017

Want to learn more about how to work with me? Click here.
Until next week, Get Gritty!
~Chevy

How Becoming a Horseman Makes You A Better Person

4/7/2017

To become a Horseman you have to understand more than just horses.

You have to understand yourself.

What is a Horseman? Why would someone strive to be called a horseman? Why do some consider it a title that is earned, not a label that you can give yourself? What makes it truly a lifestyle? And what character traits and life lessons do horses teach us?

In this post I share my thoughts about what makes a "Horseman" and how we can embrace this journey to not only become better riders for our horses, but better people.