Book Review: Inside Your Ride

   I have seen this book many times in horse catalogs and it was when I started listening to The PlaidCast that I heard Tonya's episodes diving deeper in to top professionals and leading rider's mental game. I'm always curious as to what makes the top in this sport tick and grabbing a copy of Inside Your Ride seemed like a natural next step.

   The book is broken into 11 sections and are further broken down from there. I was surprised with how much content was stuffed into this book! Topics like motivation, confidence, focus, vision, energy, attitude, preparation, communication, resilience, competing and returning to riding are all well covered.

   With so many valuable sections I found that I needed more time to digest what I was reading than other books. I could almost see this being a book I referenced back to at different times of the year when I was dealing with a specific issue. I found that I had already implemented many of Tonya's recommended techniques to handling my mental game, but I think journaling is something I need to try. 

​   As I was reading I couldn't help but think that every one of my students should read this book. Becoming aware of the things that hold you back is such an eye opening experience and is critical to moving past it and I think this book puts to words many things that can stop riders without them knowing it. I also found this book helpful to myself as a professional. Just because riding is part of my job doesn't mean I don't experience fear and doubt. It also brought to the forefront of my mind on how to help mentally prepare my riders for their own riding and showing goals! And with IEA Nationals coming up in a few weeks I want my girls as mentally prepared as possible for the things coming ahead!

​   I definitely recommend that anyone who rides horses read this book! Riding is always more mental than it is physical and making sure you are ready to handle those setbacks is very important to a continued riding career of any kind.

   Be sure to check out Tonya's work as a Mental Skills Coach for Equestrians!

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