11/25/2025
In the chaos of the warm-up ring, trainer and “R” judge Geoff Case looks for one thing above all else—not the flashiest rider, not the biggest stride, but the calmest mind.
“The best riders don’t look like they’re doing more,” he said. “They look like they’re doing less. But inside, they’re thinking clearly.” Case believes that composure isn’t a personality trait. It’s a skill. “You can train your body, you can train your position, but you can also train your calm,” he said.
Case has seen riders at every level, from short stirrup kids to top professionals, fall apart when nerves take over. “Pressure isn’t the problem,” he said. “It’s how you handle it that matters.”
He compares show nerves to riding fitness. “You don’t get strong by avoiding hard workouts,” he said. “You get strong by learning to breathe through them.” That means treating nerves as information, not failure. “If you’re nervous, it just means you care,” he said. “You can use that. Learn to manage it instead of fight it.”
For Case, composure comes from consistency and preparation. “If you’ve practiced being calm at home, you’ll know what it feels like at the show,” he said. “You can’t fake that when it matters.”
One of Case’s favorite teaching phrases is slow down to think faster. He reminds riders that rushing mentally leads to chaos physically. “When your brain speeds up, your hands and legs go with it,” he said. “That’s when mistakes happen. If you can slow down your thoughts, everything else follows.”
He encourages riders to pause between exercises or rounds, take a breath, and reset. “When you stop, breathe, and refocus, you make room for better decisions,” he said. “You ride smarter.”
That sense of deliberate control, Case said, is what makes professionals look so effortless. “They’re not relaxed because they don’t care. They’re relaxed because they’re managing their energy,” he said.
📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/24/calm-is-a-skill-how-to-keep-your-mind-quiet-when-it-matters-most/
📸 © The Plaid Horse
