In my mid-sixties, I began to ride in local and international dressage shows. I had mixed success in the show ring and my coach told me that my skills and those of my horses are good enough to get high marks, but somehow when I began a dressage test in a show, I would lose my mind and stop riding effectively. Anxiety, lack of concentration and poor focus really got in my way. When I started working on my mental game and sharing my story, I was thankful to have someone comprehend all of the concerns that I had about my show performances and who could offer concrete suggestions about how to deal with them. In only five meetings I was able to probe more deeply into the barriers to my success and obtain solutions. I realized that all competing athletes have the same issues to face and having someone to talk to with wide sport experience made it easy. In my last show of that season I rode a test that was about half way up the scale of difficulty in international dressage and had been my personal goal for many years. My horse and I attained a very good score that was definitely a personal best!! Training my mind in the show ring was a huge contribution to our success that year. I struggled in competition but that changed with mental training and support.