Creating a mindset of motivation

Each month our High Performance Coach, Anna Krups, takes inspiration from the Inspirational Australian Dressage 2010 Calender quote. The August quote is

"You must motivate yourself everyday" - Matthew Stasior

How did you go utilizing your inner resourcefulness last month rather than
relying on outside resources? I trust some of you will have been quite surprised about the results you can achieve...true? If you missed it, read last months blog here.

This months calendar page is quite moving for me. For one because the quote really touches a chord in me, but mostly for the beautiful young man in the picture!

Nicholas Fyffe is a true friend, mentor and teacher who lives by this quote 100%!

As many of you know Nicholas has recently left this country to expand his career overseas and Australia will be missing one of its true dressage talents and committed horsemen.

I met Nicholas when I just moved here from Germany in 2006 and had the luck to spend a lot of time with him Suntori Park (owned by Dr. Phil & Jenny Rapson). Not only did I buy my beautiful young horse Reverence F from Nicholas, he is the one from whom I've learned most about training horses, maintaining their health - and motivation. Not only motivating yourself, but also motivating your horse!

As Riders we often battle with our own motivation and just expect the horse to perform, once we have made up our mind that "yes, I will ride tonight". Really it is not all about us in this "game", there's two involved. Nicholas has an exceptional way of motivating the horse to work with him by creating an interesting training schedule, taking the horses out on long walks and focusing on the little things the horse does well and give them their deserved praise. Nicholas understands that the horse can't be in the same mood everyday and that we need to accept that when working with this amazing animals.

"But what about us" you might think. We need to work, we have partners, families, households and friends who also require our time. Yes, I agree that sometimes it can be an absolute nightmare to get up at a crazy time in the morning (especially now during the winter months) to face the wet, cold and dark conditions in the stable, not even mentioning if you need to drive there for 50 minutes first!

Having to travel a lot for my corporate work at the moment, I have created a shift in my perception of these "nightmare" conditions - I LOVE riding my horse now (no matter the weather and the time of the day). One, the stable where we are has an absolutely amazing indoor arena. But two (and even more importantly) I have changed the way I perceive riding my horse. It is not that I HAVE to, now I AM ABLE to!

Motivation often sounds like a lot of pressure and "I must" or "I should", but really it is about you creating a mindset of "I really want" or an "I get to". It's not about the iron jar determination, it's about looking at a situation from a different angle. When we step out of our normal point of view and look at thinks from a different angle, the whole situation can look differently.

That's what Nicholas does every day, he considers himself lucky to ride so many fabulous horses, he has a mindset of being grateful for his fortune, rather than complaining about the long hours and an aching body at the end of the day.

You know what, if there is one day in between all of those we train our horses where we really don't feel like it, well maybe just don't do it on that one day! Allow yourself and your horse some rest when you need it. It gets you to take a step back, to fill up your energy tank again and move forward the next day with that bit more enthusiasm and enjoyment. It is really about finding a balance that works for you and your horse.

Talking about balance... Nick, we are thinking of you in the Greek islands enjoying long island ice-teas and the sunny European summer! :)

To your success,
Anna