Silvolutions - Performance, Mindset & Wellbeing

Silvolutions - Performance, Mindset & Wellbeing Helping you settle your mind, strengthen focus, and handle challenges with confidence, whether life feels bumpy or you’re aiming for peak performance.
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Solution-focused talking therapy and hypnotherapy for those who want more calm, confidence, and control. I work with riders to turn nerves into focus, fear into confidence, and hesitation into purpose. Using solution-focused psychotherapy and sports psychology I can help you:

• Stay calm under pressure
• Bounce back from mistakes quickly
• Build confidence you can feel in every stride

No jargon, no long sessions, just practical tools you can use immediately, in the saddle and beyond. Whether you’re competing, hacking, or just riding for fun, my goal is simple: help you enjoy your riding while performing at your best. Because it’s not about perfection — it’s about connection, confidence, and calm!!

It’s been one of those weeks where the yard lights feel like they’ve never quite switched off.I’ve spent the last few da...
20/02/2026

It’s been one of those weeks where the yard lights feel like they’ve never quite switched off.

I’ve spent the last few days supporting clients who are battling low confidence, anxiety, overthinking and that constant hum of “what if?”. So many of the conversations have felt like standing at the edge of the start box at the beginning of a new season, hearts racing, doubts creeping in, but also that quiet determination underneath it all. Helping someone steady the reins on their thoughts and sit taller in the saddle of their own mind is always an honour.

I’ve also met a couple of new clients this week, new partnerships forming, new goals set, new rounds about to begin. There’s something powerful about that first session; it’s the equivalent of walking the course together and deciding how we’re going to ride it.

Outside of work, the dogs have been as busy as a yard full of fit event horses, muddy, energetic, and absolutely convinced their needs come first. The cat, meanwhile, continues to behave like a seasoned pony club pony who knows he’s untouchable. Selective hearing. Strategic mischief. Just enough charm to avoid being permanently benched.

There have been plenty of miles run too. Early mornings, steady rhythm, breath matching stride not unlike finding that perfect canter to a fence. Running remains my way of clearing the head and strengthening the engine. Add in a fair chunk of studying (because apparently sitting still isn’t in my nature), and it’s been a week that’s felt more like cross-country than dressage, forward, focused, and full of effort.

Now though, I’m ready to bring the horse back to walk. A quieter weekend. Space to breathe. Time to reset the tack, refill the water buckets, and gather energy before the next round begins.

Grateful for the work. Grateful for the miles. Grateful for the people who trust me to help them ride their own course a little more confidently.

Apparently I’ve been replaced.Normally the barn supervisor (four legs, whiskers, questionable work ethic) is straight ov...
17/02/2026

Apparently I’ve been replaced.

Normally the barn supervisor (four legs, whiskers, questionable work ethic) is straight over for cuddles the moment I step into the hay barn. Today? Absolute indifference. Not even a courtesy head-butt. Just that slow blink that says, “You may rest, peasant. I’ll observe.”

It’s funny how much of yard life mirrors riding. Some days your horse meets you at the gate; some days they wander off as if they’ve never seen you before. Some days you feel in sync; others, you’re simply tolerated.
The lesson? Don’t take it personally. Whether it’s a horse in the arena or a barn cat in the hay, connection isn’t demanded, it’s earned, quietly and consistently. Show up. Do the work. Keep your energy steady. Let trust come to you rather than chasing it.
In the meantime, I’ll just sit here on a bale of hay, pretending I’m not bothered while being very obviously bothered.

Equestrian life: humbling us one whiskered snub at a time. 🐴🐱

18 miles.There’s a point on a long run where it stops being about pace and starts being about conversation, the quiet on...
15/02/2026

18 miles.

There’s a point on a long run where it stops being about pace and starts being about conversation, the quiet one you have with yourself when it would be easier to slow down.

As a therapist working with riders, I talk a lot about emotional regulation, resilience, and staying present under pressure. Long runs are where I practise it. When your legs are heavy and your mind starts negotiating, you learn very quickly what your default patterns are. Do you tighten? Do you doubt? Or do you soften, breathe, and keep rhythm?

It’s not that different to the final stretch of cross-country, or riding into an atmosphere that makes your heart pound. Your nervous system doesn’t know the difference between a start box and mile 16. But you can train it.

Steady. Regulate. One stride at a time.

Well… this wasn’t on today’s to-do list.Had to catch our resident feral farm ninja cat to get him to the vet as he’s lim...
12/02/2026

Well… this wasn’t on today’s to-do list.

Had to catch our resident feral farm ninja cat to get him to the vet as he’s limping. He strongly disagreed with the plan. I’m now in A&E waiting for a tetanus shot looking like I’ve lost a fight with a hedge trimmer.

The good news? He’s absolutely fine — just a course of antibiotics and back to ruling the yard like nothing happened.

Occupational hazard of loving animals, I suppose. Would still do it again.

Psychology paper: submitted 🧠✨Finishing off the final edits at my local games store earlier this week, which feels oddly...
11/02/2026

Psychology paper: submitted 🧠✨

Finishing off the final edits at my local games store earlier this week, which feels oddly fitting. Strategy, focus, human behaviour… whether it’s in the saddle, on the battlefield, or in a psychology paper, it all comes back to how we think under pressure.

Still smiling about this one ☺️A Google review that landed over the weekend from a 4★ eventer, Team GB rider, and Europe...
10/02/2026

Still smiling about this one ☺️
A Google review that landed over the weekend from a 4★ eventer, Team GB rider, and European U25 Championships medallist: team gold 🥇 and individual silver 🥈 last year.

When riders operating at that level take the time to leave feedback, it really means a lot. Trust, nuance, and the psychological side of performance matter just as much as the physical work, and it’s a privilege to be part of that conversation.

Grateful, proud, and quietly motivated to keep raising the bar. 💙🐎

Big news… I’m running the London Marathon AGAIN this year! 🏃‍♂️💨 After a lot of training (which is actually going really...
08/02/2026

Big news… I’m running the London Marathon AGAIN this year! 🏃‍♂️💨 After a lot of training (which is actually going really well), I’m aiming to smash a sub-4-hour finish ⏱️.

Even better, I’m running for PDSA 🐶🐱, a charity helping pets in need get the care they deserve. Every mile, every sweaty step, is for them.

Feeling motivated, nervous, and excited all at once… but mostly grateful to be able to chase a goal and support such a great cause at the same time!

If you fancy donating, I’ll put the link in the comments. ❤️

Excited to share that I’ve got an article in this month’s Horse & Rider all about improving confidence in the saddle fro...
08/02/2026

Excited to share that I’ve got an article in this month’s Horse & Rider all about improving confidence in the saddle from a mindset perspective 🐎💭.

Also thrilled that one of my amazing clients was featured in Horse & Hound this week after her success riding at medium in dressage, and I got a little mention for helping her overcome mindset challenges along the way! Feeling proud to support riders in building confidence and enjoying their horses even more 🌟.

25/01/2026

Some days training feels smooth.
Some days it feels messy.
Heavy. Uncomfortable. A bit inconvenient.
But progress isn’t built by avoiding the puddles.
It’s built by moving through them.
The same is true in the saddle.
Confidence doesn’t come from perfect conditions, it comes from showing up, staying present, and trusting the process even when things feel a bit untidy.
No drama.
No proving.
Just forward.

Earlier on this week on Friday I cut a run short. It was my first run of the week, and usually I’d have been out three t...
25/01/2026

Earlier on this week on Friday I cut a run short. It was my first run of the week, and usually I’d have been out three times by now and covered maybe 20 miles in total. Anyway, the plan was 7 miles, nothing dramatic but at a faster pace than I’d initially intended since I’d missed some training sessions. But less than 3 miles in, my calf felt a bit tight. Nothing serious, but a bit uncomfortable and painful. Just… not quite right.
Because I hadn’t managed to get out running as much as I wanted earlier in the week either, and I could feel that familiar pressure creeping in. The temptation to push on. To ignore it. To “just run through it” and tick the box anyway. But instead, I stopped. And I won’t pretend it was easy. Mentally, it weighed on me far more than the calf ever did. There was a lot of noise about missed sessions, lost fitness, falling behind.
Fast forward two days and I’m now lying on the sofa after running 18 miles today (with a lot of hills, oh, the hills. Feel free to find me on Strava so you can giggle at the ridiculous elevation) feeling tired, a little sore… and genuinely really pleased with how training is going. And once again, it struck me how similar this is to riding. So many riders believe that stopping, easing off, or changing the plan is a failure. We push on when something feels slightly off. We ride through tightness, fatigue, doubt! We convince ourselves that listening would mean we’re not tough enough!
But good training, whether on foot or in the saddle, isn’t about forcing today at the expense of tomorrow. Sometimes the best decision you can make is to get off. To shorten the session. To put the horse away feeling good. Because riding through something doesn’t automatically make you braver or better, often it just teaches the body and the mind to associate the work with tension.
What changed everything for me this weekend wasn’t grit or toughness. It was trust. Trusting that one shortened run doesn’t undo weeks of consistent work. Trusting that listening now creates capacity later. Trusting the process rather than panicking about a single session. Trusting myself to recognise when to say “woah” and when to say “giddy up”!
It’s the same with horses. One careful decision doesn’t set you back but quite often ignoring small signals often does. Your season won’t be made in just one day, but it can be f***ed up in one day!
Progress rarely comes from heroic moments. More often than not, it comes from the quiet choice to look after yourself (and your horse), even when your head is telling you to push. And sometimes, the reward for stopping on Friday… is feeling strong, capable, and confident on Sunday. Oh, and maybe just a little bit smug.

After all the wonderful conversations, messages and comments that came off my last post, I wanted to share something tha...
18/01/2026

After all the wonderful conversations, messages and comments that came off my last post, I wanted to share something that’s been on my mind again recently because it links so closely to what so many of you were saying.

A little while ago, I had someone in the car with me who was a very nervous passenger.

Now, I’d describe myself as a fairly calm, steady driver. I’m not tearing around corners or testing the grip on roundabouts. More Driving Miss Daisy than Fast & Furious. And yet, I can almost guarantee the one situation where my driving becomes slightly less smooth.

It’s when the passenger grabs the “oh my gosh” handle.

You know the one. That little handle above the door that gets clutched for dear life. Sharp intakes of breath. An invisible foot brake being slammed repeatedly. Helpful commentary like:

“There’s a red light up ahead.”
“That car’s braking.”
“Ooh, cyclist.”
“I’d have taken a different route…”

And the funny thing is, none of this information is new. I can already see it. I’m already anticipating it. I’m already dealing with it!

But suddenly, the drive feels harder. Less fluid. Less enjoyable.

Not because I’ve forgotten how to drive…
But because something has started interfering.

And that’s when it really hit me, again, just how many of the “problems” we experience in the saddle have absolutely nothing to do with riding.

Most of us drive largely on autopilot. We don’t consciously think about every gear change, mirror check or pedal movement. If we did, it would be exhausting. Those skills are subconscious now. Learned through repetition, experience and time.

Riding is exactly the same.

Think back to when you first learnt. Hands, legs, balance, posture, steering, breathing, all at once. Conscious, clunky, overwhelming. But years later? The ability to ride lives in the subconscious. Just like driving, just like walking.

And yet… we hop on a horse and invite that nervous passenger up into the saddle with us.

The one that whispers:
“Don’t mess this up.”
“You’re not good enough.”
“Everyone’s watching.”
“You should be doing better than this.”

Suddenly we’re consciously interfering with something that already knows how to work.

And just like in the car, things become less smooth. Less connected. Less enjoyable.

So often riders come to me believing they have an equestrian problem:
“I lose confidence when things go wrong.”
“I overthink everything.”
“I fall apart under pressure.”

But when we zoom out, it’s usually the same mindset that shows up elsewhere in life too, at work, in relationships, in training, in the car with a nervous passenger.

It’s not about ability!
It’s not about talent!
It’s not even about the horse!

It’s about the voice doing the commentary.

That inner critic. That anxious narrator. That uninvited passenger grabbing the handle and shouting warnings where none are needed.

When we learn to recognise that voice and more importantly, quieten it, everything changes. Not because the situation magically disappears, but because our perception of it does.

Because when the mind settles, the body remembers what it already knows how to do.
And suddenly, riding becomes what it was meant to be all along: fluid, connected, and quietly confident!





I work with a lot of riders who love their horses deeply…and quietly question themselves just as deeply.Confidence in th...
18/01/2026

I work with a lot of riders who love their horses deeply…
and quietly question themselves just as deeply.

Confidence in the saddle rarely disappears because we “can’t ride”.
More often, it fades under pressure, expectation, life stuff, comparison. You know, all the things we carry with us before we ever put a foot in the stirrup.

So this February, I’m running a 4-week Riders’ Confidence Course.

This isn’t about being fearless.
It’s about understanding what’s going on beneath the surface, calming the nervous system, and learning how to ride with more ease, trust and enjoyment again.

It will be a small-group workshop on Zoom, supportive, informal and practical, blending solution-focused therapy, mindset coaching and guided hypnotherapy. You don’t need to share anything you don’t want to, and you don’t need to “have it all together” to belong.

💛 All profits will be donated to PDSA, which I’m supporting this year as I train for the London Marathon.

The details:
🐎 Dates: 2nd, 9th, 16th & 23rd February
🐎 Time: 8pm (UK)
🐎 Format: Live group Zoom sessions
🐎 Length: Approx. 90 minutes each
🐎 Investment: £99 for all 4 sessions
🐎 Open to riders of all disciplines and levels

This is for riders who are tired of pushing themselves to “just be confident” and would rather understand themselves with a little more compassion.

If you’d like more information or want to reserve a place, send me a message 💙










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