With Kildare’s Mikey Pender and Irish Sport Horse HHS Calais claiming the €300,000 victory prize in Saturday’s five-star Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and Thomas Ryan placing fourth in the Helsinki World Cup Grand Prix, our show jumpers have been celebrating across the globe.

So too have our eventers. With the recent news that Ireland once again sits in pole position in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) Studbook Rankings for eventing, the weekend’s sport only served to cement that for us.

Three Irish Sport Horses finished inside the top six in the six-year-olds at the FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships at Le Lion d’Angers in France, and five inside the top ten seven-year-olds. It’s been another corking weekend for Irish equestrian sport.

Pressure

At home, jumps season is gearing up and hunts across the country are also underway. There’s a whole load of horse events going on, whether it’s on the world-stage or over at the local point-to-point.

Equestrianism exists hand-in-hand with passion, that’s kind of a given, but it can also come with pressure. It’s not always easy to stay focused on the bigger picture or make good decisions when you’re nervous or exhausted.

On Monday evening I attended the Irish Equestrian Mental Health Project’s (IEMHP) fund-raising webinar event, Mindfulness and Mentalization.

The event was led by chartered education psychologist Lorraine O.B. Madden with guest speakers from the very top of our sport, including Olympian Marion Hughes and three-time world champion rider Ger O’Neill.

Approachable

The IEMHP was set up by rider Sonya McAleer after her own struggles, and aims to help remove any stigma surrounding mental health within the equestrian industry.

As well as organising events and webinars, the approachable charity can point you in the right direction to get help from relevant mental health organisations.

Described by Madden as a masterclass for riders, trainers and coaches from all equine disciplines, Monday evening’s webinar was an invaluable look at the thought processes of equestrians and how we can ‘respond’ rather than ‘react’ to our horses.

With its foundation in mainstream psychology, mentalization was a term I hadn’t heard before. Mentalization is an established mode of ‘thinking about thinking’.

Madden believes mentalization, like other cognitive tools, can be useful for the horse human relationship and the practical implementation of positive problem solving, whether it’s when teaching a young horse or a young rider.

Both O’Neill and Hughes also addressed management of the competitive mind.

It was fascinating to watch the video of O’Neill’s recent world championship while he talked through the decisions he made and why he made them, and how that affected the horse. It’s something to be proud of to see mental health championed like this.