Simon Grieve has always been very open about being prone to nerves and negative thoughts when competing — and Defender Burghley has been no different.

Disappointment with his dressage test aboard Autograf on Thursday left him doubting his ability to ride at all.

“I get really nervous, and I get myself into a place where I think I can’t do this, I can’t do that, and I get very negative. So when that [the dressage test] happened, it really affected me.

“I had to be really strict with myself and say, right, that is done, we park that on Thursday, and we move on.”

Simon and Autograf pulled off a clear cross-country round with 18.8 time-faults to add — and the rider was visibly delighted.

“He goes around with his ears pricked. We’re a little team and if I screw up, he sorts it out; if he screws up, I sort it out.

“We just we love each other. Well, I like to think he loves me, I definitely love him,” smiled Simon.

Flipping the mindset

Simon explained that the way he feels going into cross-country can be hugely influenced by what has happened in the previous phase.

“It’s so dependent on the situation and how I’m feeling. Last year, I did a good dressage, and straight away I was in a good mindset,” he said.

“Whereas this time, I did that dressage, and it had such an impact on me that I was like, oh my god, that was rubbish, and it’s all my fault.

“Actually, it was probably the atmosphere and the situation, but in my head, it’s all my fault. Then that sets itself up in the back of my mind, saying I can’t ride, which means I can’t jump either. I can’t even walk down the road!

“I had to really work hard to flip that and park it.”

‘You spin it out of your body’

Simon works with mindset coach Evie Llewellyn-Smith from Cadence Mindset, who gave him some practical exercises to use ahead of his cross-country round.

Simon said that “some of it’s a bit crazy”, but confirmed it seems to work.

“She gave me a spinning exercise, where the feeling that you have when you’re nervous, really tight in your chest, and you accentuate that feeling, and then you spin it in your mind, spin it out of your body, and then you reverse the spin.

“You spin it the other way, and then you put it back in your body and reverse spin it the other way, and then it’s gone.

“And you know what? It actually works!”

Simon used another mindset technique while walking the cross-country course this morning.

“When you get a little tight there [in your chest], you just tap your chest. It doesn’t get rid of it completely, and I’m not then going, I can take on the world, but you know, it just stops you getting that terrible [feeling].”

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