• DOI:10.1123/TSP.21.3.288
• Corpus ID: 4675462

The Effects of a Mental Skills Training Package on Equestrians

@article{Blakeslee2007TheEO,
  title={The Effects of a Mental Skills Training Package on Equestrians},
  author={Marsha L. Blakeslee and Dennis McKevitt Goff},
  journal={Sport Psychologist},
  year={2007},
  volume={21},
  pages={288-301}
}

• Marsha L. Blakeslee, D. M. Goff
• Published 1 September 2007
• Psychology
• Sport Psychologist

The present study examined the effectiveness of a mental skills training (MST) package employing relaxation, imagery, goal setting, and self-talk (strategies for improving performance and perceptions through cognitive-somatic techniques) on equestrian performance. A stratified random sample of 17 competitive collegiate horseback riders participated in this study: 8 received MST and 9 were controls. Riders’ goal orientation was also assessed and used to determine if there might be a relationship with performance change over time. Assessment of participants via performance in 2 horse shows revealed no interaction effect for group by time in either flat or show-jumping performance, but there was a significant main effect of time for performance improvement. Riders demonstrated a dominant mastery-approach goal orientation as hypothesized, but no significant correlations with performance change emerged. Findings do not rule out MST as a possible performance enhancing technique, but more research is needed to assess nomothetic MST package effects. Mental skills training (MST) has been shown to be an effective strategy for improving athlete performance and perceptions in a wide variety of sports and settings through the use of cognitive-somatic techniques. Those techniques include mental imagery, goal setting, and variations of self-talk, all developed to increase athlete performance competency when applied either singly or as an MST package. For example, Shambrook and Bull (1996) found that mental-imagery practice was able to improve free-throw consistency for a basketball player in a single-participant, multiple-baseline study. Positive self-talk has elicited performance-enhancing effects in water polo (Hatzigeorgiadis, Theodorakis, & Zourbanos, 2004) and dart throwing (Van Raalte & Brewer, 1995). Goal setting was found to be beneficial for American football linebackers on correct positioning, successful tackling, and halting the opposition’s progress (Ward & Carnes, 2002). It is clear that single-skill interventions can improve performance in a range of sports; however, individual differences in participants might limit the responsiveness to single-skill interventions. For instance, only one athlete out of four in the Shambrook and Bull study actually showed improved consistency over the course of the intervention, thereby limiting the generalization of findings. Thus, although it might be feasible