showjumping comp - 1st time

[Lucy J]

Well, its Ciara's first ever show on 29th September. Transport is all organised, but I'm terrified.

its not even me who will be riding. i need some tips though on what work I should be doing with her this week. we are doing lots of flat work and grid work but we don't have a course of show jumps. i am so worried incase she refuses or won't go into the ring. does any one else have exprience of a first show with a young horse? there will be around 14 jumps between 2ft3 - 2ft6.

how do I prepare before the class? how long should I warm up for?


HELP! I get nervous just thinking about it!

[maverick927]

first of all - KEEP CALM

Make sure that you put a green ribbon in your horses tail so that everyone knows she is young and they will understand if she doesn't go into the ring.

for the jumping, just relax, don't think about her rufusing or she will, anyway if its only her fitrst show surely a refusal or two is expected. If the ring is big (or small!!) make sure that her rider takes her right into the corners to give your horse as much or a chance as possible to see the fences.

As long as she is confident with doubles and triples she will have no problems. If you have enough to make three jumps even if they are uprights, spread them out a bit and add a corner., she'll get used to this easily.

At the moment I only have one jump as they were all stolen (I use a council field not my own) and I just jump the fence at different angles and to big half circles at one end turn round and come back over the jump again.

Works a treat for me as we rarely don't get a clear round.

[rocketman]

Maverick is right. Stay calm and don't expect too much from this first outing. You should consider this a learning experience and part of the training of a young horse.

I would get to the show well ahead of time and hand walk your horse around the showgrounds, giving her ample time to goggle at all the new things. Try to take her as close as possible to the edge or the ring, near a jump, and let her watch some of the other horses go. You want her settled and focusing on the job at hand by the time the rider gets on. If she's still distracted by all the activity, she may not pay attention to the rider when the time comes.

If you are nervous, perhaps you shouldn't get on her yourself, lest you transmit your nerves to the horse. Try not to make your rider nervous either. I assume your rider is experienced, so fight the urge to give last minute advice, warnings, etc. If you don't like the look of a certain jump, don't tell the rider.

As a breeder, I have taken numerous young horses to their first shows. Now that I don't compete much myself anymore, I usually just tell the rider to see how it goes and, if the horse is getting unnerved, just to put his hand up and come out.

Pity you aren't in America. At all but the most major shows, they let you come the day ahead to school in the ring and have a jolly good practice! If this is a local, non-affiliated show, you might suggest the idea to the management. It's a good way for the show to make some extra money (here they usually charge $20 per horse for a practice session) and it's perfectly fair since everyone has the same opportunity.

Good luck! Remember - you are doing this for fun!

[FreedomStar]

yes, stay calm and get to the show grounds early. Walk your horse around to show her everything, and to let her get used to all the 'busy'ness of a show. Take her around the rings where you will be warming up and showing in especially, and get her used to the arenas as much as you can. If there is anything that is spooking her at or near the arena, get her used to it quick so that she won't spook at it when the person is riding her. good luck!

[maverick927]

i forgot to mention. Make sure that you remember to tell us how you did and keep us updated on your prgress.

[Lucy J]

yep, will do, bit worried though, she's been going really well and when I schooled her yesterday she was terrible, really uncooperative and lethargic, wouldn't even canter. i hacked her out on saturday, but yesterday she just seemed knackered.

perhaps it was just a bad day for her. she'd been left out on her own for a while so might have worried herself a bit.

fingers crossed she's better today.

[Lucy J]

competition was yesterday. she was very calm which I thought was great for her first show, she jumped really well in the practice ring too, but in the main arena she refused the first fence 3 times then jumped it and refused the 2nd fence.

my friend was riding, not me, so I don't know if it was her orthe horse. i am pleased she was so well behaved, but disappointed she didn't want to jump in the ring.

any ideas for next time?

[Mehitabel]

glad she was calm and well-behaved outside the ring, that's definitely a good start! as you say, it's tough to know if the refusals were her or the rider, but i've found that this is a common thing - the horse jumps well outside the ring when it doesn't matter, but when they go in, the rider tenses and the horse thinks "what's different? they weren't tense a minute ago, are these jumps scarier? i'd better not go near them just in case..." or simply that the rider is too busy trying to remember the course to really ride into the first fence, so the horse senses that the rider's mind isn't really on it, and ducks out. that was always copper's party piece in his jumping days!
but be encouraged that the atmosphere didn't blow her mind, and that she jumped the paractice fences!

[rocketman]

Why don't you try to find a little show that has a ring specifically for 'clear round jumping'? Instead of going in a competition where, 3 refusals and you're out, in clear round jumping you can go back in for more tries.

I did this with a young thoroughbred mare I had purchased at Ascot Sales in March. Her first show was in April. She had the general idea about jumping at home, but I knew she would fall apart at a show. Sure enough, she stopped at the first fence, then jumped it; stopped at the second, then jumped; and again at the third. 15 minutes later she went back in and jumped the first three, then stopped at the 4th, 5th and 6th. Her third round, she jumped the first 6 and stopped at 7, 8, and 9. The fourth time, she made it to the end of the course, having stopped at the last three. The fifth round, she went clear.

Half an hour later, she went in a class in the other ring and went right round all the new fences with only a couple of poles down. Clear round jumping is a good way to get in some valuable practice in a show atmosphere.