Your mental preparation starts the moment you walk your course. It might seem like just another routine at the show and, after riding many horses at many shows, you might feel like you can get away with a quick browse or walk through the numbers. However, the better your preparation, the better your ride will be. Don’t leave anything to chance and prepare like a pro. Here are five tips to help you do just that.

In this series, I unveil the mystery of mental coaching by sharing some of the challenges that my clients have faced and how, together, we turned things around to become a more confident rider. For this case study, I’m sharing Katie McNair’s story.

Katie reached out to me when she began to struggle with staying focused while in the saddle, and as a result, that lack of focus led to disappointing show results. As a mother, Katie balances her time, energy, and attention between her children and her horses but has often found herself distracted with both aspects of her life. Is it possible to balance work and family life, and on top of it all, thrive in the show ring? The answer is, “YES!”

While interviewing riders for my new book, I wanted to know what the most important habits and patterns were to become successful in the mentally challenging sport of show jumping. One of my favorite interviews, Daniel Deusser, is well known as one of the sport’s most natural and confident riders. Here, Daniel shares some practical lessons he’s learned and nine things that have helped him the most on his way to the top.

Being able to stay focused on the task at hand and fully engage in the process is the key to ride your best round and to excel under pressure. I have been able to work with and study many great riders and time and again the ones that are able to focus and completely be in the moment, are the ones that often win or do well at the shows. In case you easily get distracted by thoughts or people watching you, don’t despair, you can train and improve your own focus. However, make sure you start training in advance and don’t wait till you are at the show and the pressure is on.


We all know self-confidence is one of the most important mental skills you need on the horse. You can train as much as you like, but if you don’t believe you are good enough or that you can win classes, you probably won’t. Instead of waiting until the results come in to give you a reason to be confident, take action now! Become the most confident version of yourself and create the results you desire. Here are 5 steps to help you boost your confidence.

As Tony Robbins says, “If you want to become great in a certain area, make sure to model those who have already achieved it.” I am a firm believer that we have so much to learn from those at the top of the sport, so I have interviewed more than 15 top-level riders to learn from them, how they train, how they prepare mentally for competition, and how they bounce back when things don’t go as planned. Back in 2017 I had the privilege of interviewing Laura Kraut. She shared so many amazing insights with me and I want to share some of these with you now.