Part II

In a jump-off or championship round, what separates riders who thrive under pressure from those who struggle?

JM: The riders who thrive are the ones who don’t get hijacked by the occasion.

Usually, what separates them is preparation, reference points, and the ability to stay physiologically and mentally calm. If it’s your first time in a big class, part of the problem is that you don’t yet have a reference point for what it feels like. That uncertainty can be destabilising. So, riders who prepare well will do everything they can to reduce that uncertainty in advance.

Then, in the moment itself, they manage the basics very well. They keep oxygen in the body. They stay hydrated. They know the plan. They have routines. They have visualised. And when something doesn’t feel perfect, they are able to reset very fast.

The riders who really thrive under pressure also tend to look physically quiet. It’s hard to articulate, but very easy to see. They look still. They look calm. They look like they have space in themselves. Some people have that naturally, but if you don’t, we now know through neuroscience and sports psychology that you can train it.

And they don’t ride the occasion – they ride the horse, the track, and the plan.

Confidence is such a crucial factor in riding - how can riders rebuild it after a mistake or a difficult run of form?

JM: Confidence is one of the most nuanced things we deal with in this sport because it’s never just one thing.

The first step is to understand why confidence has dropped. People often assume it must be because of a fall, a bad round, or a difficult result, and sometimes it is. But sometimes it goes deeper than that. It could be poor sleep, hormones, stress, having a new baby, travel fatigue, or just life catching up with you. Confidence is both mental and physical, and what is happening in your body matters.

Once you understand the cause, then you go back to basics. Lower the height. Reduce the complexity. Ride things you know you can do well. Mastery builds confidence. Success builds confidence. There is absolutely no shame in going back to poles on the ground if that helps rebuild your rhythm, feel and trust.

It’s also important to train your brain to look for the positives. Riders are notorious for coming out of a round and immediately saying, “I was awful at number four,” or “I was too deep to number six,” even if there was only one rail down in an otherwise very good round. Riders of all levels do it. But if the first thing your brain always does is search for what went wrong, you train it to become excellent at finding negatives.

What we should do first is ask: what went well? What did I do right? That doesn’t mean ignoring the mistake. It means leading with the positive, so your brain starts to see that first. Then you can process the mistake honestly. Was it technical? Circumstantial? Was the horse a bit flat? Was the canter not quite there? Was it ground conditions? Was it position? When you break it down properly, it becomes a problem to solve rather than a vague fear to carry.

That is how you rebuild confidence – not by pretending nothing happened, but by understanding what happened, addressing it specifically, and putting positive experiences back into the system.

How does a rider’s mindset directly influence the horse, particularly in high-pressure situations?

JM: Your horse feels far more than most riders realise.

Your mental state goes straight into your body – your seat, your hands, your breathing, your muscle tone, your tension. The horse feels all of that. If you are anxious, your body changes. If you are holding your breath, your body changes. If you are tight, rushed, panicked or doubtful, your horse feels that before you’ve done anything obvious.

That is why mindset in this sport must be metabolised physically, not just cognitively. You can tell yourself all the right things in your head, but if your horse is feeling tension and inconsistency through your body, that is the message that matters.

The very top riders have a quality that is difficult to define but easy to recognise. They look physically quiet. They look still, calm and decisive. And that matters enormously, because the horse responds to that clarity.

The other thing that matters is the relationship itself. The best riders spend time with their horses. You see them down at the stables. You see them around the horses. They are not completely detached from that partnership. That connection matters because in the end, this is a performance carried through another living being, and that relationship is part of the psychology too.

What are some of the most effective mental techniques riders can use day-to-day to improve focus, consistency and performance?

JM: Visualisation is a huge one, if it’s done properly and in enough detail. Not vaguely seeing yourself jump a clear round, but really going through it step by step, with detail and specificity. The brain responds incredibly strongly to that.

Routines matter as well – your warm-up, your approach, your pre-performance habits, the way you organise yourself before you get on. Those routines give your brain something consistent to come back to under pressure.

Resetting is another important skill. Not everybody has that naturally, but it can be trained. You need a mechanism for putting something aside in the moment and saying, “I’ll deal with that later, but right now I ride.”

Breathing and oxygen management are also much more important than people realise. I’m not talking about vague “just breathe” advice. I’m talking about understanding what your body needs to perform.

And then there are the everyday lifestyle habits. Strength and conditioning matter. In riding, people often say they don’t have time, but there are ways to build it into daily life – do squats while the kettle boils, do balance work while brushing your teeth. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

Finally, focus in the modern world is a real challenge. If your phone is pinging all day long, your brain is being trained to switch attention constantly. That makes it harder to stay present in the ring. So, one of the best practical things riders can do is reduce those distractions – turn off unnecessary notifications, create more space, and relearn how to focus for sustained periods.

Looking at the next generation of riders, what mental skills do you think they need to master for future success in the sport?

JM: Focus and concentration are going to be huge. Young riders are growing up in a world where attention is constantly being pulled from one thing to another. That has consequences. If your brain is being trained all day to go ping, ping, ping from one thing to the next, it becomes harder to stay present in the ring when it matters most.

So being able to focus, being able to be still, being able to tolerate boredom even, and being able to put the phone down – those are going to be really important skills.

Resilience is another major one, especially off the horse. The next generation is coming through in a world where they are watched, judged and commented on in real time. Social media is part of the job now whether we like it or not, and they need to be able to let that wash over them without letting it define them.

Decision-making under pressure, self-awareness, and being coachable are also essential. We are doing so much more for children now than previous generations did, and sometimes that means they come into sport without having had to make as many decisions independently. At elite level, they will need that ability.

And then there is patience and long-term thinking. Show jumping is absolutely a mental game, but it is also a partnership game. The relationship with the horse must be built. You cannot have the best partnership in the world if you don’t spend time with the horse. Trust, patience, and partnership are not optional extras – they are fundamental.

So, for the next generation, I’d say the mental skills they need most are focus, resilience, emotional regulation, decision-making, coachability, and above all the patience to build a real partnership with the horse over time.