NERVES. THEY CAN manifest themselves in so many ways. They can cause heart palpitations, butterflies, a feeling of nausea, shaking, a dry mouth. Sometimes they prompt a combination of all of these reactions and maybe more. For some people nerves and horses are frequent but unhappy bedfellows.
“For many, the anticipation of riding is worse than the activity itself. Because of this you can talk yourself out of it, especially hacking,” says Tracey Cole, a coach in neurolinguistic programming (NLP) who assists equestrians suffering from confidence issues. “Once in the saddle, those who compete often find their nerves disappearing as they have to concentrate on the job in hand. Hacking is different. There isn't so much to take your mind off those ‘what ifs’ while you're walking away from the stables, and so thoughts of that tractor coming down the road can loom large.”
The reason some people feel like this about riding is linked to the brain stem, otherwise known as the lizard brain, which is the most primitive of all the parts and is linked to survival.
“The lizard will try to stop you doing an activity. It doesn't understand why you are
