Advice on Relaxing an Excitable Horse in Dressage

[EquiiNat]

Hi all! I have a very excitable and tense 8yo mare, who is capable dressage wise but tends to 'lose it' when we're competing. We compete eventing mainly and that is where we have problems. She usually warms up okay, extremely forward going as ever, but we keep it together. However whenever we go to our arena she just seems to get incredibly tense. If there are horses in arenas next to us she becomes totally distracted by what they're doing and gets very excitable if they're trotting or cantering, and if the arena is on its own away from other horses she gets distracted looking to the horses in the warm up resulting in a very hurried test!

All our tests come out with the word 'tense' written everywhere. They are usually very hurried, she motorbikes round corners, works in a very short, upright and inconsistent outline, or sometimes no outline at all if she's very worked up, and leaps away from the tiniest bit of leg pressure. Now she's no dressage star at home but we can manage to achieve a fairly consistent rhythm and a good frame and is usually quite relaxed. But away from home she's just not focused...I have been competing her for the last 3 years and have had the same problem throughout, with some places being better than others but generally she hasn't been good.

For example, yesterday we were out at a BE100. She warmed up fairly well, she was very very forward but generally listening. As soon as I took her down to walk around the arena I felt her attention go, the arenas were very close together and she got fizzed up by the horses on either side. She began jogging as I tried to walk her around and tightening her neck. Unfortunately just as I turned into the arena the racehorses galloped past on the track about 100m away and from that moment on all hope was lost. She did the worst test she's ever done, had her head in the clouds the whole time, kept leaping into canter and struck off on the wrong leg twice. We came away with the worst mark of the day by a long way!!

So I'm just desperate for tips on trying to calm her down at a dressage event, especially once we're in the arena. Lots of warm up doesn't work as she just gets increasingly excitable and has endless energy. She is on a calmer and we give her an instant-calmer before the event. Stuck for any ideas now but need it to be better by next season. So any advice??

 

[FireFly29]

She sounds similar to my mare!
Mine gets very distracted and spooky in the dressage arena and we end up with less than great marks as a result, despite her being actually very capable at home.

Ill be interested to see what others suggest too!

My plan this winter is to get out to as many local dressage comps as possible so that hopefully she no longer finds it a novelty.
I'm hoping that this combined with more lessons/clinics might help us!
Someone else I know had a similar problem and she found that this approach worked with hers.
Apologies if you've already tried this!

 

[EquiiNat]

She sounds similar to my mare!
Mine gets very distracted and spooky in the dressage arena and we end up with less than great marks as a result, despite her being actually very capable at home.

Ill be interested to see what others suggest too!

My plan this winter is to get out to as many local dressage comps as possible so that hopefully she no longer finds it a novelty.
I'm hoping that this combined with more lessons/clinics might help us!
Someone else I know had a similar problem and she found that this approach worked with hers.
Apologies if you've already tried this!

FireFly29, yes I plan to do a winter of intensive dressage practice and get out to a few shows!! Only problem is there won't be any on grass during the winter which is where she is worst :/

 

[be positive]

It is frustrating as it is so important to get a reasonable score on the board to have any chance of a placing however well the other 2 phases go. You say she is fairly consistent and relaxed at home I think until that is more consistent then you will struggle to get her truly relaxed and stop the tension at competitions when she obviously finds it all far too distracting.
I would be working hard at home to get her totally focussed, look at every aspect from bit, noseband, other obvious checks, to how you warm up, whether you really ask enough of her and how and when she responds best, you need to get a plan of action over the winter to address it as a whole, a few minor tweaks may make all the difference.
Then I would enter a few dressage comps, HC if you prefer, to give you the opportunity to ride several tests to see what works best with no pressure of trying to gain decent scores just to get her in the arena and focussed on you and nothing else, I would see if you could trot to the arena, it is not always possible but has worked well for one of mine, then keep trotting round while waiting for the bell doing lots of transitions to keep her listening, many horses switch off on the walk over then get tense as the rider picks them up again, if you don't let them off the contact at all there is less chance of them tensing up. I often canter a few times before going in, or for some a few rein backs or some lateral work, make use of the time to keep the horse focussed on the job ahead, all too often the marks are lost by being ill prepared, it is something that you need to try out and see what works best for your own horse.

 

[philamena]

I'd suggest going out to as many dressage comps as poss where you work in, do your test, then come straight back out and carry on working her as if the session just happened to move to a different place and you keep going until she's properly focussed again. Also going out to do two tests so she doesn't have the excitement of jumping after dressage. And seek out test riding clinics where you can warm up in one arena, go in and ride a test then get feedback and ride the test again. It's all exposure whilst changing the pattern. Cus otherwise what happens is you never work her through the worst fizziness, you just survive the test and then let her stop because you're eventing. I'd be going out every weekend until it stops being exciting...

 

[atlantis]

Get her out as much as possible. I spent a winter going out every weekend and it stopped my boy pratting about. We were on the 50's before and getting 70% after that winter!! My friends tb used to stand on his head and has got better with time too.

At hoys I saw a spray on magnesium calmer by free step I think. It's for those that can't absorb magnesium through the gut and works in 15 mins. My friend bought some for her boy so I'll see how it goes with him and report back!!

 

[JillA]

Are you sure it isn't you tensing and she picks up on it?

 

[longdog]

Following this with interest as this is exactly our girl too!

 

[BTR]

I'm also following this with interest!

My boy has just 'got' what eventing is so yesterday's stressage was 40! Tence, jogging, dripping with sweat....he good see the Xc in the distance and hear the whistles etc. Only saving grace is that he jumps and managed a 6th place!

First aim is to hopefully bore him with dressage over the winter!

Becky

 

[philamena]

At hoys I saw a spray on magnesium calmer by free step I think. It's for those that can't absorb magnesium through the gut and works in 15 mins. My friend bought some for her boy so I'll see how it goes with him and report back!!

This is interesting. I wondered how long it'd be before they brought out a topical magnesium for horses - people have been using Magnesium Oil for ages based on that it's difficult to absorb through the gut. Would be interested to hear!

 

[Pigeon]

Tell me when you find the secret

I have to say in my experience it is just exposure. Frequent, consistent exposure. And even then they'll take an inexplicable, violent dislike to something and you'll be back to square one. So yeah exposure, consistency. And a sense of humor.

 

[Jango]

Like everyone has said just getting her out and about to lots of dressage comps should help, but also on your way to the arena I would do lateral work to try and keep her interested and concentrating, then around the outside of the arena do loads of transitions. Also take some rescue remedy yourself, it could be you are getting slightly nervous which is making her worse and causing a vicious spiral. Good luck!

 

[amycamycamyc]

My mare and I had a toned down version of what you're going through. I found the first time it really 'clicked' and we did an actually partly-relaxed dressage test was in combined training. She did a (tense, as normal) test first, then show jumping (both with the sharer), then I got on and did another dressage test on her, and she was a completely different horse to normal. I think i effectively bored her into relaxation. I would agree with whoever it was above that suggested more than one dressage test at a time, it definitely helps with mine.

Also, I bought a load of white guttering (like this http://www.screwfix.com/p/white-half-round-gutter-112mm-pack-of-6/36487), marked out an arena and started practising dressage in a field, on grass, next to other horses. This really helped too. I moved the arena around as well, to different fields.

I completely feel for you though, its so frustrating when they warm up nicely in a crowded and hectic warm-up area, but then lose the plot when you ask them to just move 50 yards away into a quiet arena and concentrate for 4 minutes!

 

[almostthere]

I really feel for you because I have the same problem - in our first BE test madam reared up 3x then carried on as if nothing had happened . I came out to open mouths around the arena because no-one had seen it coming (including me). I have resigned myself to the fact that I too have to do a winter of dressage ahead of me which I have to admit I don't enjoy at all (purely because it is so subjective and my self confidence is low to none existent). Not sure if this would work for you but the other thing I have done is roped in my trainer to take her to a few tests too. As someone suggested above it may be that you are getting tense (even subconsciously) and your mare can sense it. My trainer is a lovely calm rider and vastly more experienced than me and so when she gets tense he gives her confidence and she relaxes. She has now managed to achieve 65+% at Prelim which may not sound like a lot but we got a 45 in one of our BE tests and she didn't actually misbehave... so baby steps . Just a thought - may not be at all appropriate to you but if not I just wanted to send my sympathy/empathy