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Flossy is well known to many on the British Dressage Forum as a teller of interesting stories and perhaps the odd joke or two. We have selected a few tales for your pleasure.
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Controlling nerves
Controlling nerves
With the new restructured British Dressage competition system Junior Trainer found himself in the same championship competing against the Top Competitor Marco de Graber . It was the BD final for the “HALT only competition “ with its full variant of tests;
“Halt against the clock “, “Free style to music halt” ,”Halt with immobility (rising optional) etc.
Excitement and anxiety were playing havoc on Junior Trainers nerves, will he remember the test ? is the music going to fit his halt ? , has he included enough technical difficulties in his Halt only test , his head was as active as a bag full of monkeys threatening to escape at any moment .
Together with him in the arena ,preparing for his turn in the competition was the Top Competitor Marco de Graber , riding in his usual assured calm and relaxed manner , putting the final touches to his warm-up routine .
Junior Trainer looked at him with envious admiration “What nerves !!, why can’t he (Junior ) Stay as calm and collected as Marco de Graber” Junior thought to himself.
At one point, when both riders were cooling down their horses walking along side each other on long reins , Junior mastered the courage and asked Marco de Graber for his how to stay calm under pressure secret ,was it sport psychology sessions run by the BEF? Or was it the latest NLP pre completion technique so much talked about on the forum? Or is it simply because Germans don’t have nerves of any kind? “What’s your secret?” Junior asked in a pleading voice.
Marco looked at junior and said “ nno !! it is not some unproven mambo jumbo psyche neurological technique but an old well tried practical procedure that never failed to calm and relax him prior to stress full situations.
He continued “At every competition before I start my warming up I asked my wife (of that time) to join me in the seclusion of our horse box where she employs the old Chinese technique of pressing both sides of my head for about 5 minutes, she does this by me placing my head between her legs and she by closing her knees applies a firm but gentle continuous pressure until any tension or negative thoughts simply evaporate in to the thin air, JUNIOR THAT THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS you ought to try it”.
The next day the transformation in Junior Trainer’s demine was clear an obvious to all, some of it even rubbed on his mount Bluey the cob that showed sparkle and activity in his halt work never seen before.
“How did it go?” Marco de Graber asked.
“Great” Junior replied “I did as you said AND I had the best ride of my life, I remembered the test even got the halt immobile for the whole 5 seconds required, THANKS Marco and by the way YOU HAVE A VERY NICE HORSE BOX”
With the new restructured British Dressage competition system Junior Trainer found himself in the same championship competing against the Top Competitor Marco de Graber . It was the BD final for the “HALT only competition “ with its full variant of tests;
“Halt against the clock “, “Free style to music halt” ,”Halt with immobility (rising optional) etc.
Excitement and anxiety were playing havoc on Junior Trainers nerves, will he remember the test ? is the music going to fit his halt ? , has he included enough technical difficulties in his Halt only test , his head was as active as a bag full of monkeys threatening to escape at any moment .
Together with him in the arena ,preparing for his turn in the competition was the Top Competitor Marco de Graber , riding in his usual assured calm and relaxed manner , putting the final touches to his warm-up routine .
Junior Trainer looked at him with envious admiration “What nerves !!, why can’t he (Junior ) Stay as calm and collected as Marco de Graber” Junior thought to himself.
At one point, when both riders were cooling down their horses walking along side each other on long reins , Junior mastered the courage and asked Marco de Graber for his how to stay calm under pressure secret ,was it sport psychology sessions run by the BEF? Or was it the latest NLP pre completion technique so much talked about on the forum? Or is it simply because Germans don’t have nerves of any kind? “What’s your secret?” Junior asked in a pleading voice.
Marco looked at junior and said “ nno !! it is not some unproven mambo jumbo psyche neurological technique but an old well tried practical procedure that never failed to calm and relax him prior to stress full situations.
He continued “At every competition before I start my warming up I asked my wife (of that time) to join me in the seclusion of our horse box where she employs the old Chinese technique of pressing both sides of my head for about 5 minutes, she does this by me placing my head between her legs and she by closing her knees applies a firm but gentle continuous pressure until any tension or negative thoughts simply evaporate in to the thin air, JUNIOR THAT THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS you ought to try it”.
The next day the transformation in Junior Trainer’s demine was clear an obvious to all, some of it even rubbed on his mount Bluey the cob that showed sparkle and activity in his halt work never seen before.
“How did it go?” Marco de Graber asked.
“Great” Junior replied “I did as you said AND I had the best ride of my life, I remembered the test even got the halt immobile for the whole 5 seconds required, THANKS Marco and by the way YOU HAVE A VERY NICE HORSE BOX”
