Photo by Marie Cobb

I’m a big time ball of nerves when it comes to showing. As much as I love going to shows and flaunting my studly horse, it usually ends up being a weekend of fluctuating emotions, constant panic attacks, and a lot of food aversion. The weekends tend to go a little something like this:

Let’s face it. This method of showing is more stressful than fun. And I knew I had to change something. I’m a big believer in positive thinking, meditation, visualization etc., and with these tools I’ve managed to keep my nerves under control by doing a few simple things.

1. Envision the way you ride before the weekend even starts. That means before you even see the course layouts, envision yourself breathing rhythmically, sitting up correctly, and “being one with your horse.” Just because you don’t know what the course looks like yet doesn’t mean you can’t envision yourself riding well. You don’t even have to picture any jumps at all, just focus on your breathing pattern, how relaxed you want to feel, and how in tune you want your horse to be.

2. Replace the word “nervous” with the word “excited.” Instead of telling people you have butterflies because you’re nervous, tell them it’s because you’re excited. Excitement has a positive connotation, and the more you say it, the more you’ll believe it. I thought this was a dumb trick that wouldn’t work but it’s one of the top techniques I use to get rid of my show nerves.

3. Picture every hoof print you’ll be making that weekend once you’ve seen the course maps. And I mean every. Single. Hoof print. I sometimes block out an entire hour before I go to bed for just this. Picture your horse forward and ready to work. Picture how responsive he or she will be in the warm up. Then picture your dressage test ridden perfectly over and over again. How you want to feel before, during, and after the test.

Move on to cross country where you should envision what each fence looks like, how you’re going to ride to it, how happy you’ll feel flying over it, and how focused on the next jump you’ll be once you’ve crossed over it. Also think of where your eyes will be focused as you come up to each fence (when I walk my course, I pick an object past the jump to focus on in order to keep my eyes up. I also take a picture of each jump using my Coursewalk app so that I can visualize the object over and over again the night before).

Then for your stadium round, do the same thing. How forward will your horse be? What distance do you want to the fence? Also picture yourself and your position. I tend to lean forward when I’m nervous, so when I envision my course, I’m sitting wayyyy back. You should run all of these mental movies over and over again until you’re almost sick of it. You want it to feel like second nature to you so that when you’re on course and nervous, your body will mimic what you pictured earlier when you were in a low stress environment.

4. Think about what could go right, not what could go wrong. Don’t allow yourself to think about anything negative, including the way you word things. So instead of saying “I’m not going to get any bad distances,” say, “I’m going to get all great distances.” When you phrase it the first way and mention the bad distances, you tend to picture what a bad distance looks like without even realizing it. You’re giving thought to something negative.

Another example is instead of saying, “I’m not going to be nervous,” say, “I’m going to be excited!” (See what I did there?) It’s all about the thoughts you create around the show. Make everything as positive as possible to ease your nerves and gain some confidence!

5. Picture yourself with the blue ribbon. Think of what it would feel like to hold it in your hands. Think of how happy you’ll be when the announcer calls your name for first place and you get to take your victory lap. Think of all the pictures you’ll force your pony to take with the ribbon on his bridle, halter, mane, tail, hoof, etc. Think of all the Instagram filters you’ll get to use with said pictures! Visualize anything and everything about winning that blue ribbon. You’ve earned it.

These five visualization techniques have improved my riding and my showing tremendously. At the very first show Reef and I entered, I used all of these techniques, ate every meal like a regular person, breathed in the ring, and ended up in first place! I hope these tips help improve your riding as well as your show fears!

To read more articles like this one, go to horsehack.com. 

I’ve always been good at school. I made the grades, I was able to juggle my horse, work, school, and social life, and I actually kind of enjoyed studying (nerd, I know). But when my senior year of college came around, I was burnt out and faced a real-life decision: What do I do after I graduate? Do I find a job? Do I go to grad school? Do I become homeless?

I put some real thought into it. And I realized I’ll only be 22 once. I wanted to go on an adventure and do something out of the ordinary. I wanted to become a working student.

So I read yardandgroom.com every day, sent out my resume, emailed my favorite eventers (Boyd, Sinead, Dom and Jimmie … yea, we’re on a first name basis in my head). And I waited for some responses. Each time I got a response I would read up on the location, the details, etc, in order to find the position I felt “clicked.”

The search definitely took a while, and I’m not gonna lie, I’m a southern girl, so I don’t do well with the cold. Even though most of my favorite riders lived up north, I didn’t want them to see me whimper and whine when it was below 50 degrees out. I’m just not built for it.

Then my trainer mentioned that she knew Joe Meyer, who was out in Florida (warmth!) and looking for a working student. She said that she had bought several horses from he and his wife Ruthie, that they were great people, and that she was going out there soon to look at some prospects. So I tagged along and met them, which isn’t something most future working students get to do.

I got to see the property, the horses, and the rest of Ocala *drool*. It was agreed upon that I was to work for them in the coming months in exchange for room and board as well as lessons. I didn’t have my own horse but they had tons of ex racehorses they were training on the property I could ride.

In fact, on the first day I met them, they had me sit on one of their OTTBs, where I immediately embarrassed myself. He was a sweet horse, but fresh off the track, and when I asked for a canter too hard, he responded with GALLOP YES I’VE GOT THIS.

So there I was, getting taken off with for a solid 5 minutes while my future bosses looked on at the rider they were going to hire…good thing they had a sense of humor.

When I finally made the trek over to start my new job, I was told they didn’t have an apartment yet (there was another girl who got there first) but that I could clean out the living quarters of the trailer and use that temporarily as well as stay in the extra bedroom they had in the house. The best part of this was that when we went to horse shows, we would take my “home” with us, which would always make me laugh.

I ended up living in that trailer for the duration of my position (only about 3 months) before I was offered a paid horse job back home. Those living quarters weren’t ideal, the water system would break all the time, I had to use the bathroom in the barn, and it was definitely cramped, but the experience I had there was more than worth it.

I got to go to horse shows all around Florida and Georgia and be a groom for my rider, cheer him on, and see what really goes on behind the scenes for a pro. I learned a lot of skills I use in my every day horse life now. I was able to compete for free on one of their client’s horses in a show nearby (talk about a great day!). I found my horse there, who is absolutely perfect (I watched them sell a lot of horses, and they really had a knack for finding a perfect fit). I got to go cross country schooling on properties I would never be able to set foot on had I not been working for Joe.

Nelson, the horse I got to compete on!

And best of all, I never have to ask the question “what if,” because I took the plunge, and I did it. I became a working student.

I went into the job not knowing at all what I wanted from it to be honest. Did I want to go pro? Did I want to be a professional groom? Did I even want a horse job as my career? But all those questions were answered in those 3 short months, and I got a much clearer picture in my head for what I wanted my future to be.

I realized I wanted horses to be my hobby, not my job. I realized I needed a career that made a lot of money in order to do so. I realized that I wanted to work for myself one day so that I can enjoy some free time when I wanted it. I realized all of this in my 3 month adventure, which had I never taken, I probably would still be utterly confused on life.

So regardless of what your reasons to become a working student are, do it. But do it right. Work hard while you’re there, give 110%, absorb as much of the experience as you can, and take lots of pictures. It’s such a unique experience and whether it works out for you in the long run or not, you’ll learn a lot of lessons and create fabulous memories for the rest of your life.

Part two on the daily life of a working student coming soon at horsehack.com!

KJeqCreations sells wooden tack trunks for $350 on Etsy. Photo courtesy of KJeqCreations.

One of the most expensive but great tools a horse owner needs (and wants!) is a tack box. Now, not all of us can afford the $600 tack trunk advertised on websites, but we need somewhere decent to keep our 239,872,640 brushes, vet wraps, and miscellaneous horse tools we all seem to collect! Don’t worry, there are many money saving options for us! I’ll start with the cheapest and work my way up in price.

Check out what you might already have. There could be an old trunk hidden in your very own attic. This is free and would be perfect for any struggling horse owner. Just the other day I went rummaging in my attic and found an old trunk I had never seen before. You never know what you can find in your own house. You can also ask around to family and friends and see what they have!

Scope out your local thrift store or garage sales. You’d be surprise at what you can find in Goodwill or garage sales that cost next to nothing and can be great horse tools. Check your local paper for upcoming garage sales, grab a friend, and go hunt! It never hurts to try!

The ever popular storage container. You can find these at Walmart or Home Depot anywhere from $15-$25 depending on the size you want. These might not be the fanciest tack boxes but they do the job and you can always paint them or decorate to your liking! Start here and maybe save up for a nicer one in the future. I use one as my horse show tack box so that I don’t spend a lot on two separate nice tack trunks!

The hardware store tool box. These can be found at Home Depot or Lowe’s for many different prices (usually from $40-$90). There are many sizes, shapes, and features such as locks, wheels, handles, etc. They function just as well (if not better) than some of the fancy wood tack trunks and cut down on your costs by a lot. The ones with wheels are handles are super portable and much easier to lug around shows, your barn, or anywhere else you might want to take it.

Make your own. If you or someone you know is good with woodwork, then fantastic! Go buy the materials and build one as fancy or as simple as you want. For those of us that have no idea what we’re doing, you can either find a wood shop and talk to the people working there to see how much it would be to build one for you (they are usually around $200-$250), or you can use Elite Tack Design, which sells you plans and step by step instructions on how to make your own tack trunk. The instructions are cheap (about $30) and they tell you exact materials and sizes you need for everything. To save on material costs, use reclaimed wood or wood from pallets (many hardware stores give those away for free!).

Find them on non-horse websites. Etsy and Ebay have a wide range of new and used tack trunks you can buy. They range anywhere from $250-$500 which can be pricey for some of us, but one of the best parts is that a lot of them are unique and handmade, so you’ll have a trunk that will stand out from the rest. You can also e-mail the sellers and see what you can do to cut down costs. I’ve emailed eBay sellers before and asked if their item doesn’t sell within its posted time, could I buy it for a discount? Most of them have said yes because they want to get rid of their item and don’t feel like posting it again and waiting around. It’s worth a shot.

Hopefully these tack trunk tips help some of you horse crazy, money spending, ramen noodle eating riders like me! Keep coming back to the site for more money saving tips and sign up on our e-mail list to receive the latest updates as well as major sales and best deals going around in the horse world.

Find more money-saving tips on HorseHack.com!

One of my very best friends and her horse Cosmo. (EN recommends wearing a helmet at all times when mounted.)

To love a horse girl means a lot of things. It means you have to be willing to give up weekends for horse shows, be okay with dirt, poop, and odd smells, sit through lessons where you don’t understand a single thing, listen to horse babble all the time, be a professional videographer (especially on show days), and most of all, know that you probably won’t come first. Our horses do.

That doesn’t mean that we won’t love you or that you’ll be entirely neglected. Just know that if the choice is between a horse show or a weekend getaway, we’ll suggest that walking a cross country course is more romantic than walking on a beach. So be ready for some manual labor “vacations.”

We require a certain breed of man, just like we require a certain breed of horse for our disciplines. If you don’t like the outdoors, then we might as well not even go on a first date. If you think animals are a nuisance, please leave before I slap you. If you feel like saying, “All you do it sit there, it’s not really a sport,” don’t. The slap is valid in this scenario as well.

We’re not mean, we just know what we want. And we don’t like people who get in the way of our horses. It might be considered a hobby to the outside world, but to us, it’s a way of life.

So if you want to date a horse girl, you need to know (and accept!) a few things. Our profile picture will almost always be our horse. We’ll go to the barn and ride before we make any plans to hang out with you. We’ll have helmet hair on 99% of our dates.

The Dover catalog is our bible, and they have a thing called a wishlist. You’ll need to shop for us there, not at the mall for a new top we’ll end up ruining at the barn. We talk about our horses a lot, but try to keep note of what we say, you’ll be tested on his/her favorite treat later on. Consider the barn odor our “eau de toilette,” because it’s not going away any time soon.

If you’re loving enough to sit through our lessons and even listen to the play by play afterwards, you’ll get major brownie points. If you ask us how our horse is feeling or if he’s doing better when he’s hurt, you’ll make our day. If you compliment our horse on how handsome he is, you’ll probably get a better reaction than if you tell us how pretty we are.

If you drive a truck, we’ll look at it and see if it could haul our trailer. If you give us a bouquet of carrots for our horse instead of a bouquet of flowers for us, we’ll appreciate it more than you know. If you see us have a rough ride or a sloppy show, and you accept the bad mood that follows, you’re a keeper.

If you ask us how to groom, tack, or handle a horse, we’ll be ecstatic. And when we see you put on a halter (and not call it a bridle), a lead rope, and walk our horse out to graze, it’ll be a Kodak moment for us.

We want to share our animal with you. We want to enjoy barn days with you. Most of all we don’t want someone to take away time from our biggest pleasure.

To love a horse girl means to love our horses too.

For more posts like this as well as money saving tips go to HorseHack.com!