Performance Anxiety in the Saddle: Managing Nerves and Building Confidence as an Equestrian
You spent months, maybe years, preparing for this day. Long hours at the barn, polishing tack, practicing routines, and watching the jump standards rise to new heights. It’s all been worth it to get you here. Whether you ride English or Western, compete in dressage or stadium jumping, you know the flutter in your chest as you approach the starting gate. But what happens when that flutter continues and turns into fear? Your heart quickens, your muscles tense and over the pounding of your heartbeat you can barely hear your trainer calling directions from the side of the ring. Your mind races and you don’t understand why this is happening when you felt so comfortable in practice.
Performance anxiety isn't limited to competition. Riders may experience it before a lesson, approaching a difficult course, trying a new jump, riding an unfamiliar horse, or returning to the saddle after a fall or mistake. Nerves are normal and can even help us feel alert, focused, and ready to perform. When those nerves become intense enough to pull our attention away from the present task and interfere with our performance, this may be performance anxiety. A rider may start overthinking, rushing, freezing, avoiding certain situations, becoming physically tense, or questioning skills that normally feel automatic.
Anxiety can show up in our thoughts, emotions, and body, and it may look different from one person to the next. Mentally, anxiety might show up as constant worry, racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating, or negative self-talk. Emotionally, you might feel overwhelmed, helpless, fearful, or on edge. Physically, anxiety can show up as an increased heart rate, rapid breathing or shortness of breath, muscle tension, fatigue, chest tightness, dizziness, or that familiar "butterflies in your stomach" feeling. For one rider, anxiety might be a pounding heart as they wait at the gate. For another, it might be going blank halfway through a course, repeatedly thinking I'm going to mess this up, or feeling their entire body tense as they approach a difficult movement. Anxiety doesn't live only in your head, it can show up throughout your whole body. When you're in the saddle, those thoughts, emotions, and physical responses can influence your attention, confidence, decision-making, and performance.
Equestrians face something unique compared with many other athletes: you are performing with another living being. Riding requires constant communication between horse and rider. Changes in your tension, attention, timing, and behavior can change the signals you give your horse. When you notice your horse responding differently, you may become even more nervous. Suddenly, a flutter of anxiety has become a feedback loop.
Consider a rider approaching a jump that has given them difficulty before. The rider remembers the previous difficulty and thinks, I'm going to mess this up again. Their heart rate increases, and their body becomes tense. Their attention shifts from riding the course to worrying about what might happen. Then, after the ride, comes another important moment. The interpretation of the event. If we feel embarrassed, think we did poorly, even when most of the ride went well, focusing on one mistake can shape how a rider remembers the entire experience. That interpretation can influence confidence and the anxiety they bring into the next ride. Over time, riders may find themselves caught in a cycle of anticipating anxiety, experiencing it, questioning their performance, and becoming increasingly apprehensive about situations they previously approached with confidence.
The goal isn't to never feel nervous again. It is learning to recognize what is happening cognitively, emotionally, and physically, and understanding how those responses may be influencing your performance. It is just as important to distinguish performance anxiety from appropriate fear. Equestrian sports involve real safety considerations. Your horse, environment, experience level, and physical safety matter. Learning to manage performance anxiety does not mean ignoring those signals or simply "pushing through" fear.
Instead, riders can learn to better understand their individual anxiety patterns, recognize when anxiety is interfering with performance, and develop strategies for responding differently before, during, and after a ride. Confidence in the saddle isn't the absence of nerves; it's trusting yourself to respond to them.
Chloe Haws, MA. is a psychology trainee who provides sports psychology and clinical psychology services at Endurance - A Sports and Psychology Center, Inc. Chloe is supervised by Dr. Cory Nyamora, a licensed psychologist, endurance sports coach and the founder and director of Endurance – A Sports & Psychology Center, Inc. Chloe has been riding and competing in different English equestrian disciplines since age four. She is an Army veteran with clinical experience across outpatient, inpatient, and school-based settings. Her clinical interests include anxiety, stress, performance, confidence, and helping individuals develop practical strategies that support both psychological well-being and meaningful performance. Find out more at https://www.endurancecenter.org/chloehaws To schedule an appointment with Chloe please call 510-981-1471.
