Equestrian
Boosting riders’ confidence key to success I’m Allison Barfoot – a creative, dreamer, inspirer, adventurer and horse riding coach amongst many other hats/identities/masks. Today I am wearing my riding coach hat and have something to share with you. There is a new drug I’ve found out about that enhances the performance of athletes. I was drawn in as I find the word ‘drug’ conjures up images in my mind of elite cyclists taking faster drugs and then being banned from the sport. I was
intrigued and curious to find out more. This drug, if administered in the correct way, increases self-esteem, boosts confidence and pushes boundaries of potential and outcome. However, if this drug is used in the wrong hands it can destroy children, adults, men, women, athletes, any one of us... crushing dreams and beliefs. In the wrong hands it can destroy lives and often is so damaging the person doesn’t recover long into adulthood or even on their death bed
from its misuse. This drug has been around since the start of time, it is in abundance and it is unbelievably FREE. Have you worked out what the drug is? It’s language. Always putting people down and giving negative comments or sarcasm doesn’t build self-esteem or confidence. Build people up, give them hope, be kind, be an encourager. We are in a world of constant evolution and we need more builders of confidence and kindness right now.
So perhaps this year you can think before you speak and ask yourself, is it kind? Is it helpful? Am I building someone up or am I crushing them? Is it time to change your vibe and start using this free drug? Allison is a Centre10 Advanced Coach and won the Centre10 Coaches Impact Award 2020. Allison trained with Charlie Unwin, Elite Sports Psychologist and Sarah Huntley, psychologist at Centre10, Training Elite Minds.
Why not try indoor carriage driving? By Jade Leahy Indoor carriage driving was developed by Dick Carey in the 1980s. As a lover of traditional driving, he sought to spread enthusiasm for the sport by creating a discipline that was accessible, since traditional driving competitions involved threeday events with strict turnout, and a significant investment of time and money that made it prohibitive to many wouldbe competitors. Dick founded an indoor winter league that required warm layers and commitment of a single day. The first event at Blue Barn EC, Ashford, Kent, for the Shepway Harness Club and the discipline is going from strength to strength, with 20 regions in the UK governed by the umbrella body the ICD UK. Competitions have three phases, precision and paces, cones and obstacles. Classes are judged by a points system and drivers must qualify in each class with the national championships taking place at Keysoe in Milton Keynes. In the first phase, one judge 76
marks the precision of each movement and the other marks the pace. In the second phase competitors navigate a cone course, of no more than 10 gates, incurring five penalty points for every ball dislodged from a cone and one mark for each second above or below the optimum time. The third and most exciting phase is the obstacles. These are posts and rails which make ‘gates’ which have to be negotiated in order – A, B, C, D, E. Two obstacles
are built in the ring with a common start/finish gate between them in the centre of the ring. This section is scored one mark per second that the competitor is in the obstacle zone. There is usually one knockdown for each movable element, and they are scored at five marks each. All other penalties are as per the ICD/BHDTA rules. Any penalty marks are added to the times taken for the obstacle to produce the final score for this section.
Dorset’s indoor driving league is now run from Motcombe’s Half Moon Stud, and there are three competition levels: novice, intermediate and open. The novice class is just as much fun, but without the pressure to beat the clock. One of Dorset’s best-known competitors and founder of Wessex Driving is Julia Liles. Julia began carriage driving in the late 1980s and started off with a team of small but mighty Shetlands. She went on to develop a team of Welsh Ponies and has a lot of success over the years. She’s a regular competitor and Motcombe and her team ranges from age seven to 15. Julia also lets her expert ponies have a whizz around the course, teaching novice drivers the ropes, so if you fancy giving indoor driving a go pop along to their next event. The club is seeking to grow and develop the sport and is in the process of developing and outdoor summer league, combining the thrills of competitive driving with the beautiful backdrop of the North Dorset countryside.
