When show season is in full swing and contestants are trying to accumulate the most points for higher scores to win championship titles, everyone tries to get an edge on their competition. 

The reason I see that riders do not win in competition is lack of preparation.  I see competitors coming to the show about an hour before their class!  Any decent warm-up takes about a half of an hour, not to mention grooming and tacking of the horse. You just about have enough time for your class. Competitors should arrive at the show grounds at least two hours before the start of the show. Allow time to settle yourself and your horse. Take some time and smell the roses. You have come a long way for this, and you should be relaxed and calm for your horse and your test.

Most of you are nervous wrecks for the competition. So, look at how you are doing your warm up. Is it exactly the same as you have practiced at home (or at the farm)? What I mean is, do you and your horse do the exact same exercise at the show as you do at home. For example, I come out to the show warm-up arena two hours before my class, and I walk my horse on a loose rein. When my horse is calm, I start simple transitions from a walk trot to a trot halt, checking in with my horse to test the gas peddle and breaks. I then proceed to do some simple bending exercises at the walk, trot, etc. until I build my horse‘s warm up to whatever level test I will be doing.

Most competitors just take their horses out and walk them around. They then start trotting one way, then the other, and then canter in both directions. These horses become bug eyed or so dull that they could not win a test. The warm up should not tire your horse out. Your horse should understand what he/she is going to do and what it needs to proceed to do to become successful. The horse should trust in the repetition of its simple warm up so that he/she is calm, quiet and relaxed. The warm-up arena should create a calm, quiet, relaxed horse.

If your horse is not relaxed, then you should understand that you are to going to have to arrive at the show a minimum of two hours prior to the start of the show to slowly school your horse.  Also, do whatever you need to create a calm, quiet attitude for your horse before the test!  Now, those of you that are saying, "well I never showed before", should get to the show at least two hours before your class!  What is the worse thing that will happen? You and your horse might just relax during the show!

Schooling during a show can be done in many ways. Different exercises should create softness in the horse’s back, mouth and neck so that they are more apt to be calm, quiet and relaxed. A big mistake that I see being made is that most riders ride their horses too long before the class, staying on their horse’s back working it until it is too tired to compete. Most horses that wired or electric will wind themselves up with this type of work. Twenty minutes of work, then a break for the horse, then another twenty minutes, then a break, then another twenty minutes. A break in the work load will calm and relax your horse more than allowing it to wind itself up to a total state of melt down and resignation.

Now you have your horse calm and quite and you are in your warm- up area ready to go into the dressage arena. The judge rings the bell. Do you know exactly where you are and how long it will take for you to get into the arena? I saw riders who were all the way around the arena by "C", rushing down to get in.  They had no plan or idea as to how long it would take them to get in, and now the rush is on. Time how long it will take you to walk around a dressage arena. Time how long it takes to trot it. Know where you are each second you are in the warm-up area, riding around it and what you need to do to get to "A". Did you plan a nice long smooth entrance to "X", or did you just make a turn into the arena knocking your horse off balance from the start of your entrance so that your trot will be all over the line through "X" to "C"?  Did you plan what diagonal you will enter on?  What direction are you going to turn at "C"?  This is the diagonal you should be entering on, unless your horse halts better on the other diagonal. You, as the competitor, should know these things before you are going to compete. These small things become major points that you do not have to work for and you can just relax to "X", gain some easy points and not just beat yourself up because of lack of preparation.

Turning at "C", I see a lot of points being wasted. Most competitors’ horses go off the straight line to "C" because there the rider uses their inside leg first to start the turn, or uses their hands. Use the outside leg in front of the girth to start the horse’s shoulders to round. It is a silent cue that should not knock the horse off balance. Then, use the inside leg and the inside finger to finish the turn. If your horse gives you a big problem at "C" because of the judge’s booth, if you can, do not go all the way up to the judge. Show the judge that this is not where training should be done, and this difficult spot has come as a shock to you also. If you are expecting a problem at "C", school at home more with changing judge’s booths. Use a car, a wheelbarrow, some chairs. Yes, all in preparation.

If the horse is not responsive to your aids in the dressage arena during the halt at "X", or the turn at "C", you know you need to ride the horse a little more demandingly. Is the horse slow off the leg for the turn? If yes, then your canter departs should be tested sooner than you need them. Is your horse hard to the hand during the halt at "X"?  If yes, then you need to test your half halts way before you need to make a downward transition. Become a thinking rider. Help your horse succeed in doing a test. Are your turns deep into the corners? If not, why not? Perhaps, it's a rider’s laziness to get the horse into corners at home, or to push the horse in the dressage arena. Make the circles point to point - four points on the circle, each quarter of the circle ridden as a straight line (the bend in your horse’s body will make the arc of the circle and your horse will go around by itself with practice. Make sure your circle is not into the corner of the arena as your corners are. Remember that the judge can see if you have a problem horse. The judge can also see if you are used to doing a circle as a turn!

There are many, many more things that I teach my students on how to prepare for the show. These are just some simple mistakes that I see all the time. They do not have to happen if one truly thinks about how they are going to prepare during the show and in the arena. Pay attention to details. Know that no detail is small enough to skip.

Have fun, ride well and be safe.