Mindset Training for More Productive Lessons | The Amateur's Advantage
This week on The Amateur’s Advantage, Laura Ashley sits down with Kat McDonald of Form and Flow Dressage to unpack the mental struggles riders face when progress feels messy or slow. Together, they dive into how dressage principles like mindset shifts, growth over perfection, and positive self-talk help riders break through fear, frustration, and comparison and how you can apply the same tools in your own rides, no matter what discipline you ride.
What You’ll Learn
- Why shifting from “I can’t” to actionable, positive language changes both your mindset and your horse’s response.
- How embracing a growth mindset opens the door to progress, even when training feels messy.
- Why comparison and imposter syndrome hold riders back—and how reframing them creates freedom to learn.
- The role of empathy, patience, and self-compassion in creating a positive barn culture for both horses and riders.
Resources + Mentions:
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr Carol Dweck
- Psycho-cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
- The Bottom of the Pool by Andy Andrews
- High Performance Habits by Brendan Burchard
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** by Mark Manson
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- The Mountain is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage into Self-Mastery by Brianna Wiest
- Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
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