Hanover
“He failed 10,000 times, but he didn’t look at it that way,” Stewart said to students at his “Pressure Proof Your Riding” clinic last weekend at 8T Acres Equestrian Center. “He said, ‘I have not failed. I have simply found 10,000 ways it won’t work.’ ”
Stewart aims to elicit similar outlooks from horseback riding pupils during his clinics and seminars, performed by the Naples, Fla.-based trainer and author at more than 50 U.S. locations each year. 8T Acres’ co-owner, Ashley Glynn, has known Stewart for years and is a certified coach in his “Ride Right” training program.
A sports psychologist, Stewart specializes in mental training to help riders reduce pressure and stress and limit distractions while competing. His classes last weekend split 24 riders into groups of four — three groups each on Saturday and Sunday — for riding clinics, followed by a “fitness boot camp” seminar demonstrating how to use everyday horse-barn equipment for exercise tools.
The clinics centered on the mental aspects of show jumping and what Stewart called “laws” of the discipline.
“Show jumping is hard, but it’s possible to enjoy the hard stuff,” he said to the first group Saturday. “The way we do that is by honoring a few laws and bylaws. That’s how we find our happy place.”
Learning concentration and focus and remaining optimistic were two of Stewart’s initial pointers, followed by a tactic he dubbed “mental multitasking.”
“There’s a lot going on with horseback riding. It’s like you’re juggling a hot dog, a chainsaw and a kitten,” Stewart said. “But as you keep juggling, the next thing you know you have a good rhythm going and you focus. You can knock a rail off a fence and know that you can leave it behind you, because there’s still the jump in front of you to focus on. You become selective and understand that it’s your choice.”
Stewart cautioned against becoming frustrated and cranky — what he calls “franky” — while endeavoring to develop “mistakeability.”
“You have to be willing to make mistakes without getting upset,” he said. “Every mistake is a learning opportunity and a way of figuring out how not to do things, just like Thomas Edison said. … We need to refrain from being franky, whether we’re on, off, under or around the horse, because the horse takes on the qualities of the rider.”
Four girls aged 11-14 made up the clinic’s first group on Saturday. After recruiting parents to serve as scoring scribes and allowing for some practice rounds, Stewart sent participants, one at a time, through the course with specific instructions. Each was allowed up to 30 faults, accumulated by missing stride counts, missing or repeating jumps and failing to change direction (if instructed), plus one fault each for every second over or under Stewart’s prescribed completion times.
Accumulate more than 30 faults and pupils had to do sit-ups on a mount in the corner of the ring.
“By the end of the day, I will witness at least 1,500-2,000 sit-ups,” Stewart warned.
Twelve-year-old Stella Coulter-Duling, of Newport, was the first to be scored while riding and quickly demonstrated a mistake Stewart had warned about when she forgot to count her strides out loud prior to clearing jumps.
“It’s called stress-induced amnesia,” the trainer said. “When you get nervous, your memory goes away. You forget everything except for the fact you’re on a horse. All of us will struggle with memory.”
Coulter-Duling was nearly flawless with the other aspects of her ride and was issued only four faults on the clock. Phew, no sit-ups. In fact, all four went sit-up free during the first round, which asked them to go three strides over two jumps in 12 seconds.
In the second round — an instructed three strides over three jumps in 25 seconds — Rebekah Washer, of Canaan, experienced a round of mistakes near the end of her run and knew she was in for some sit-ups, but she found consolation in Stewart’s words.
“You know what, Rebekah, good for you,” Stewart said before turning to the rest of his audience. “She’s (upset) because she cares. She cares about doing well, and when mistakes add up, it hurts. The only time I’ve ever dismissed someone from one of my classes is when they said, ‘I don’t care.’ ”
Riders improved as the clinic continued, even as courses and instructions grew more difficult. Stewart was right — they all did sit-ups by the end — including 11-year-old Lauren Gilliland, of Grafton, who’d eluded them until the final round.
Washer, a Mascoma High freshman, said all of the multitasking is the most challenging aspect of horseback riding.
“You have to make sure you know what the jumps look like, that your tack is right, that your horse is doing OK,” Washer said. “Then you have to go out and (perform). To stay positive and strong through all of that is super hard. Just staying on the horse takes a lot of core-muscle strength, hand strength and leg strength to stay balanced.”
That’s part of why another portion of Stewart’s seminars are his “fitness boot camps,” where he encourages the utilization of horse-barn items to help improve strength and stamina. Recommended exercises include a lead rope for jump roping, mounting blocks for body weight squats and ground poles for pace-jumping drills.
Co-owner Glynn, who opened 8T Acres with her husband, Pete, earlier this year, utilizes the exercises herself around the barn.
“What (Stewart) says, and this is very true, is that it’s hard for (equestrian riders) to simulate being on a horse,” said Glynn, a level four dressage competitor and AAA-certified United States Pony Club member. “If you’re a biker, you can ride an exercise bike. If you’re a runner, you can use a treadmill. If you’re a rower, there are rowing machines, but you can’t really practice horseback riding without a horse.”
Glynn, who’d assisted Stewart at a similar clinic last year at Double Clear Farm in Warner, N.H., was glad to host one of his clincis at her and her husband’s new equestrian and riding center.
“It was great to have Daniel here, and I think everyone who signed up got a lot out of if,” she said. “I think they all went home with some new knowledge and new things to work on.”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.