Understanding Focus: Harness Attention for Better Riding

Focus is crucial in all areas of life, but for equestrians, it’s an essential skill that can make or break your performance. Whether you’re schooling, jumping, or simply hacking, your focus determines how effectively you respond to your horse’s cues, how well you manage the environment around you, and how mindful you are of your own riding position. In this first blog, we’ll dig into the different ways we can focus, why it’s important to understand where our attention is at any given moment, and how recognizing our natural tendencies can make us better riders.

Why Focus Matters for Equestrians

Riding is a dynamic activity that requires constant awareness of several factors: the cues from your horse, your body position, and the environment around you. As a rider, you’re constantly juggling these elements, responding to the horse’s movement, and maintaining your own posture—all while staying aware of things like upcoming obstacles or changes in the ground. This makes focus incredibly important.

The best riders are the ones who can tune into what’s important in the moment—what’s related to performance—and let go of everything else. It’s not about constantly thinking, but rather about concentrating on the right things and defocusing on what doesn’t matter. Learning to control where your attention goes can prevent distractions from taking over, helping you stay calm and composed even when things aren’t going perfectly.

The good news? Focus is a skill that can be developed, enhanced, and relearned. So let’s break down the different types of focus we use when riding, and how you can become more aware of your own preferences.

Internal vs. External Focus

The first big distinction to consider is whether your focus tends to be internal or external. Internal focus means you’re paying attention to your own body and movements, like how your hands are positioned, the pressure in your legs, or the alignment of your seat. External focus, on the other hand, means paying attention to things in your environment—like other riders, obstacles, or even the surroundings when you’re out on a hack.

As equestrians, it’s important to find a balance. If you tend to focus too much internally, you might become so absorbed in how your body feels that you miss key details like your horse’s behavior or an unexpected distraction. Conversely, focusing too much on external factors can make you forget about the crucial task at hand: maintaining the right position and responding to your horse’s cues.

Ideally, you want to blend both types of focus. Pay attention to your body and your horse’s responses, but also stay aware of the outside world, especially when navigating obstacles or dealing with unexpected situations.

Narrow vs. Broad Focus

Focus can also be narrow or broad. A narrow focus means you’re concentrating on a very specific aspect of your riding, like making sure your heels are down or checking your horse’s hindquarters during a transition. A broad focus, however, involves taking in the bigger picture, like the rhythm of your entire ride or the overall feel of the partnership between you and your horse.

Both narrow and broad focus have their advantages, but they can also have drawbacks if taken to extremes. If you get too narrow in your focus, you might forget to check on things like your overall position or the tempo of the ride. On the other hand, if your focus is too broad, you might miss crucial details, like adjusting your rein contact or noticing when your horse starts to lose rhythm.

The key is flexibility. You need to be able to shift between narrow and broad focus as needed—narrow when you’re perfecting a specific skill or correcting a detail, and broad when you’re assessing the overall performance.

Practical Tips for Managing Focus

As you practice, it’s helpful to reflect on where your attention is at different stages of your ride. Are you focusing more on your horse’s movement or on your own posture? Are you tuned into the environment around you, or are you lost in your own thoughts?

Here are a few questions to help you get started:

• Where is your attention when you’re leading your horse or warming up?
• Does your focus change depending on whether you’re doing flatwork, jumping, or hacking?
• How does your focus shift when you’re riding with others versus riding alone?
• Where does your focus go when you’re being watched by others?

By reflecting on these questions, you’ll start to notice patterns, and you’ll get better at adjusting your attention in ways that benefit your riding. It might feel a bit mechanical at first, especially if you’re not used to consciously directing your focus, but with practice, it will become second nature. Eventually, you’ll be able to ride with a more natural and effective flow, effortlessly adjusting as needed.

The Role of Awareness

One of the first steps is becoming more aware of where your attention is at all times. At first, you might find that your mind wanders, or you get distracted by things outside of your control. That’s okay! The awareness comes first, and with it, the ability to regain control over where your focus goes.

Over time, you’ll get better at shifting your focus without consciously thinking about it. Just like when you first learned to ride and struggled with things like posting to the trot, the more you practice, the more automatic it becomes. Soon, focusing will be an instinctive part of your riding toolkit.

In the next blog, we’ll dive into how to refocus once you’ve lost attention, and how to handle distractions that can pull you away from the present moment. Stay tuned!

If you’re interested in equestrian mindset, have you listened to my podcast yet? It’s available on all the usual podcast platforms, or simply click this link.

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