The eSmartr Sleeve: A Secret Weapon for Anxiety and Focus

Please note, this post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using the links. Please see my disclosure for more details.

Since you’ve landed on my site, I’m going to assume you’re an adult beginner rider. 😉 I’m also venturing to assume you have some struggles with anxiety around your riding! Based on those two factors, I think you’ll love what I’m going to share with you today!

Let me introduce you to my new best friend, lol, the eSmartr Smart Compression Sleeve! And as I mentioned in the disclaimer above, yes, I’m an affiliate, but only because I love them! I absolutely would not be writing this review if I didn’t.

Not only did my sleeve make me more brave in the saddle from my very first use, but it also helps improve my focus both in lessons and in my work! I’ve even bought one (this one) for my adult daughter to help with her focus in her work as a software engineer!

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. If you’ve never heard of them before, I’ll describe what they are, quoting directly from their website as they explain it better than I could:

The eSmartr Smart Compression Sleeve uses skin receptors on the forearm to generate “skin-to-brain” neural signals, telling your brain’s cognitive networks to function more efficiently. The result is a 100% natural, drug-free solution to improved mindfulness.

eSmartr.com

And take a look at this video if you want to dive further into how they work and the benefits.

Wow, hey??? 😲 I had no idea such a thing was possible.

I heard about them first on a writer’s Facebook group that I’m part of where the writer said she has ADHD and her sleeve was the only way she was able to stay focused enough to write books.

Hmmm, I thought… I could use help focusing… I don’t have ADHD, but I do have an almost 50-year-old brain that is constantly jumping around from idea to idea, thinking about this “should do” and that “should do”, is all too often at the mercy of social media, and would rather do many things other than my work-at-home job on any given day! So, yes, sign me up! 😆

Then, I get to their site and I see that these sleeves also help with anxiety?!! What? Something that might help me be braver in the saddle just by just wearing it?! Sold!!! If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know I’ve done the work and improved a thousandfold, but there’s always room for improvement when it comes to bravery when you’re a naturally over-cautious over-thinker. lol And if there’s a wearable tool that will do some of that work for me, I’m in!!

So, before long I was the new owner of an eSmartr Midnight, forearm length, and I’m not kidding, from my first use, I noticed a difference in my riding. While I’ve done a fair bit of showing, I’ve still got some weird hangup about jumping when not in lessons. And let’s be real, showing isn’t for the faint of heart no matter how brave you are or how much you work on not caring that a bunch of teenage railbirds are critiquing you. 😬

Enter the eSmartr sleeve. That first day I put it on, I went for a ride and was like a whole new me, so much so that one of my friends asked what was going on. 😆 I was going to keep my sleeve a secret but I’m too honest, so I had to tell her. She couldn’t believe this strange little compression sleeve I was wearing could make such a big of a difference in how much more confident I was. Me neither!

I don’t pretend to get the technology that makes it all work, and it honestly doesn’t matter to me, I just know that when I put it on, it’s weirdly like getting a strange hug (albeit, yes, on my forearm but whatever, lol), and a feeling of calm centeredness comes over me. My nerves recede, I focus better, and my “what if” thoughts disappear. It’s the strangest thing.

I will say that as much as I don’t think there’s anything wrong with anyone seeing that you’re wearing one, the horse world is weird about admitting riding nerves, so I don’t like to advertise that I’m wearing it so I only use it if I can wear long sleeves. It’s a bit of a pain in the summer when it’s hot, but I tend to wear long-sleeved sun shirts anyway so that’s been no big deal.

I will admit though that I don’t wear it quite as often as I did at the start, but I attribute that more to it helping so much that it’s contributed to a new belief system where I’m more confident and don’t need it as much. To me, that’s more a testament to how much it helps and definitely not a bad thing!

And as to why I first looked at the sleeves, for focus in my day-to-day work life, I’m finding it really helpful with that as well. I’m on the computer all day and work at home, which can get very monotonous and it’s hard to focus at times. But just as with with the writer who first introduced me to them, my sleeve helps me tremendously in being able to stay focused and on track. Again, I’m not sure how or why this works, but honestly, none of that matters to me – if it helps, that’s good enough for me.

As I mentioned, I have the eSMartr in midnight, forearm length, but you can get all sorts of different designs and branding like DC Comics, HEAD, and Umbro (they really need to partner with an equestrian brand!), and they’re available in a forearm length as well as full sleeve.

Below are just a few different designs to give you an idea of the options. As I mentioned, I just got the plain black one, but that Wonder Woman one is pretty amazing… 🤩 And one of the things I say is a great way to deal with nerves or confidence issues is to embody a character who represents the rider you want to be – wearing a Wonder Woman sleeve could be a fantastic way to really buy into a powerful persona in the saddle, never mind all the benefits these smart compression sleeves provide as well!

Their shipping was also very fast to me, even on an island on the west coast of Canada, and if you use my link, you get free shipping! A win-win! 😁

Anyway, I hope this helps! I’m all about helping beginner adult riders (and experienced ones too!) feel empowered in and out of the saddle, and any tool I find that helps that, I’m going to share! It’s no fun not being able to do what we love because of fear, so if something like this wearable technology helps even a little, why not?!

Until next time, and enjoy the ride! ❤️🐴❤️