Building Motivation and Resilience – Attribution Theory For Horse Riders

We all have ups and downs; it’s all part of the process. You want to progress, you have to step out of your comfort zone, you step out of your comfort zone there’s always going to be a chance things won’t go perfectly every time. But whatever the outcome of a performance, what we tell ourselves about the performance and what you attribute the outcome to, can be the difference between feeling motivated to keep working to progress and improve or becoming disillusioned and demotivated.

You want to progress, you have to step out of your comfort zone, you step out of your comfort zone

In sport psychology, this is called Attribution Theory and it helps us understand the impact of how riders explain their successes and setbacks. Understanding it can completely change how you stay motivated, handle pressure, and keep on improving.

Attribution theory looks at how we explain the causes of what happens to us.

Whenever we ride or compete, we might ask ourselves “Why did that go well?” or

“Why did that go wrong?”. The answers we give, our attributions, shape how we feel and what we do next.

When you think about a result, your mind sorts it into three key categories: Stability (Stable/Unstable), locus of causality (Internal/External) and the locus of control (Can I control it or not).

Stability – Is the factor that you attribute to performance fairly permanent or unstable. For example, to attribute an ability to perform well under pressure would be stable, whereas thinking you were lucky that day, but nothing stressed you out would be unstable. ‘I am ok as long as …..’ is not as stable as ‘whatever happens I know I’ll be ok because I have the skills to deal with it’.

Locus of causality – Are the factors that contributed to your performance internal or external. For example, ‘I rode a rhythmical test’ would be internal. Whereas ‘the judge doesn’t like cobs’ would be external.

Locus of control – Are the factors you are contributing to your performance within your control. For example, ‘Improving my accuracy has improved my dressage scores’ vs ‘the weather was horrible, it made him unsettled’.

How Your Attributions Affect Motivation

Let’s imagine two riders leaving the arena after a tough showjumping round.

Rider A:

“I always have a pole down, I’m just not good enough for this level.”

Internal

Stable

Uncontrollable

This can lead to frustration and low motivation.

They see the problem as permanent and unchangeable.

Rider B:

“I didn’t ride a good line between fences; I can fix that in training.”

Internal

Unstable

Controllable

This can leads to determination and confidence.

They see the issue as something they can work on, not something fixed or outside their control. Therefore, they are more likely to demonstrate resilience and motivation.

They see the issue as something they can work on, not something fixed or outside their control

Turning Setbacks Into Learning

When things don’t quite go according to plan, your explanation can either shut you down or lift you up.

Try this mental shift:

Instead of saying…	Try saying…
“My horse just isn’t talented enough.”	“We need more gymnastic work to build strength.”
“I always get nervous before dressage.”	“I get tense sometimes, I can learn breathing strategies.”
“That judge hates me.”	“I can improve my accuracy to make my test more consistent.”

These controllable and changeable explanations boost your motivation, because they keep improvement within reach.

So after your next ride, take two minutes to jot this down: