As I finish winding together the various parts of my new book about body image and riding, I can’t help but wonder how the body image issues most women wrestle with in general may parallel how we imagine we look when we ride. Consider, for example, the Dove “Real Beauty” advertising campaign in which researchers discovered the degree to which we underestimate our appeal. In fact, they discovered, women are their own worst critics and only 4% of the women in the world actually do consider themselves “beautiful.”
And what does that have to do with our riding you may wonder.
As it turns out, everything. Or, as Coach Daniel Stewart, world-renowned Equestrian Sports Psychologist and author of Ride Right and, most recently, Pressure Proof Your Riding puts it, “Most often what we’re going through in life is what we struggle with as riders.” Where do you find these parallels between your riding and your life? I’d love to hear your stories about making this connection and how you then used this information to get better!
