Confidence
18 / Sport and Trail Magazine
BARBRA SCHULTE
THE THREE PIECES OF
T
learning more layers about them, too.
Personal performance skills have to do with our ability to get calm and focused at will no matter how we really feel. This applies directly when we go ride, or we're at a horse show. We can turn nerves into calmness and focus. The horse's ears in the picture for this article represents performer skills.
I also know that for both myself and for other people I’ve coached there seem to be two other pieces to the confidence equation.
One is about how we feel about ourselves. For example, if we feel a kind of basic confidence. If we believe in ourselves. If we trust our path. If we think that we’re enough. Also, it’s about how we handle those little creepy voices that say, “You’re never going to get there! You’re too old!” You’re too young (that would be me … too young… Ha!). "You’re too … whatever … you don’t have enough money." You fill in the blanks.
It’s dealing with that feeling within ourselves that something is lacking. Sometimes can feel awesome and we believe in ourselves and we feel comfortable. And other times, it’s really hard. I think most of us go up and down. This confidence within piece is represented by the heart in our picture because it connects to our heart.
Then there’s the third piece. That’s about our connection with or our struggle with "other people". That could be anything from people in the barn to feeling like we go to a horse show and we are judged. I’m not talking about the show judge. I’m talking about other people judging us. We all have this sense of being uncomfortable with other people from time to time … especially when we feel judged or we even judge others (that doesn’t feel good either). What we really want is to feel connected with others. That is why the handclasp icon in the image represents this third piece of confidence, connection.
Now, personally, when I ride and in my coaching, I work on all three pieces of confidence. Of course, they are interwoven. There are no absolute boundaries between them. But that's also the beauty of the "work".
I’m curious. Would you let me know if you can relate to all three of them? Just send me a note at [email protected].
Barbra Schulte is a Professional Cutting Horse Trainer, Personal Performance Coach, Author, Clinician, and Equine Consultant.
hrough all of my years of study and teaching riders, and from my own showing I’ve learned about personal performance skills. I love them. They absolutely changed my riding and changed my life. They are timeless and powerful. I’m always learning more layers about them, too.
Learning, studying and applying the skills of calmness, confidence and focus at will, absolutely connected me to my horses, and to the best of me. Those practices connected me to my heart in terms of my dreams, and gifts, and living from there.
Barbra Schulte is a Professional Cutting Horse Trainer, Personal Performance Coach, Author, Clinician, and Equine Consultant.
Barbra has been involved with horses her entire life. Beginning in early childhood and continuing through college, she helped market and show many of her family’s 500 head of horses. She competed in western pleasure, reining, horsemanship, and cutting.
In 2000, Barbra was awarded the prestigious National Female Equestrian of the Year Award given by the American Quarter Horse Association in conjunction with the Women’s Sports Foundation. This honor recognized outstanding performance and leadership in a female equestrian. Candidates for the award spanned across all disciplines recognized by the American Quarter Horse Association.
In 2012 Barbra was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, one of the most prestigious honors possible for women equestrians. She was honored for all of her outstanding career accomplishments.
Today, Barbra continues to train and show cutting horses. At the same time, she is expanding her education business by continually providing new online and live informational training for riders of all disciplines (regarding mental and emotional skills) and cutting horse
enthusiasts. www.barbraschulte.com
It’s dealing with that feeling within ourselves that something is lacking. Sometimes can feel awesome and we believe in ourselves and we feel comfortable. And other times, it’s really hard. I think most of us go up and down. This confidence within piece is represented by the heart in our picture because it connects to our heart.
Then there’s the third piece. That’s about our connection with or our struggle with "other people". That could be anything from people in the barn to feeling like we go to a horse show and we are judged. I’m not talking about the show judge. I’m talking about other people judging us. We all have this sense of being uncomfortable with other people from time to time … especially when we feel judged or we even judge others (that doesn’t feel good either). What we really want is to feel connected with others. That is why the handclasp icon in the image represents this third piece of confidence, connection.
Now, personally, when I ride and in my coaching, I work on all three pieces of confidence. Of course, they are interwoven. There are no absolute boundaries between them. But that's also the beauty of the "work".
I’m curious. Would you let me know if you can relate to all three of them? Just send me a note at [email protected].