Courage is to never let your actions be influenced by your fear.
– Arthur Koestler
FEAR is GOOD.
Fear is designed to keep up safe. It’s the voice that tells you to wait till the bus passes prior to stepping onto the road, or to not put your hand into the fire. This is when fear is beneficial to our well being, in these instances it doesn’t arouse anxiety or stress, we listen and respond accordingly.
The issues arise when fear holds us back from doing what we love. If you’re too anxious to canter your horse, your body responds with tension, possibly your horse becomes anxious too, and a cycle of fear is created.
Or maybe you ride happily all week, training for the weekend competition, but your anxieties roll in with the weekend, and the competition you were soooo looking forward to instead becomes a stressful situation.
If this sounds like you, then the first step is to recognise this as fear in your body. When fear becomes stuck in your body, it creates tension and anxieties which is reflected in your posture and affects your horse.
The second part is to breath into your fear and ‘let go’ on the exhale. Letting go means letting go of the tension and anxieties as well as letting go of the thoughts and stories you’ve been telling yourself about this situation. It’s amazing what can happen when we simply ‘let go’.
We have horses because we are passionate about horses all they bring into our lives, it’s time to let go of the stories and be courageous enough to fully experience wondrous beauty of these magnificent animals.
Mel x
