A Recipe For Success In The Show ring

You know, producing a showhorse is a bit like cooking. When you attempt to be successful, you can follow a proven recipe and have all the right ingredients but it still may not turn out right. A good coach is like a chef. He has made that particular meal so often before that he doesn’t even need to follow the recipe. In fact, if he needs to, he can even skimp on the ingredients and still produce a favourable outcome.

So, what is the recipe for success in the show ring? I’m going to be perfectly frank here. It’s a mixture of a number of requirements.

Firstly, success requires an almost fanatical determination. This is true, I think, in any sport but particularly in equestrian sport. Think of the uniqueness of equestrian sport. Take, for example, the Olympic Games. Not only are the equestrian sports the only sector where men and women compete equally against each other, but they are the only sports which involve a 500kg, living , non-human creature with a brain and personality traits, in which you must place your trust to work with you as your partner.

I always say that having horses is not just a sport or a hobby- they are a lifestyle! It takes a particular type of person to have the dedication required to continue the daily rituals of the care and training of horses over what is often a very long period of time.

Secondly, success requires financial commitment. Anyone who thinks that success in any facet of equestrian sport is not directly linked to considerable financial support is deluding themselves. At any level, this is an expensive sport we are involved in. If someone is determined enough to spend a considerable amount perfecting the necessary skills required to be highly competitive and then spend three, four, five times the average amount  of their fellow competitors (and believe me they exist) are going to be incredibly difficult to defeat in competition.

Thirdly, success requires time and patience.  With time comes experience. Experience produces results. I know one successful competitor who took horses all the way to the Sydney Royal five years running without winning a single ribbon. After that, she won everything and continued to do so for many years. Hang in there! Be prepared for set-backs and disappointments before success occurs.

Natural athletic ability is helpful in this sport, as it is in any sport. However, riding skills require fitness rather than strength and body control and mental relaxation more than energy. The legendary rider Reiner Klimke once said;

“The hardest thing to do when riding is to do nothing.” It’s important not to block or interfere with our horse when he’s doing what we would like him to do. It takes practice to develop these skills, so I often find riders with perseverance more likely to succeed than those with natural physical abilities.

So, a strange mixture of ingredients is necessary for success in the show ring. But here are my Top 5 Tips to help you immediately, to have more success in the show ring in 2007

1. A general observation; most horses need to carry a little more weight and many riders a little less.

2. If upgrading gear, spend a few hundred less on your saddle and a few hundred more on your bridle. A made to measure bridle is money well spent on any show horse.

3. If you don’t have a regular coach….GET ONE! No one can expect to progress in any equestrian discipline without regular help.

4. Try to learn more about the theory behind correct riding and training.

2 suggestions:

“The Dressage Horse” by Harry Boldt (English translation is great if you can get it)

“Basic Dressage Training For The Rider” (a DVD released by the German  ?? discussing the Training Scale) ESSENTIAL VIEWING

5. Observe successful competitors. If you see four out of five winning competitors do the same things in the ring, when warming up or in their presentation, accept that it is important.

I’m reasonably certain that the adoption of any of these suggestions as an “ingredient” in your own personal “recipe for success” will produce both immediate and long term benefits for the competition year ahead.

Best of luck for the shows over the Summer!

Leigh

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