Joe Stockdale talks about mental toughness and how he has developed his mindset in this exclusive article for H&H subscribers
Winning a six-bar or a puissance requires an ice-cool temperament. The pressure ramps up as the field whittles down to the final contenders for the prize. When British showjumper Joe Stockdale cleared 2.13m on Its Confidential (Rolo) at Spruce Meadows, he not only won, but set a new six-bar record (joint with Czech rider Vaclav Stanek).
But the mark of a great rider is how they respond to that pressure, and in Joe’s case it was very much “bring it on”. He had meant to jump only a couple of rounds, but as Its Confidential was jumping so well, he decided to go for the win.
“I got a bit excited, he kept jumping better and better, and I ended up going all the way,” says Joe. “I wasn’t going to pull out once it was a two-horse race.
“When I went in and showed Rolo the fence, that made me nervous. It doesn’t even look like a jump when it’s that big. But Rolo is so brave; he didn’t blink an eye.”
But Joe recognises that thriving under pressure is a symptom of being on form.
“That’s when you know you’re confident, because you’re not thinking of what could go wrong,” he says. “Pressure is a nice thing to be a part of. If you’re under pressure, it comes down to being the last person to jump and having to go clear. That’s what you dream of – and pulling it off.”
“Pressure is a nice thing to be a part of,” says Joe – it shows you’ve put yourself in a winning position.
(Image credit: Alamy)
Joe explains that this kind of good pressure is a result of the hard work that’s delivered you to a winning position – and that readiness is something you can lean into.
“When you’re feeling under pressure, you have to think about the preparation, the work you’ve done to get to this point,” he says. “The horse is ready, you’re ready, you’ve ticked every box and you’re in the best position you can be in at the time. Obviously it’s a worry if you’re not well prepared, but if this is your big goal, you’ve trained to be ready for this moment and you try to do the best you can.”
Dealing with pressure when the results aren’t coming
But pressure can exert negative forces in showjumping. The pressure of the winning round might be a privilege, but there are other times when the burden of just keeping your head above water in a highly emotive sport can weigh heavily.
“Mentally the sport is very difficult, there are lots of ups and downs,” says Joe Stockdale. “Any sport is tough, but ours is particularly tough. We have massive highs and then have big troughs, lows when things aren’t working out.
“It’s very difficult to deal with. You feel under pressure, because you want to do well, and the people around you want you to do well and they’re part of that team.”
Joe’s tools for diffusing that pressure when the rosettes aren’t coming is to remember what motivates him in the first place.
“I just try to find what I enjoy about it,” he says. “I enjoy being with the horses, I enjoy working with them day to day trying to improve them, even if it’s a little a time. It’s taking it step by step, a day at a time, keep turning up and doing what you can. Hopefully, eventually you get the result you deserve but it might take time.
“When times are tough, I try to find what I enjoy about it – I enjoy being with the horses and working with them day to day,” says Joe.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
“I’m lucky to have a great team of people around, who’ve been with me a long time and we’re all working towards the same goal. They understand that if it’s not going well, I’m still trying my best and vice versa, they’re giving 100%. That’s all you can ask for and hopefully the results come.”
If he has a horse that loses confidence in a show environment, Joe immediately works to build back the trust.
“The best thing is to slow things down, drop down in height to take the pressure off yourself and the horse, and make it easier for everyone,” he says. “Then get them confident before you go up the levels again, not rushing to go to bigger shows. Take it in the horse’s time, so that only when they’re ready can you pull the trigger and move up.”
How Joe Stockdale developed his mindset
In terms of mindset, Joe Stockdale has various mentors that have shaped him into the rider he is today, but the main drive has been his work ethic.
“There’s not one piece of advice I’ve been given that’s made the difference but there are a lot of people in the sport and around me I look up to,” he says. “My dad [Tim Stockdale] was one: very hardworking, very determined, worked extremely hard to get to where he wanted to. That’s something I think about every day.
“When I’m struggling or finding it difficult he’d be giving me a rollicking, telling me to buck my ideas up and get stuck in and get on with it!”
“William’s a mentor and a very good friend,” Joe says. “He’s got the biggest breeding operation in the UK, a massive set-up with so many things going on at once, and he’s run that and gone to the top of the sport. I look up to him and his work ethic at lot. These are the things that inspire me and keep me going every day.”
As for the little hacks that help him along the way? Don’t mention Lady Luck.
“I was always told you’re not allowed superstitions,” Joe says. “My dad always said that then you have an excuse when things go wrong. I once had a lucky set of cricket gloves I always used to bat in, and Dad told me it was nonsense, because one day I’d forget them and it wouldn’t go well and I’d say it wasn’t my fault because I didn’t have my lucky gloves.
“So I have no superstitions but I have my routine and I stick to that. I’ve got a system, and I try not to rely on luck, though I could do with a bit every now and then!”
Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
