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Warming Up At A Show This season has presented us with a number of unique circumstances resulting from the E.I. crisis. Normally we have the entire Spring country show season to gauge our overall progress and to perfect our horse’s work while qualifying for our major events over the Summer. This year many horses may be stepping out to Barastoc or a much later Royal Horse Show with little or no recent competition practice. When showing, an air of confidence is a great way to enhance your chances of winning a class. Confidence comes from being fully prepared and a vital part of that preparation on a show day is gauging how much time you and your horse require to warm up. How much is enough? What is not enough? How much is too much? If you are observant, the horse will tell you the answers to these questions. My best advice with horses’ behaviour at shows is not to make assumptions. Even if your horse is generally well behaved, be prepared that if he hasn’t been anywhere for a few months and he steps out to a show with quite a bit of atmosphere and activity, he may be brighter than usual. So, factor in enough time to warm up for a longer period if you feel the horse is unsettled. If I have a horse that has not been shown much, the first thing I do when I arrive at the show is put a snaffle work bridle (no reins) over a Parelli halter, attach a lunge rein, put on work bandages and take the horse for a walk – a good look around- down to various rings. Don’t get in the way of horses being ridden, but where there is room lunge him around you, let him look at tents, banners, advertising signs, loudspeakers etc and then assess how he is handling the entire process. If the horse seemed quite settled I would then go back to the float, saddle up and ride for about 20 minutes doing relaxed stretching and suppling work (circles, loops, serpentines, lots of transitions and lots of rein changes) and I would again visit the rings before any judging commenced. Make sure you walk, trot and canter (it’s no use doing your first canter for the day, in a class). If, after you initially take the horse for a walk, he is not very settled (in fact, he’s agitated) don’t ride until you have lunged him with saddle and side reins for 15-20 minutes. Then ride warm-up work as described for 20 minutes and assess how he is behaving. If you have a horse that has done a few seasons of showing and is relaxed and well mannered (lucky you!) he still needs to warm up, mostly just to loosen and stretch his back. With these horses, the problem can sometimes be that they are a little “flat” in their classes. With this type of horse, get off his back between classes and don’t let him stand around getting bored near the rings (especially if the weather is hot). Alert and activate him for 5 minutes prior to each of his classes with a series of brief transitions ie trot/halt/trot and canter/trot and a couple of brief bursts of medium canter and then he should be up, alert and concentrating for the class. If a horse is struggling with fitness in his classes this is not something that can be magically fixed on the day of the show. It needs to be addressed in the weeks leading up to the show. Similarly, if a horse is performing on nervous energy in his classes and perhaps destroying his chances by misbehaviour and anxiety, this should also be addressed in the weeks and months leading up to the show. It can’t always be dealt with on show day. Often it’s not a good idea for a nervous horse to be too fit. The key to his performance is teaching him to relax. Make every show a learning experience for this type of horse. Staying on a nervous horse and simply strolling around the showgrounds (through the floats etc) until he is bored and little tired can be helpful when addressing this problem. We’re back into it for 2008. Good luck for Barastoc! Leigh |
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