How to Stop Overthinking Before You Jump

If you’ve ever ridden towards a jump and suddenly found your mind filling with what ifs, you’ll know just how quickly overthinking can take over.

What if my horse stops? What if I get the stride wrong? What if I lose my balance? What if I fall off?

Before you know it, you’re no longer simply riding towards a fence. You’re thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong.

I spent more than 30 years owning, riding and competing horses, with dressage being my own discipline. But through my work helping riders with confidence, I came across the same pattern time and again: once a rider starts anticipating what might go wrong, those thoughts can become much harder to ignore.

Sometimes it follows a fall, a refusal or an uncomfortable experience. Sometimes there is no obvious reason at all. A rider who once jumped quite happily can suddenly find themselves questioning every approach. The problem is that the more you think about the jump, the harder it can become to ride naturally. So, rather than trying to force yourself to “be brave”, it can be much more helpful to give your mind something useful to do.

Take Your Attention Back to Your Breathing

When we become anxious, our breathing often changes without us even noticing. It becomes shallower and quicker, our muscles tighten and our body starts preparing for something to go wrong. Your horse may notice those changes too.

Before you approach a fence, take a slow breath in and then breathe out gently. You don’t need to make a big performance of it. Just allow your breathing to become a little slower and steadier. As you breathe out, check your shoulders, your hands and your jaw. Are you gripping anywhere unnecessarily? You’re not trying to make every trace of nervousness disappear. You’re simply reminding your body that you can stay calm while you ride.

Look Where You Want to Go

One of the easiest ways to feed overthinking is to become completely fixated on the fence. Instead, think about your whole line. Where are you going before the jump? Where do you want to be after it? Keep your eyes up and look ahead rather than staring down at the obstacle. Having a clear destination gives your mind something practical to concentrate on and helps you ride positively towards it. I always think there is a useful lesson here that applies far beyond jumping: focus on where you want to go rather than on what you’re frightened might happen along the way.

Use Rhythm to Stop Overthinking

If your mind insists on giving you a running commentary, give it another job.

Count your horse’s rhythm. You can count quietly to yourself or out loud if that helps:

One, two, three, four... one, two, three, four... The exact numbers aren’t important. What matters is that you’re bringing your attention back to what is actually happening underneath you rather than allowing your thoughts to race ahead. Listen to the rhythm and feel the movement. If you notice yourself starting to think what if?, simply come back to the count. You don’t have to fight the thought. Just give your attention back to your horse

Build Your Jumping Confidence with Smaller Fences

This is something I feel quite strongly about. If your confidence has taken a knock, there is absolutely no prize for putting the fences up before you’re ready. Put them down.

Jump something that feels manageable and concentrate on having a good experience. Then do it again. You may even want to spend some time working over poles before returning to small fences. There is nothing wrong with going back a stage if it helps you move forward with greater confidence. Every comfortable experience gives your mind a little more evidence that says, I can do this. Confidence is much easier to build gradually than it is to force.

Stop Trying to Find the Perfect Stride

Overthinking riders can become so determined to find the perfect take-off point that they start interfering with every stride on the approach. Of course, good riding matters. But constantly asking yourself Is this right? Do I need to shorten? Should I push on? Are we too close? Are we too far away? can leave both you and your horse uncertain.

Once you have established a suitable rhythm and line, try to trust what you have created.

Ride the rhythm. Keep looking ahead. Allow the jump to come to you. The more experiences you have where you allow yourself to ride rather than analyse every second, the easier that trust can become.

Is It Normal to Feel Nervous About Jumping?

I think riders sometimes make confidence problems worse because they believe they shouldn't be nervous. Particularly if they used to jump bigger fences without thinking twice. You might tell yourself, This is ridiculous. I used to jump much higher than this.

But that doesn’t help the rider you are today. Confidence changes. Horses change. We change. Our circumstances change. Feeling nervous doesn't mean that you've suddenly become a bad rider. Nor does it mean that you have to give up jumping. It simply means that, at the moment, your mind is trying a little too hard to keep you safe.

Can Self-Hypnosis Help with Jumping Confidence?

If overthinking has become a regular part of your jumping, self-hypnosis can be another useful way to work on your confidence. By helping you relax and mentally rehearse riding calmly and positively, it can make it easier to replace some of those automatic “what if?” thoughts with a more settled response. I created my Jumping with Confidence Self-Hypnosis recording specifically to help nervous riders feel calmer, more confident and better able to trust themselves in the saddle.

How to Feel More Confident When Jumping

The next time you find yourself overthinking before a jump, keep things simple.

Breathe slowly. Look ahead. Find your horse’s rhythm. Start with a height that feels comfortable and concentrate on creating good experiences rather than proving anything to yourself.

Most importantly, give yourself time. You don't need to eliminate every nervous thought before you can enjoy jumping again. You just need to stop giving those thoughts all of your attention.

Sometimes the biggest change comes when you stop asking yourself “What if something goes wrong?” and start bringing your attention back to what is happening right now — you, your horse and the next few strides in front of you.

And that is often where confidence begins to return.