Equestrian Life April 2018 Issue

feature
Horse
Riding with
Confidence
Scotland -
A Case Study
I
first met Shannon in January 2016
when she was referred to me by her
riding coach for help with a drastic loss
of riding confidence. Shannon was 17
years old at the time, still at school and had
been riding since the age of six.
As a young child Shannon described herself
as having been a brave rider. She got her
first pony aged 10, a great jumper and they
had a lot of fun together. Pony number two
was more of a challenge as he was young
but things went well. Then came pony
number three…….and that was where the
problems started. This pony was described
as ‘dangerous’ and ‘a problem’ and he ended
up being given away leaving Shannon’s
confidence shattered.
When Shannon came to see me she had a
lovely 15.3 confidence giver just coming
back into work after eight months off
following a fractured pedal bone. When she
first got this horse things had gone well
but at the time of our initial consultation
Shannon was frightened to trot, had
thoughts that something bad was going to
happen when she rode, a strong belief that
she ‘couldn’t do it’ plus physical symptoms
of anxiety such as tension, stomach knots
and nausea. She described a feeling of
disliking not being in control.
Shannon’s aims of coming to see me for
help were to be able to simply get on her
horse and ride in a relaxed manner.
We discussed what I could offer in the way
of help and Shannon was immediately
interested and open to the suggestions I
made. We agreed on an initial series of four
sessions which would include hypnotherapy
along with some education about anxiety,
in order to better understand what was
going on, plus learning techniques for
relaxation and goal setting as a way of
measuring progress.
Shannon made quick progress and enjoyed
the hypnotherapy which helped to boost
I am delighted to say that Shannon has now
taken the next step and has moved her horse
home, away from the safety net of a livery yard
her confidence and give her a belief that
things could change. In hypnosis we also
worked together to help her draw a line
under her experiences with pony number
three so that those memories and emotions
could firmly be left in the past where they
belonged.
By session three Shannon described a
renewed feeling of actually being excited
about riding rather than dreading it and on
returning for session four all was going well
and she was enjoying her riding and was
ready to move forwards and begin to stretch
herself.
Shannon now had an understanding of what
was causing her problems and a toolbox
of ideas to use when she felt concerned or
worried whilst riding.
I met Shannon again in 2017 when I started
working with a team of young riders who
were just beginning to get out and about
and enter some competitions. She now had
a lovely cob called Mario and was having
a lot of fun doing some jumping at home,
entering some unaffliated dressage classes
and going out to schooling nights with
friends.
I am delighted to say that Shannon has
now taken the next step and has moved her
horse home, away from the safety net of
a livery yard. She has bought a youngster
to bring on and is looking forward to the
future with her horses.
NB: We rarely name my clients publicly
due to the importance of confidentiality.
However, for this article I felt comfortable
asking Shannon if I could tell her story
as I knew that she had.een open about
her confidence issues. Shannon says ‘Hi
I’m Shannon Russell and I am happy for
my name to be used within this article.
Jane Brindley from Horse Riding with
Confidence Scotland has made the most
wonderful difference to my riding over the
past couple of years, taking me from doing
anything possible to avoid riding my horse,
to now tackling all challenges facing us
head on, with a huge smile on my face and
the nerves tucked away in a box that hasn’t
been opened in such a long time.’
50 April 2018 Equestrian Life