Coming from a lifetime of ridden dressage riding, training, and showing, I was able to “cut to the front of the line” when it came to dealing with show nerves around driving competitions. That is, I had already developed a set of skills for coping with the anxiety associated with a) being judged b) in front of people. Combined driving competitions though – with their dressage tests, cones courses, and marathon phase, including obstacles — required me to not only revisit that skill set but also add to it. In this article, I’ll share some of my personal coping mechanisms to “keep calm and drive on” at competitions.
