Louise Hamilton Hypnotherapy

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Louise Hamilton Hypnotherapy

Helping horse riders overcome anxiety, boost confidence & rediscover joy — in and out of the saddle. Calm minds, confident rides, and genuine self-belief.
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Helping horse riders overcome anxiety, boost confidence & rediscover joy - in and out of the saddle. I’m a friendly, down-to-earth hypnotherapist who helps riders (and non-riders too!) conquer nerves, build self-belief, and feel calm, focused & in control - whether it’s for competitions, everyday riding, or life in general. If you’re ready to quiet the self-doubt and ride with confidence again, I’

m here to help. Specialising in:
• Rider confidence & mindset
• Overcoming anxiety & fear
• Building self-esteem & inner calm

Let’s get you back to feeling like you again — calm, capable, and confident.

31/05/2026

Another cracking review that came in last night🙂❤️👌🙌

30/05/2026

These are the messages I absolutely love receiving at weekends. ❤️

A few weeks ago, this young rider was struggling with nerves, tears and frustration around showing competitions.

Today, her mum sent me these photos along with a message saying she felt great at the show, with no nerves, no tears and no tantrums.

And yes, the results were pretty incredible too... 🥇🏆

But honestly, it's not the rosettes that make me smile the most.

It's knowing she was able to go out there, enjoy herself, believe in herself and have a brilliant day doing something she loves.

Seeing people achieve things they never thought possible, and hearing how much happier and more confident they feel, will never get old.

I'm so proud of this young lady and absolutely delighted for her and her family. ❤️

29/05/2026

PART 9 - MY JOURNEY WITH MJ

There was a point in 2022 where I was genuinely ready to give up eventing. Looking back now, that sounds ridiculous given what happened afterwards, but at the time I really meant it.

MJ and I had worked so hard to get back out competing after all the injuries and rehab. We'd started the season at BE80 and quickly moved back up to BE90, and although we weren't disgracing ourselves, our dressage scores on grass seemed to be a constant source of frustration. BD, on a surface she was getting great results, put the hard uneven ground of a grass arena wasn’t working for her. I even set up a grass arena in my field to try & get her used to it. She always felt a little bit like she was stepping more gingerly on grass and occasionally judges would comment that she looked uneven. Looking back now, I can see that I was probably contributing to that tension too. The more disappointing dressage scores we got, the more I worried about getting disappointing dressage scores.

At one event in particular, after seeing our score, I remember thinking "that's it, I'm done." I was fed up putting in so much effort only to feel as though we'd already blown any chance of a decent result before we'd even got to the fun bits. Then we went cross country. And oh my goodness...Anybody who events will understand this feeling. From the very first fence, MJ was absolutely loving life. Every question the course asked, she answered. Every fence I jumped, I found myself telling her what a good girl she was and I could actually feel her puff herself up underneath me as if she was saying, "I know Mum, wasn't that brilliant!"

By the time we crossed the finish line I'd completely changed my mind. The dressage score hadn't changed. The result hadn't changed. But my perspective had. I realised that somewhere along the way I'd become too focused on results and not focused enough on enjoyment. The truth was, the reason I loved eventing wasn't because of dressage percentages or placings.
It was that feeling. The partnership. The trust. The buzz of flying round a cross-country course on a horse that would give me absolutely everything she had.
So I made a decision. We would stop chasing results. We would stop worrying so much about scores.
And because that seemed like the most logical conclusion possible 🤣 ... I decided we should move up to BE100.
I still laugh at the fact that after the dressage I was ready to quit eventing completely and came home having decided to move up a level.
But that's horses for you. Or perhaps more accurately, that's MJ.
Part 11 is about our first BE100, which happened at exactly the same time as my mental health was probably at its lowest point.

Link to blog in comments below.

28/05/2026

After my trailer accident post, so many people commented saying that lorries are safer than trailers… and honestly, that’s exactly why I eventually made the move to a 7.5 ton horsebox.
She’s 37 years old, slightly quirky, definitely full of character… but I absolutely love her ❤️ I call her Thelma, so together we are Thelma and Louise!
Over time she’s become so much more than just transport for the horses. She’s taken us all over the country, become a home away from home at shows, and even doubles as my mobile therapy room when I run rider confidence camps.
The living has been transformed into a cosy therapy space where riders can come and work on confidence, anxiety and mindset issues in a calm, private environment. Then at Blair we turned the horse area into a little bar area for me and Mum whilst we stayed away for 5 days at the Horse Trials 🍷😂
But what’s interesting is this…
Even after moving from trailer to lorry, I still had huge travel anxiety.
Trauma doesn’t always disappear just because the situation changes.
Because the lorry is older, the temperature and fuel gauges are more “general suggestions” than precise measurements 😅 and every strange noise, smell, hill or dashboard movement would trigger anxiety in me.
I became hyper-alert constantly wondering:
“Is she overheating?”
“Are we going to break down?”
“Is something wrong?”
People often assume confidence comes from logic.
“It’s safer now, so you should feel fine.”
But that isn’t how the nervous system works after a frightening experience.
It actually wasn’t until I had EMDR myself that the fear properly settled.
Now I can genuinely enjoy the freedom the lorry gives us instead of spending every journey stuck in survival mode.
And honestly… for an old girl, Thelma’s still doing pretty well 💕
x

26/05/2026

I don’t think I realised how much the travelling incidents with MJ had affected me until I became genuinely frightened of towing.
At first, I kept telling myself I was just being sensible. Careful. More aware of risks.
But looking back now, I was actually carrying a huge amount of unresolved fear.
The first major accident happened in 2019 on the way to the BRC Championships in Lincoln. Mum and I were towing down a B road near Penrith when we hit extremely deep wet mud on the road. The Sh**un skidded, the trailer fishtailed and flipped completely onto its side with MJ and Mum’s horse Erin inside.
I honestly still can’t quite believe both horses escaped with only cuts and bruises.
The roof came off the trailer on impact and they managed to get out through the top. Erin was understandably traumatised afterwards and even getting her onto transport to travel to the vets took over four hours. Meanwhile MJ, unbelievably, just followed me straight up the ramp when it was finally time to load her.
That moment honestly melted my heart because it felt like pure trust.
But although the horses physically recovered, I don’t think I properly appreciated how much the accident affected me mentally.
Then in 2022, after one of our first events back, we had a blowout on the motorway in the dark while towing home. We couldn’t stop because there was no hard shoulder and had to crawl along with the hazards on, terrified we’d be crashed into from behind. Standing in a random grassy area in the middle of a housing estate afterwards, trying to keep MJ calm while waiting for help, is honestly still one of the most stressful memories I have. Meanwhile all the people from the estate were asking if they could take pictures of her, and having to stop them coming over to try & pet her.
A few weeks later, the Sh**un overheated coming home from another event and once again we were stranded on a dangerous road bend with horses onboard.
I think that was probably the point where my nervous system just said “enough”.
After that, every journey felt stressful. I became hyper aware of every noise, every vibration, every lorry overtaking us. Towing no longer felt normal or enjoyable; it felt threatening.
Eventually I had EMDR therapy to help me process the trauma around travelling the horses because I knew I couldn’t carry on feeling that level of fear every time we left the yard.
It helped hugely.
And it also made me realise how many things riders quietly carry around without acknowledging how much they’ve actually affected them.
Part 10 is about a time where everything looked amazing from the outside… but mentally I was struggling more than people realised.

Link to blog in comments below

20/05/2026

One of the things I was probably least prepared for in the horse world was how hurtful people can sometimes be when things are already difficult.
During MJ’s rehab in 2020, after the suspensory injury had been diagnosed, somebody I knew through horses messaged me to say I’d basically brought it on myself. That I shouldn’t have been riding her and she’d clearly been favouring the other leg while I was working her.
The thing was… I hadn’t been “working” her.
At that stage we were literally only doing the rehab programme exactly as instructed by the vet school. Walking. Carefully. Slowly. Trying desperately to do everything right. It was during this time that we taught ourselves to ride completely tackless…and I did put this on Facebook as I was so proud of that little achievement whilst still following the rehab plan to the letter.
And yet that comment absolutely floored me.
I think because when you’re already exhausted, worried and emotionally drained, comments like that tap straight into every insecurity you already have. You’re already questioning yourself constantly without someone else adding to it.
Did I miss something?
Did I do something wrong?
Have I made things worse?
Looking back now, I can see that the comment probably said far more about them than it did about me. But at the time it really upset me.
Unfortunately, since doing the work I do now, I’ve realised just how common this is in the horse world. So many riders carry around guilt and shame because of comments made by people who only ever saw tiny fragments of the full picture. One of my favourite parts of my job working with riders is identifying and addressing the root cause of the confidence issues through regression. However, many times what I hear makes me so angry….people have been ready to sell their horse feeling like they’re not good enough, based on comments about their riding from years ago. Their conscious mind hadn’t realised that their subconscious mind had felt this so strongly as to give them such negative feelings.
And the truth is, most horse owners are already trying their absolute best. Especially the ones lying awake at night worrying about their horses.
One thing horses have definitely taught me is this:
Be kind. Or say nothing at all.
Because you never really know how much someone else is carrying behind the scenes.
Link to blog in comments below

14/05/2026

PART 6 - Watching Everyone Else Move Forward While You Feel Stuck
Face

I don’t think I properly understood how hard it is mentally to be left behind until MJ’s injuries in 2020. At the beginning of that year, things finally felt like they were coming together for us. We’d gone to our first BS competition and MJ won prize money for the first time, finishing 3rd in a big class with a brilliant jump-off. I was absolutely over the moon.
Then, while warming up for the second class that same day, she didn’t feel right.
A few days later the physio said she suspected a tendon injury, and Glasgow Vet School confirmed it. Full box rest. Likely no work for the rest of the year.
I remember trying so hard to stay positive on the drive home. Telling myself at least I still had her. Telling myself Covid meant we wouldn’t be missing too much anyway. Trying to focus on the fact we’d have time together without pressure.
But honestly… it was brutal.
Anyone who has had a fit event horse on box rest will understand 😅 She absolutely hated it. Bucking and broncing in the stable, kicking holes in walls, exploding during hand walking. When we finally got to the stage of ten minutes in-hand walking a day, it genuinely felt like flying a kite.
And then came the moment that completely broke me mentally.
After seven months of rehab, we went back to the vet school expecting to finally get the all clear on the tendon. Instead, they told me the tendon was healed… but she was now lame on the other foreleg with a suspensory injury.
Straight into another rehab programme.
To this day I’m almost certain she did it during one of the two times she got away from me while hand grazing and galloped flat out up the field. I can still remember the absolute panic watching her disappear.
In total she ended up having over a year off consecutively.
And during that time, social media became really hard. Every time I opened Facebook it felt like everyone else was out competing, progressing, qualifying, moving up the levels… while my entire world revolved around trying to keep my horse sane enough not to injure herself again.
That period changed me more than I probably realised at the time.
Part 7 is about something else I struggled with during that rehab period — the judgement and nasty comments that can exist in the horse world when people don’t know the full story.

Link to blog in comments below.

Video of MJ’s first turnout after nearly a year of box-rest….my heart was I my mouth!!

08/05/2026

Part 5 : Knowing Something Isn’t Right

One of the hardest parts of owning MJ over the years wasn’t actually the injuries themselves. In some ways, injuries felt easier because at least there was usually an answer, a diagnosis, a plan. What I found much harder were the periods where I just knew something wasn’t right, but couldn’t work out what.
The first major incident happened in 2019 when Mum and I were out hacking. Near the end of the ride MJ suddenly became completely unlike herself. We were crossing a bridge and she just would not go forwards. She was bunny hopping, going backwards, almost falling over her own feet, and at one point nearly went backwards off the bridge altogether. I eventually had to get off and lead her home. As soon as I got off her, she seemed calmer.
The next day when I got on her, her whole back end dipped underneath me, so I called the vet. He felt that her ovaries were extremely sore as she was coming into season, and looking back that was probably the start of me realising just how much hormones affected her. I remember joking to people that me & MJ were so similar “we’re both hormonal, impatient, anxious, hard-working and like to be told we’ve done a good job” lol. But at least I understood why I felt like I did with regards to hormonal fluctuation. Poor MJ hadn’t a clue….all she knew was that she felt sore and grumpy!!
But over the years there were so many times where I found myself questioning everything. Was it hormones? Pain? Tension? Behaviour? Was I missing something? Was I imagining things because so much had already gone wrong?
I think after enough setbacks, you almost stop being able to relax. You become hyper aware of every little thing because you’re frightened of missing something important. And honestly, that’s exhausting.Looking back now, I can see how much anxiety I carried around without even realising it. Not dramatic anxiety necessarily, just a constant underlying feeling of waiting for the next problem.
It’s something I now see so often in riders I work with too, especially people with sensitive horses or horses with ongoing issues. Sometimes people think they’ve “lost confidence”, when actually they’ve just spent years stuck in a cycle of worry and anticipation.
Part 6 is about something I didn’t fully understand at the time either…. just how much my own tension was feeding straight back into MJ.

Link to blog in comments below.

07/05/2026

I don’t think I could let this day pass without a wee bit of a celebration over the change of direction that my life has taken. It was 4 years ago yesterday that I suffered a mental breakdown, and was signed off sick from my old role as a Commercial Accountant. That was the catalyst for changing my life.... changing careers entirely. 3 years ago today I qualified as a clinical hypnotherapist, and in that time I have run over 1300 hypnotherapy sessions, helping my clients to help themselves feel better, with all feedback showing success rates are incredibly high🙌

And to top it all off, this month, May 2026 I am fully booked with a waiting list….the busiest month so far🙌 I absolutely love my job, it is the most rewarding, fulfilling role I have ever done in my life and I look forward to doing it for many more years....no longer counting the days down to an early retirement! Thank you to every one of my clients and followers that give me such fantastic feedback and reviews & for sharing what I do with others.

04/05/2026

Busy, busy, busy🙂

Please get in contact earlier rather than later if you’re wanting to book sessions in with me…currently I have a 3 week waiting list.

Address

Inchbean Cottage
Kilmarnock
KA15LL

Website

http://Louisehamiltonhypnotherapy.co.uk/

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