02/25/2026
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Riders often assume confidence should feel calm—steady, controlled, and free of nerves. But in a recent episode of The Plaidcast, Tonya Johnston, Mental Skills Coach challenges that assumption. Confidence, she says, doesn’t require riders to feel relaxed. It requires them to stay mentally engaged with what is actually happening.
“People think confidence means you’re not nervous,” Johnston said. “But confidence is really about staying present and staying functional, even when you’re feeling nervous.”
That distinction matters in environments where pressure is unavoidable. Riders don’t lose effectiveness because emotions show up. They lose effectiveness when their attention leaves the ride.
Johnston repeatedly returns to the idea that riding only happens in the present moment. The instant a rider’s focus drifts to what already happened—or jumps ahead to what might happen next—they disconnect from the horse underneath them.
“You can be physically in the ring, but mentally you’re somewhere else,” Johnston said. “And when you’re somewhere else mentally, you’re not actually riding.”
That mental absence often shows up immediately after a mistake. Riders replay the error, analyze it, or rush to fix it, all while the horse is still moving. Johnston points out that this instinct, though understandable, pulls riders out of sync with the moment they’re in.
“The horse doesn’t need you solving the whole problem right now,” she said. “They need you available to what’s happening in that moment.”
One of Johnston’s central themes is functionality. Riders don’t need to feel confident, brave, or calm in order to ride well—they need to remain operational. “You don’t have to fix everything in the middle of the round,” she said. “You just have to stay functional enough to make the next decision.”
That idea reframes recovery. Instead of viewing mistakes as something that must be immediately corrected, Johnston encourages riders to focus on maintaining engagement. The priority is continuity.
“When riders start trying to fix everything emotionally,” she said, “that’s when they stop riding what’s actually happening.”
📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/02/24/confidence-is-being-able-to-stay-engaged/
📸 © Lauren Mauldin / The Plaid Horse
