E 12: 80% of this sport is mental, the rest is in your head

I rode a test in Aachen, which I thought it was probably the best test I'd ridden on that trip. And I said to Chef Janssen, who was the Dutch trainer for a long time, and I said to him, I said, oh, did you see my test today? And he goes, yeah, I saw it. And I said, what did you think? And I'm thinking, oh, he's going to tell me I'm getting better. And he said, your focus needs to improve a lot.

From performanceriders.com this is. Hello, this is the Pabry podcast. I'm Nat Foxen, and each episode I challenge World equestrian Games top 10 dressage writer Brett Parbury to explain and discuss what I call a pabriism. That's a pearl of wisdom I've written down over the years of working together in our performance writers programs. Brett doesn't know what today's pabriism is. Let's get into it. Hi, Brett. Are you ready for your pabriaism this episode?

Intrigued to know what this one's going to be, Nat.

Okay, let's go. It is. 80% of dressage is mental and the rest is in your head.

Yeah.

Remember, remember saying that little beauty?

That's a great. That's a great one, isn't it?

That's a great one. Yeah. I love is.

There's so much in your head.

Yeah. So 80 of dressage or I mean, really riding. Right. We can. It's not just dressage. 80% of riding and probably any other sport, to be honest, 80% is mental and the rest is in your head. So what are your immediate thoughts when you listen back to that? What do you think that you were thinking at the time?

Look, I think, you know, basically trying to make the point that it's not about the flash horse. And we're talking about the top of the sport here, so grand prix riding and, and higher levels. But it's not about. It's not all about the flashest horse, the most expensive horse, the most expensive coach. Like, it's. It's so much of it's about personal development as a rider, personal development as a. As a. As a per. As a human, and being able to deliver the best you can do with the horse that you have and being intelligent enough to work through all of the weaknesses that a horse might have, learning how to cover those up, show them off on the day, on in the test. And as much of that might be underwriting or, you know, just being clever, being smart, being clever, being strategic and being focused to deliver it. So, you know, you often See, the very good old experienced riders will tend to go well, not necessarily win or whatever, but just go well, punch above their weight, achieve great results on horses that probably in other hands wouldn't go that well. And that's purely because they're applying their wits and their experience. So so much of it is in your head.

So I guess with this topic, you know, there's sort of two obvious sides to this. One is, like you've said, being strategic and really thinking about the training. And then we've got the competition mindset and that sort of whole area of performance psychology, which I know is something that you're really interested in and have thought a lot about over the years. So if we think about that first part initially about the training, being a strategic trainer and a thinking rider. What, what is a thinking rider to you?

For me, a thinking rider is someone who has taken the time to understand their horse, understand the strengths, the weaknesses, the body type, the training system and methods that would best suit that horse for, for the type it is then someone who is disciplined enough to do that every day. So that, that takes an enormous amount of mental power and strength and, and focus.

Yeah.

And then someone who's quick enough to notice when they're going on the wrong direction or, or has the awareness when they're going on the wrong direction and, and either search for the information, trial and error, some things experiment, but be inquisitive enough to just not keep. Or, or, or perhaps can like, double down on what they're already doing, like have the confidence to double down on what they're doing. So. Yeah, but someone who's at least thinking about it, not just mindlessly going around writing the same training session for the whole, you know, for the whole two years, you know, and, and you'll often see that, like, we're human, we're. Sorry, we're. We're creatures of habit. So. And I know because I've made these mistakes, right? So you just have this routine. I get on a walk, I warm up, I walk like Canda, and I run through all the same things, which can work, but it only works if it's suiting the horse and what you're doing at the time. So being systematic is 100% what we have to do. But there's no point being systematic you if it's in the wrong way, so. Because it's only detrimental. So, so actually being able to be aware enough to analyze and, and, and say, well, look, my horse is actually not getting better. I'm. This is not getting Better. What little tweaks or big things do I have to do? Or where can I find this information? Or who could mentor me? Who can I approach with no ego and just get some ideas? And for me, that. That is being smart. Like, that's being. That's really thinking about who you are, what you are. I'll give you an example I've been thinking about. As you know, I only coach writers who are involved in our performance riders program, but I've been thinking about doing some outside clinics, and I've been throwing around a different model of perhaps doing the first day as a day without the horse. And I've been putting that to a few clinic organizers. And it's amazing the feedback that's coming back, one of which was like, oh, most of the riders won't set aside a day just to do theory.

Yes. This sounds very familiar. When we started performance writers, that's exactly what I heard a lot of. It's a difficult mindset to overcome. Yes. So, sorry, I just had to say that. That sounds very familiar.

Incredible. So, you know, they'll only set aside a couple of hours maybe on the night, Friday night, to run through some theory. I'm like, well, hang on, that's just missing the point completely. And that's not the clinic organizer missing the point. She's just relax. They're just relaying the. The vibe to me. And so it's like, oh, that's missing the point. Because it would take a full day not to go theory all day just to actually get to the bottom of who's responsible for the improvement in this combination, you or the horse. And getting it through to the people that you, you are 100% responsible for how this goes. And you need to improve yourself. And you need to. To do that, you need to understand your weaknesses and understand your vulnerabilities and your. All those things need to be kind of flushed out. Understood. And then you can take on the information. So coming back to this topic that is all in your head. That's all mental. That's all being clever if you apply it in the right way. So, yeah, that's probably where that was going. I just know, personally, I have. Have improved so much more. The more I have looked to myself.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I just love this topic so much and, and it's something that, you know, I'm sure the writers in our program are so sick of me banging on about the fact that we have to take everything that you're saying, and especially in the early days when we're not. That's not all automatic for us. And we, you know, you would do it more on the fly, but for most of us, we need to be really deliberate about that. And we sit down with a pen and paper and we plan it out, and then we reflect on our session. And that then, like you're saying, allows us to track either progress or regress. Like, how are we actually going? What's working, what's not. It's such a smarter way, I think, to go about training. And from what I've seen working with our writers over the years.

Yeah, I mean, just going back to the riders who will only set aside a couple of hours on a, you know, to. To go through some. Some of this crucial stuff. What I've learned in the years is that those riders will. Will have an epiphany. They will have a change of mindset, but only when they've hit rock bottom. Right. Meaning the scores. If they're using scores as their measurement of progress, progress or, you know, how they're getting better when the scores are hitting a bit of a stagnant or, Or. Or, you know, going down, or the horse starts complaining, jacking up, stopping, not doing it, whatever. So when they've hit a bit of a wall, then they'll go, oh, okay, maybe I need to look further afield, or maybe I need to change my way. But that's too late. The damage is done. The unraveling of the problem only takes twice as long. And I guess where I'd like riders to just start to think and reflect about this is you might, okay, you might think you're going well, but it doesn't hurt to have to reflect, even when you are going well, to think about where the future is. Am I tracking the right way? Does this feel right? Does it feel right? Does it, you know, does it feel like I kind of. My horses were on the right way, or does it feel completely wrong? I'm probably winning or I'm doing really well, but it just doesn't feel like this is sustainable. Like, go on, you got feel a little bit, or at least ask someone and try to apply some smarts about it and get in before you hit the rock bottom.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think, like, this all has to be, you know, we all need to take time and responsibility for this because it's very easy, I think, just to jump from riding one horse to another horse to another horse, to doing stable work, to doing book work, to doing a job, a family, whatever. We have to carve out a bit of time for this reflection and to be strategic, you know, it's part of the job, so to speak.

Yeah. And I tend to find that when I'm driving is when I do most of my thinking about this.

Yeah.

You know, on the mower, all those things, just those moments when there's a bit of dead time. Yeah. Great chance to run through this sort of thinking. And, and I think also, and I guess, you know, it's okay to say this, but it does take a fair bit of experience to even notice when you're going on the wrong way. And I wouldn't expect some people new to the sport to know. To know that. But it, it certainly doesn't hurt to, to, you know, go and approach someone who is more experienced and just ask some questions. Just ask some really intelligent questions. Yeah. And, and get a bit of an idea that way. You'll find most people who are experienced in dress sergeant and and have been around are very open with their time. And if they've got the time, they will take the time to help you. And I think I don't see that enough. I see a lot of walls up and a lot of guarded kind of behaviors, possibly not feeling open, not feeling confident enough to reveal what could be weaknesses. The way I always look at that is at the end of the day, the weaknesses are going to be revealed whether you like it or not. And they're gonna. You may as well confess to them or the judges are going to see them or the horse is going to reveal them. What somewhere in this sport your weaknesses will be revealed. And so it's better to be a little bit transparent or open with it and, and then try to work at it. Like there could be a horse weakness, could be a rider weakness, just. But work at it and just have a good plan around it because everything, everyone has a weakness, every rider, every horse. And then having a good plan. And because going forward, you'll find you'll just miss so many potholes in the road if you can just be clever about it.

Just a quick message from us. If any of the ideas discuss discussed today resonate with you and you'd love to dive deeper, head over to performanceriders.com there's a bunch of free content for you and there's loads of opportunities as well to work with us by enrolling in one of our training or mentoring programs, performanceriders.com so the part reason we're talking about today is 80% of dressage is mental and the rest is in your head. Now, Brett, I've deliberately Gone with this parism at the moment of recording, it's May 2024, and we're about to launch our first program that we've put together with an amazing member of our extended family who is a performance psychologist, Jonah Oliver. So if anyone's interested in this sort of topic, head to performancewriters.com resilient riders and you'll find the program there. It is called Resilient Riders, and it's all about the psychology of unlocking your potential, really. And it's not just potential in the competition arena. That's sort of where the end result shows up, Brett. But it's actually a lot about what is the work we're putting in in training off the horse, all the things you're talking about today. It's too late when we get to competition day to be starting that work. So I'm excited about that program. And you love that as well. You love doing that one. Brett.

Yeah, look, I'm excited about that as well. I mean, Jonah. I've always found Jonah to just be a straight shooter. And everything he says, you just go, that's right. Why didn't I think of that? And. And nothing, Nothing. I mean, he just brings it back to reality so quickly, so easily in a very understandable way. I, I always feel you feel empowered because you feel like, oh, my goodness, the, the solution is right here in front of me.

And I think he's really good at helping us unravel these stories that we come up with and these behaviors that we have, like avoiding uncomfortable situations and helping us understand why we do those and then how we can actually instead move towards our goals instead of sort of sabotaging ourselves.

Yeah.

Speaking of performance psychology, let's discuss this parism in terms of competition mindset and how that, you know, how we come to performance competition, being strategic thinking writers. I mean, has your. Have your thoughts or strategies changed over the years in this regard?

I was lucky enough early in my career. Well, firstly, going back even further, so to the days when I was competing in rodeos, we. Rodeo is a sport, and I don't want to sort of harp on this, but rodeo is a sport where you do treat it like a, a sport. It's an explosive sport. It's a sport where you have to be very quick and supple and all those things. But also you need to learn to react in a way which is your subconscious reacting, not actually your conscious thought, because it's all too fast. So the only way you can get your subconscious to make reactions that Your body then follows is by practicing and practicing, visualizing, slowing things down, thinking of just keeping it simple. All of those disciplines will allow you to train your subconscious to make reactions that you do before you even think. So then bringing that through to dressage and applying it there. There are, there are a lot of things that you want to be able to do in dressage that are subconscious. So you can have a free conscious mind to think of other things in the competition. So, and it is about training your subconscious. So again, visualizing. But also early in my career, I'll pick that up where I left off. Early in my career, I was lucky enough to have mentorship from Ulla Soulsgibbe, who was a brilliant test rider, German test rider, world champion. And I think I really, at that stage in my career was a sponge. And I learned so much from Uller about how to ride a good test. And one of the things that she said to me was, it doesn't matter what horse you're on or what horse someone else in the warm up is on, what truck they drive in, who coaches them. The moment you go in the gate at a. It is about nothing else other than writing well, writing well, being smart and scoring points. And I've always had that in the back of my mind. And she would tell me all the little things, the little setups, the moments to think about this when you're doing something else. You might be finishing or you might be in a movement and you're thinking about a movement that's possibly going to happen next or maybe even two movements ahead to, to have your mind free enough that you can be planning things while you're doing things. So to do that, I've practiced this a lot and a lot of it is in visualization. I do find myself visualizing quite a bit. I possibly don't have to work so hard on the subconscious things now because they happen to be a lot more naturally. But back in the day, when I did have to work on the subconscious, I would just repeat it over and over again in my mind. Or if I was walking somewhere, I'd repeat it over and over again, just slowing things down, putting my body into positions I needed to be in so that it could. This is all off the horse, by the way, and on the horse. But when you're on the horse, there's only a, you know, a finite number of minutes that you can be training. So you have to do more off the horse if you want to speed this process up. So, yeah, I, I think a lot of, well, A lot of test riding is about your preparation. Mentally, you've done the work, the horse is trained to the level, confident, and the rest is the way in which you prepare. And then of course, when you go in the test, how your degree of focus, because that will allow you to do things the way in which you prepared to do it.

I wanted to ask you about focus, actually, because that's something that you speak a lot about in our programs for our writers. And I was reminded when you were telling a story about ula, about another story you tell related to focus in the test. Do you know what story I'm talking about?

Oh, yeah. Yep.

Why don't you share that one?

Yeah, that. Well, that was at Arkin in 2008 and I'd had a bit of a. A baptism of fire. That was the first time I'd gone to Europe to compete. And I, you know, had had some up and down results. But by the time Arken came around, which was in July, I was starting to feel comfortable in that company. And I knew some of the major trainers because I'd worked for them when I was younger, going over to Europe and the whole thing. So I felt confident enough to ask questions. And I rode a test in Arin, which I thought was a special. I thought it was probably the best test I'd ridden on that trip. And I said to Chef Jansen, who. I mean, Chef Jansen, who, you know, was the Dutch trainer for a long time in the. In the. The husband of Anky van Gruntsfen, you know, multiple world champion Olympic medalist. And Chef. I would say Chef's strength was his understanding of high performance sport. And I said to him, I said, oh, did you see my test today? And he goes, yeah, I saw it. And I said, what did you think? And I'm thinking, oh, he's going to tell me I'm getting better. And. And he said, your focus needs to improve a lot. And I said, oh, really? And he said, yeah, you're not focused enough. And I thought, wow. I said, what do you mean by that? And he says, well, I was watching your eyes the whole time you're writing the test. And he said, you are not where you need to be when it comes to focus. Your eyes are everywhere. And he said, see that mistake you made at the end of the changes? And I went, yeah. And he goes, that wouldn't have happened if you were focused. And he said, the. And he said, the. The. The skill of Anki. And he said, Isabelle as well. He said, the skill of Anki. And Isabel is. They have a higher level of focus than any other rider in the. In the competition. And I never, ever forgot that. And I don't think I pretty much can only think of one test that I've written where I was, I think, at the level of focus that he was referring to.

Well, hang on.

One test, I think so. In my whole. In my whole riding career today, even though, you know, I've had some great rides at shows all around the place, I can only think of one that I came out. And so it was almost like my head was underwater. And then at the end of the test, I came above the water to, you know, that's the difference. That's. And I. And when I wrote out, I was just so happy. It was only a prison George test. It wasn't as if it was a. I'd love to say it was this. This moment where I was like world champions. It was just like a prison George test. I think state championships. But what I'm trying to say there is just the focus just felt right the whole way through it and still trying to get back to that.

Yeah. Isn't that interesting? And for someone who's ridden so many tests and has won so many championships, you can think of one example when you were really like, head underwater, like you were saying, it sticks a lot. Well, you've still got a lot of work to do. You should do Jonah's program.

Yeah, yeah, right. And it's a discipline. It really is a discipline. It's muscle. It's a muscle that gets stronger when you work it. This is focus. And it's a discipline. It's a discipline to keep working it. And.

Yeah.

And I guess that, you know, when you're trying to be at that world elite level. I must say I am a bit guilty here in Australia of not being at that level of focus. It happens easier for me when I am overseas because the stakes are higher.

But.

Yeah, but yeah, it's. It's something I need to work on as a writer. I know, I know. It's interesting, you know, the com. The topic of this conversation being 80 mental rest in your head. I. I know exactly the areas I need to work on to. To be better myself, to be a better writer. I. I know exactly what they are. And it's then down to the.

Can't say that and then not tell us.

Oh, look, I. To be honest, I don't. I. You know, I'd probably be here for another hour.

That's another. That's another episode.

Because focus is One of them, like, focus is one. I need to train with better focus. I need to train with more intensity. I need to train with more discipline. That's 100% has to happen. I, I'm guilty of only, only feeling like that's needed when the stakes, when the stakes are high.

Yeah.

That needs to be part of a normal, like a normal routine.

And I think a lot of people could relate to that. You know, even at different levels, I hear that a lot. People saying, like, you know, there's no competitions because this, this, that and the other weather, blah, blah, blah. And so I just have lost, you know, know, lost my motivation because there's no competition. So it's a, a similar thing.

And that's about setting your own standards. So basically, because, you know, if the stakes aren't high enough, you have to make the stakes high enough. And what, what is that? What does that look like? Well, then, yeah. Is that, is that your own personal standards? This is the standard that I want to be at and, and I'm going to keep trying to get there. And you know, of course, you're an animal that's involved who might not agree with those standards, but, you know, that's where your head has to be. Right. To chip away. So when you start framing it up like that and, and saying, well, that's the standard, that's the focus, that's the discipline, that's the intensity that I need. Well, then, very easy to get over. It's not like you're, it's not like we're swimmers or runners. We. The more you put in, generally, yes, more you're going to achieve in time. And I imagine in swimming and running and the likes, that would only help you to a point as well. There'd have to be a point where the, the next 100th of a second is not in working harder, it's in working smarter or focus or whatever. Well, that's then because we have an animal involved. So much of this is in our head too. So we have to, we have to notice. Oh, I'm getting a bit intense here. I have increased the intensity and I have increased everything, but I'm actually, this is now detrimental. So that's what I mean about the whole 80% of its mental and the rest in your head because you have to be aware when you are going. When you are going too much for the horse.

Yeah, exactly. Boy, oh boy, what an awesome topic. I could happily speak on this topic or hear you speak on this topic for hours.

I think, Jonah, I think the Jonah thing is great. Like I can't wait to hear like people within the industry complete the Jonah yeah Course because they will be interesting to hear their feedback. I, I can't wait because it is so much of the improvement in this sport, in this country can be done just by someone like Jonah being accessible. I mean this guy, this guy works with Cameron Smith, the golfer. You know, racing car drivers all around the world, tennis players, high level tennis players generally not that accessible to address our driver 100.

Yeah.

And. And now we have the access to him. I and, and you know, I suppose it's good to, to give the listeners a view on like my view on how much of this is in our head. Love. I can't wait to see this flow through into the writing around the place and training. I think it'll make a big difference.

Yeah. Really excited for that. So yeah, that is about to kick off. Like I say at the time of recording this episode, it's May 2020 and we're about to kick off the first round and I'm sure that will not be the final one. We'll keep on with that program so you can check it out@performanceriders.com thank you so much, Brett. Really fascinating episode and I always loved hearing your stories. So thank you for that.

No trouble. Thanks. N.