This course is amazing! I’ve already implemented so many ideas into my teaching and my own riding. I’m going to listen again to every session, because I know I’m just scratching the surface on understanding these ideas.

I taught a tight, strong rider on a big powerful horse the other day. They’ve had a history of trouble in the canter. I used some of the tools from the module on physiology with her- The softness that came into the horse and the rider was amazing!! And this is a professional who is NOT into fluffy ideas.

I used one of the Mindset Mastery tools with a student in a clinic last week. I have literally never seen her ride in any way like this before. The horse looked incredible and she rode with so much power. Some of the auditors were audibly gasping. It was so much fun! Jen, I can’t thank you enough for sharing these concepts with all of us!!

What an AMAZING experience this course has been! Each module was well thought out, and I loved the diversity in the manner of teaching – having audio AND written versions of the material, as well as related PDFs, gave me multiple ways to absorb the information. The videos in each module were fun as well, and I love that you pulled from others’ teachings in your quest to best help us learn.

I know two things – the course has already had a profound influence on my thinking, teaching and processing. Secondly, I see myself going back to reread or review the audios again and again, knowing that there will be additional tidbits in the material as I work through things in my own head.

I feel like I have such better tools now, to assess and address mental blocks in myself and in my riders. Using the Fear scale, I’ve helped several riders come to a calmer place while on their horses, thereby creating better communication between them when they would previously have had breakdowns in communication. I think the tools and concepts in this course help us, as trainers be more aware of ourselves and our own limiting beliefs, which can affect how we interact and interpret our clients’ actions and beliefs. They help us be clearer and more objective in our teaching, rather than taking things personally.

I got a lot of insights into myself, which I didn’t necessarily expect but was an “added bonus”. I have already used some of the tools in my clinics in Hawaii with three different people with significant success. It was terrific! Well done, and thank you so much!!

​Fear can be debilitating for a rider. It is so prevalent in our sport, yet mostly goes ignored- usually because the instructor doesn’t have the tools!

For years, I’ve not had tools to help my students struggling with fear or mental blocks “in the heat of the moment”. I’ve had empathy, but not concrete strategies to help them. Nine months ago I set out to change that. I hired a mentor that specializes in sports psychology, is a dressage rider and has experienced fear on a horse herself.

Jen Verharen has worked with me intensely- teaching me about the physiology of fear and giving me tools to help my riders. I knew very little about this topic prior to working with Jen. I now consider her one of the best in the field – if not the best!

I’ve been able to implement these tools in lessons over last few months. It’s been so fulfilling to watch the riders I teach face their fears, address them, and deactivate them! It’s been beyond inspirational to watch these riders evolve and gain confidence- even during one lesson!

Just this weekend a horse and rider combination came in for the first day of a clinic. Both were quite nervous, like deer in headlights. I gave the rider some tools to address her fear and we went to work. As the rider implemented what I taught her, she started to breathe and relax. The horse then started to breathe and relax. By the end of the ride, they were both smiling!

The next day – they came in the ring and I didn’t recognize them. Let me tell you- the transformation was astounding! It was so fun to help this pair find trust in each other start to blossom. It was an honor.

I love teaching piaffe- but helping a horse and rider transform like these two did is better than words can describe.

Thanks, Jen, for spending this time training me to help my students in ways I never was able to before. It’s been amazing to be a part of these riders’ journeys out of the darkness of fear and into the light of pure joy with their horses! I’m so glad you’ve now put all these tools into a course so that more trainers can be empowered by this knowledge.

THIS COURSE IS AMAZING!!! I love the material. I’m actually printing it up as I go along so I can make notes and remember. I also love that this is audio available! I LOVE it and as luck would have it, already utilized the skills today! THANK YOU.

(Spontaneous message after module one!)

Through working with Jen and taking Mental Skills Mastery for Trainers, I have become better equipped to handle my students’ fears and worries. Jen has given me the verbiage and framework to help them compete with increased confidence and tackle new situations that would otherwise intimidate them.

I’ve even been able to help students remotely in a way I would not have been able to before. I had a student who left me a few years ago and moved to New Zealand. Recently, she called me struggling with her fears and worried that she was not getting supportive coaching from her new instructors. I was able to help her over the phone in a way that hugely impacted her in a positive way. She felt supported and had a plan, despite being half a world away. 

I feel more confident now about how to help my students, not only overcome fear, but also get through hard set-backs and disappointments. I think this is one of the hardest things about being a trainer who cares so much about their students! During the MSMT course, you get concrete, specific ideas for your individual students and their struggles.

This course and Jen’s coaching has also given me the ability to set more purposeful goals in my own riding that are clear and ambitious. This has made me a competitor on a mission and inspired more confidence in what I am asking myself and my horse to do. I feel emboldened through my work with Jen!

I appreciate how Mental Skills Mastery for Trainers takes concepts that we may already use or know about and presents them in a whole new light. Understanding why they work and how to best implement them is a game changer. This course has really helped deepen my understanding of sports psychology concepts. Jen’s style challenges us to be better educators by connecting with our students through their goals. It is not about our agenda, but helping to make our students better. Jen shows us how to wear all the “different hats”- how to connect with our students on a very personal level that does not have us blurring the lines of the professional student-teacher relationship.

I have so many take-aways from this course. I feel challenged to be better for my students and I feel much more empowered to help them through issues than I did before. Jen, I so appreciate the ideas that you present in MSMT and articulate so well. And I love that you are willing to share your own experience. Thank you!

Working with Jen brought the fun back into my riding and showing. Looking at shows as a method of getting feedback on my training instead of a “measure of my abilities” was a game changer. I am now able to enjoy myself and be a better partner for my horse when we are out at shows and clinics. 

MSMT has helped deepen my knowledge now, as a trainer so that I can apply what I learned through performance coaching with Jen to my students. I’ve found that as I share my own experience in dealing with fear and self-doubt, my students are more willing to open up and discuss their fear issues. They feel more comfortable letting me know when they are feeling nervous or afraid and now I have the tools to help them get through it!

Now that I understand the psychology and physiology of fear, I am better prepared to help students who may be experiencing low confidence or show nerves.  Instead of ignoring this kind of fear or trying to “push through” it, Jen has taught me exercises to help process and get to the other side of it. As a trainer, having the tools to help my students feel more confident as they learn is invaluable. Thank you so much, Jen!

​I was lucky to be introduced to Jen a few years ago.  I had some things I needed to work thru and Jen was invaluable in helping overcome some of my own mental hurdles!  Since working with Jen, I’ve recommended her to quite a few of my clients who were having some troubles managing their fear. Working together with Jen and knowing her approach, I found it very useful to support my clients in their quest to improving their riding and conquering their demons!

When I started working with Jen myself, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.  My riding skills were good, sometimes even inspired.  I have a great mentor for dressage and two amazing coaches for jumping.  What I didn’t realize was the missing link of having a great coach for my emotions and my brain.  Jen more than finished the circle for me and at a late age I am riding better than ever!

Having taken Mental Skills Mastery for Trainers, I feel that I impart a greater confidence in my students.  I’m more able to create a bubble of connection between myself and my riders so that they perform at a higher level and my teaching seems to grow with them. It was amazing through much of last year—the covid year- each time I met an emotional obstacle head on with Jen’s help, one of my clients would appear facing a similar demon. Because of what I was learning about my own road blocks I suddenly had tools to help my students move into and through what was holding them back.

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