A recurring topic on competition grounds and in the sports world in general, mental preparation is an integral part of sports.
Horse Pilot decided to take a closer look through the testimonies of Simon Casse (high-level athlete, member of the French Modern Pentathlon Team) and Jean-Pascal Cabrera (sophrologist and mental coach for the French Equestrian Federation).
Mental Preparation: Motivations & Challenges
HP: Whether in coaching or in sports practice in general, how can we explain the importance of mental preparation?
Jean-Pascal: It may differ depending on the sport, but regarding the athlete’s behavior, the mechanisms are the same. The specific aspect of equestrian sport is that the partner is an animal, with its own temperament and character. It has its own emotions, just like a human.
A horse-rider pair forms a team. This original aspect is fascinating because it forces the rider to work even more on their emotions. The mirror effect, which transmits to others, whether in a rugby or handball team, allows communication and agreement on codes that work or not.
With a horse, it’s overall very different. This richness led me to delve deeper at this level.
Simon: For my part, I really started working on mental preparation about two and a half years ago. I had reached the conclusion that my physical preparation was always at the same level as others, I was present, but it was in the head that I needed to work. At the moment I needed to be most connected, I wasn’t focused on the right things, so I turned to a mental coach.
It’s a kind of training, a sixth sport added to the five already present in modern pentathlon.
HP: Simon, what does mental preparation bring to sports practice?
Simon: Concentration, confidence, especially at key moments, for example at the start of a course. When you enter the arena, you are alone with your horse, and that’s when you need to focus on the sensations and what needs to be done. It helped me approach courses in a consistent way, finding the right rhythm. Then it becomes much easier to analyze mistakes, successes, and failures.
This is how we progress.
Mental preparation allows you to gain perspective, a sharper eye, to highlight mistakes and correct them in future courses. It matured my performance and my daily commitment.
So naturally, it helps to have a better relationship with the horses and to be more comfortable in all situations. Especially in pentathlon, where you don’t know the horse, you must adapt to all mounts.
You have to be ready for anything.
Competition is Living in the Present
"Switch at the key moment, the right moment, to be fully in the present, in action"
HP: Jean-Pascal, what differences can be observed in athletes following a mental preparation program?
Jean-Pascal: The difference between a high-level athlete and a lower-level one is in the way they focus. This focus can be on specific internal things (a pelvis position) or broader ones (a state of tone), or on specific external things (where the horse is going, which visual marker to take) or very broad ones (the course).
Someone who is stressed takes everything as a whole, mixing everything up. For example, in equestrian sports, the first thing is to take care of the horse, ensuring it is fine. I move from relevant focus points to relevant focus points. As the moment to enter the arena approaches, my concentration narrows on more precise points. I look at my horse’s ear tips, one meter before the jump, and beyond the jump once I pass it.
Quality focus is on the here and now. I’m not thinking about the medal. If I am thinking about the medal while approaching the obstacle, it’s over. The focus is on punctual, strategic information. Obviously, the athlete aims to win, but in terms of performance, the driving force is extreme concentration that fully absorbs them in the task.
HP: Simon, how does mental preparation help you handle pressure and stay focused?
Simon: Mental preparation helped me set up, let’s call it, a small sequence to switch at the key moment, the right moment, to be fully in the present, in action. In equestrian sports, for me, that moment is when the bell rings. At that moment, you forget everything around, you are alone with your horse and the course.
Obstacle 1: how to approach it, what curve, what impulsion? Stay focused on what needs to be done at that moment.
After the course walk, I visualize a lot to check if I understood when to perform each action and how to approach each obstacle. Now nothing is predictable, so visualization is always difficult, especially with an unfamiliar horse. But once on the horse, it’s pure concentration, on the present moment and actions to perform immediately.
Concentration: The Key to Performance
HP: Facing an important event, regardless of physical preparation, how much does mental preparation impact results?
Simon: Competition is about being at your best at the right, decisive moment when everything is at stake. That’s when you need to give 100% of your physical abilities. Mental preparation helps a lot to reach that moment and live it fully.
Many athletes talk about the zone. A zone of concentration and self-confidence where nothing can go wrong. Whatever happens, you have a solution, you anticipate everything. The key is to be ahead of everything. To reach this zone, mental training is necessary because in reality, it doesn’t happen every day like that.
You must know how to benefit from mistakes, manage failures, and always move forward positively.
Jean-Pascal: Psychological factors are at the core of performance for it to be optimal. The goal is to be the best possible, and to be the best, I must stay as objective as possible in my judgment (what to adjust, add or remove, rather than what it is worth).
That’s why training involves not making value judgments but adopting a phenomenological approach (observing phenomena).
In equestrian sports, you train with a specific horse, a specific coach, in a specific location. Whereas mental preparation…
"Since birth, we operate with our mind and think we use it well. In competition, we must train it for competition, and our mind can do extraordinary things, surpassing itself."
The notion of physical or concentration limits is subjective. These are psychological limits we set ourselves. We can push boundaries by training to overcome these mental signals.
The higher the level, the harder it becomes to push limits. These “small gains” require enormous effort in prior training. The sum of these details is incredibly hard to progress, but it’s what makes the difference.
"A detail is not a detail.
It’s what creates value"
Fundamental Work, Daily Training
Jean-Pascal: The interest of sophrology is that you can train without the external context. You train to bring images to mind following well-established protocols. When visualizing, a particular state is required, triggering specific brain waves. This allows achieving a more dynamic or, conversely, more relaxed tone.
Sophrology, alternating between tension states and visualization, affects the identification of emotions. When they appear, we perceive them faster than others because we develop our own phenomenology. Well-trained, we can manage emotions effectively, influencing concentration in competition.
The athlete will have representations, images, behaviors guiding their presence in competition. Without a prepared path, approaching competition is unstructured. This increases the chance of being disturbed and improvising. It doesn’t mean being rigid. One learns to have flexibility to adapt.
Preparation includes readiness for the unexpected while maintaining a framework. These become automatisms.
Mental preparation is a pyramid. You start with a wide base, and as the pyramid rises, it narrows to a precise point at the top, which could represent, for example, the Equestrian Games.
Mental preparation is not a gadget; it is human and behavioral work built in stages, not at the last minute.
"Learning to manage emotions, stay focused, act here and now… It’s not that easy."
Like technique, mental preparation is foundational work. Competition is only the culmination. Ready to perform? All that’s left is to equip yourself!
- Simon Casse : Instagram account
- Jean-Pascal Cabrera : Facebook account
