Our mindset, beliefs and past experiences have a big impact on how we feel about competing. Sometimes just thinking about going to a horseshow can already cause us to freeze and feel anxious. This physically unpleasant feeling is our survival mechanism at work. This mechanism has developed over thousands of years and helped us survive. However, when we are on a horse, this “fight or flight” response is not very helpful. Although this survival mechanism is pretty powerful and it takes some practice to overrule, the following exercises will help you create a more manageable amount of pressure.