BD- distractions outside the arena- what would you do?

charlie76

charlie76

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I took my horse to BD at the weekend and she went very well in the test and got 67% and a 3rd( 2 marks off 1st place!)
She warmed up like a star for the 2nd test and I went in and she went very well for the first half- got to the 2nd half and a girl unloaded her horse next to the arena and left another on the box which proceeded to go beserk, the horse she was holding then starting really screaming and prancing about and she felt the best plan was to stand him right at the end of the arena whilst it proceeded to go beserk! This then caused all the horses in the surrounding paddocks to hair about screaming their heads off to the extent that I couldn't hear my reader and he was distracted. My horse then started napping and calling and was really upset by the whole situation and my test got progressivly worse. I understand that the horse should be paying attention to me but I think that this was an extreme situation. I complained to the organiser but what would you have done? The horse by the arena was going so mad that I almost stopped in my test and asked her to move!!!!
 
My daughter was doing a test and the horse walker was put on causing all the horses being ridden past at the time to go absolutely bonkers, Kath left the arena.
I think it's unforgivable to allow this to occur in Affiliated venues, it's expensive enough to affiliate as it is.
Another time ( at the same venue,) a helicopter hovered overhead whilst I was calling a test for some one who didn't know it at all. (don't think the venue were responsible for that one though!!)
 
I think you were really unlucky BUT i would probably have somehing to say to the organisers about the 'turned out' horses next to the arenas.
When vaues hold competitions it is their responsibility to work in 'safe practice' and having horses turned out next to the arena is not.
Horses are not machines and i have had similar 'interesting ' moments when riding young horses and stallions.They cannot but help but be disracted and it is such a shame that you did not get the chance to show what you are capable of.
We all have the same right to compete and people with potentially naughty horses should be a little more considerate to others.
So i think i would also have had a 'quiet word ' with the person with the horse thet started it all and suggest that maybe it would be better if she cosidered others rather than just herself and park away from the area so that the horses would not be so disturbing.
We have to expect some outside disturbance, we are not competing in a church but there is reasonable and there is unfair.
Hope you have a better time next time.
 
I think I just wouldn't use the venue agin for a bit, trouble is with the lorry park next to the arena this situation is going to happen again. Perhaps just have a chat with the organiser.

The other alternative is to de sensitise your horse at some county shows where there are plenty of weird distractions, for instance:

Shrops and West Mids: Air ambulance giving 2 minute helicopter rides in the next ring.
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Three Counties: bungee jumping next door.
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Hert's County: Army inter regiment tug of war teams warming up in the lorry park (now that was NICE!)
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These are all distractions that your horses need to become accustomed too. A horse walker is not exactly a noisy item of equiptment and a helicopetor is something that we all have to contend with and to be perfectly honest.. Learn your tests and you will not need a caller therefore you will not have one to not hear properly.

What you complaining about tu of war for? Sexy army guys tugging bits of rope.. come on?!
Horses in a paddock adjacent to the arena i can understand a problem there, but parking at alot of venues is next to the arenas.. and horses are unpredictable.. it was just a bit of bad luck. Get your horse out at some shows.. soon harden them up lol
Lou x
 
But if you go to a county show you expect to see all the above things and be prepared in advance- I have never been to a dressage venue where you are expected to perform a test with a horse having fit at the arena fence at A! I had learnt my tests but as it was the first long arena test I have done and I only have a short arena to practice in I decided to have a reader as back up in case I forgot where the extra letters were!
 
Yes, because we all have plenty of opportunities to de-sensitise our horses to helicoptors & tug of war
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Reasonable distractions, yes, but somethings like this were not within reason.Also any horse that is a little bit 'bright', who are often talented find this kind of thing too much. They can cope with one thing but not all of the above!
I had a distracting day at Herts county show and compared to Windsor found it a lot less enjoyable, Vintage backfiring tractors and huge dogs leaping at the horses as they went past, funnily enough my boy is not a police horse and i dont think he will ever be brain dead to these distractions regardless of becoming 'accustomed'and we did not perform as well as a consequence thats how it goes sometimes, but we were all in the ring together and all having to deal with the same thing. The point with dressage is that on this situation the next person in would not have the same set of circumstances.
like i said there is reasonable and unreasonable and also relates to age and stage of training, as this was only a novice the venue are aware of the level of competition and should manage their environment accordingly.
Yes many venues do have parking near the arena and with very sharp horses i do try and avoid for a while but also on my own yard i have the parking next to the school so may be you could school somewhere that is similar and would help you prepare for such things.
 
To be honest the parking next to the arena wasn't an issue and i believe that the galloping horses would have been ok but to allow someone to hold a horse screaming and prancing about like a loon to stand at the arena gate it a little unfair. My horse is usually fine with the normal distractions but she oculdn't get her head round this situation.
 
I'll make myself very unpopular with dressage riders everywhere now I expect but here goes! - Surely, what you have described is life as it happens?

OK, I grant you the organisers should have been more aware and possibly not had loose horses in the field next to the arenas, but the person who was most to blame for this incident was the other owner by parking next to an arena (unless there was genuinely no other place to park) but to unload during a test was very selfish IMO; they should have waited until the arena was clear and been more considerate to other users. However, at the same time, if dressage horses weren't so wrapped up in cotton wool and were allowed a life and to see life as it happens outside of a school, this would have not been noticed as much as this was if that makes sense.

On the subject of readers (while I accept you did learn your test!) I think they should either be banned altogether and riders should damn well learn all the tests they do, no excuses, (they weren't allowed in my day!) or the organisers should have readers available for each arena so that standards are kept to the same and if by any chance a 'one man band' who has nobody to help them is not at a disadvantage to those that do have help; that's only fair I think.

The upshot of this is to give your dressage horses a varied life outside of the school and then there wouldn't be a need for this type of complaint - your horse would be a genuinely well schooled one.
 
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still... your horse should be able to cope with distractions if it is competing.. affiliated or not.

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Totally agree
 
She doesn't need complete silence- she concentrates in most situations- remember she is at livery in a VERY busy yard with lots of coming and goings, horses in the paddocks, jumping lessons on, xc in the fields next to the arena, lorrys leaving, children running and screaming all sorts! I just feel that to allow someone to have their horse turning itself inside out over and around the arena fence is not helpful! Please don't assume she is a 'precious dressage horse'. I also take her showjumping and cross country schooling and often take her on group lessons. She hacks at least twice a week on the busiest of roads which include riding past 2 schools and throwing out time and double decker buses! She is schooled on grass as well as in an arena! Not all horses that do BD are wrapped in cotton wool!
 
Agree with you. Not all dressage horses are mollycoddled prima donnas.Any horse/rider is bound to be a little bit more on edge at a competition than at home, and it's plain bad manners to let your horse scream its head off whilst someone else is competing.
BTW Loubie lou, I don't understand your signature at all.
 
I was competing and a man came out of some bushes from know where and my horse reared up and I lost my stirrup leathers! I was rather peeved at this. At hickstead it was really hot and sunny and this woman in the stand stood up and promptly put her umbrella up to which the horse doing his test had a spook and broke into canter..when we were at Brightwells sales the young horses class came on and this woman came walking in in the middle of his test, clanked the seat down and made such a noise that the well known rider glared up at her! It is the same situation when you go to large shows, people getting up and down from their seats etc... in the middle of someone doing their show.... IMHO I think this is rude. Wait until the person has finished their test. Yes I believe that horses should be use to various activities going on outside the arena but if I had of been you I would have been cross too, with the lady whose horse was prancing around right near your test.
 
We have one horse who doesn't need much excuse to get tense and can become a giraffe if anything unusual happens. He is 10 and a young horse , who if world war 3 was going on in the next ring he would still concentrate and do his best.
The former drives us mad
 
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However, at the same time, if dressage horses weren't so wrapped up in cotton wool and were allowed a life and to see life as it happens outside of a school, this would have not been noticed as much as this was if that makes sense.

On the subject of readers (while I accept you did learn your test!) I think they should either be banned altogether and riders should damn well learn all the tests they do, no excuses, (they weren't allowed in my day!) or the organisers should have readers available for each arena so that standards are kept to the same and if by any chance a 'one man band' who has nobody to help them is not at a disadvantage to those that do have help; that's only fair I think.

The upshot of this is to give your dressage horses a varied life outside of the school and then there wouldn't be a need for this type of complaint - your horse would be a genuinely well schooled one.

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I think this is rather unfair and tbh rather a sweeping generalisation. My horse is just 7 and does NOT have a 'dressage' life as such although he competes at Aff. Elem level. He is hacked, jumped, showed etc etc and does not live his life in a school, he has a very varied life outside of it. However he can still be distracted and can be sharp. These are horses and not machines. The conditions described by the OP were extreme and really someone should have had a word with the inconsiderate person with her horse.

As for callers .... not everyone is priviledged enough to have a long arena to be able to ride the tests in and learn them before going to a venue. It is extremely difficult to learn a long arena test in a short arena, no matter how many times you read it through. I also used to compete many years ago and we never had callers then and personally I wouldnt want one as I prefer to be able to prepare for each movement but for some people it could be that they NEED a caller. Nerves and such are great for making the brain go to mush.
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I agree with you. It is unfair to generalise "dressage horses", a lot of the time it is young horses that are introduced to dressage as their first outings, as you hope that the atmosphere is generally quieter than that at other venues. Each horse is different and some will react badly to distractions until the day they die, whereas others will grow out of it. You have to take each horse as an individual.
I think it stinks that people can be so inconsiderate to others at events, after all we are all just trying to do our best, and most of us would rather not draw that sort of attention to ourselves.
 
Bit of a nightmare!! I think there is nothing you can do to avoid these situations form happening though
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One thing you could do is to stop your test whilst it goes on and continue once it has all settled down. Best case senario - you lose 2 marks. Worst - you get eliminated!
 
I have ridden at a venue where lorries park next to the arena and had someone go onto a lorry and get squashe by a horse result in the person screaming her head off on the middle of my test, I allowed it to distract me and consequently my horse.

I didnt moan or complain to the organisers, just chalked it down to experience. Unfortunately that is life and [****] happens, you just have to get on with it. Life if full of "if onlys". Dont dwell on it, look at the positive bits and move on.
 
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The upshot of this is to give your dressage horses a varied life outside of the school and then there wouldn't be a need for this type of complaint - your horse would be a genuinely well schooled one.

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I think this is rather unfair and tbh rather a sweeping generalisation.

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I told you I would make myself unpopular with you all!

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As for callers .... not everyone is priviledged enough to have a long arena to be able to ride the tests in and learn them before going to a venue. It is extremely difficult to learn a long arena test in a short arena, no matter how many times you read it through. I also used to compete many years ago and we never had callers then and personally I wouldnt want one as I prefer to be able to prepare for each movement but for some people it could be that they NEED a caller. Nerves and such are great for making the brain go to mush.
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I was always told never to practise a test in sequence; practise the movements by all means but never in the correct order of a test to avoid anticipation so I don't exactly see the problem of not having a long arena "as long as you have learnt the test" By that stage, surely whoever it is will have learnt the whereabouts of the different markers or am I being completely naive and expect dressage riders (I'm generalising here folks, not aiming this at any one individual so don't all breathe brimstone at me, it's just how outsiders see things, OK?!) to have a brain as well as ability?
As for 'needing' a caller; if this is the case then I'm afraid I have to say they don't seem to be up to the standard they are trying for. Surely preparation - and this includes learning a test correctly and being able to control your nerves, is part of training and as such should be spot on? No stone should be left unturned to give your horse the best possible chance of doing its' best. If you haven't learnt the test or how to control your nerves then that is your own fault and you are letting your horse down.

Also, please note that I DID say the horse owner causing all the rumpus was very unfair and selfish - I am surprised that the organisers did not have strict words with them. But, also what about the judge? Surely they saw what was happening, wouldn't it have been better if they had stopped the test immediately and restarted after rollocking with the stupid one - or would that not have been allowed/wanted/required, I don't know but it would have been common sense to me?

I appreciate you all saying about young horse first parties and all that but what about police horses, they have training and then are out on the beat (with company I know) but they are meant to behave whatever is thrown at them; why are competition horses any different, they should all have had the same basic training to behave?
 
Well, it was me that was riding when my horse left the arena because of horses rearing and crashingm on the concrete behind her., who is 15 years of age, BSJA'd, XC's, hunted, hacks out alone in the most scary of situations, so I do actually feel that she has and is prob exposed to most things.
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These things happen a lot to me, personally i ride more confiedently and forward keeping horse focused on me, theres not a lot else you can, other than learn your test so at least noise levels cannot interfear. Just bad luck.
 
I think you have missed my point! What I was trying to say to all those people who slate showing and won't do it,was that they miss a valuable opportunity to get their horse accustomed to the unexpected. It never ceases to amaze me what kind of things won't faze Will because he's been there, done that.

Yes I agree that competing BD is far too expensive to do 'just for fun' but I think we all get too bogged down with each individual competition/test and should treat each one as a test of training and opportunity for exposure along the road to success.
 
qUOTE" I was always told never to practise a test in sequence; practise the movements by all means but never in the correct order of a test to avoid anticipation so I don't exactly see the problem of not having a long arena "as long as you have learnt the test" By that stage, surely whoever it is will have learnt the whereabouts of the different markers or am I being completely naive and expect dressage riders (I'm generalising here folks, not aiming this at any one individual so don't all breathe brimstone at me, it's just how outsiders see things, OK?!) to have a brain as well as ability?" qUOTE

I always practice the test...... on foot!!! in a big arena:) I am lucky... if you have not got a large arena it is difficult... end of! I anticipate every move which puts me one step ahead!! Ability, hopefully, brain... naw..when you get older it starts to slow down...
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hence the need for a caller!
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"Quote...Surely preparation - and this includes learning a test correctly and being able to control your nerves, is part of training and as such should be spot on? No stone should be left unturned to give your horse the best possible chance of doing its' best. If you haven't learnt the test or how to control your nerves then that is your own fault and you are letting your horse down." Quote

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance... I know, I know.....Well, I always blame myself anyway ... at least I am still trying! Just put it down to the fact I am a nervous person... ahh welll.....
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I don't think it is acceptable to have horses turned out next to dressage arenas - partic at a BD event. I think the lorry park can't be helped. We all know that horses need to get used to distractions but strange horses galloping next to your arena when you are trying to compete I think is a no-no.
 
You can't practice movements designed for a 20x60 in a 20 x 40 as you end up making them too small or doing them in the wrong place!
I very rarely ride through a whole test but it is a bonus to have practiced at least some of the required movements but as I don't have the facility I had my reader for back up.
 
<font color="red"> what dont you understand about my signature?
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I have work for a dressage competition yard.. the horses do get spooked.. but that rider does not blame the performance on other horses.


Charlie - all movements can be practised in a 20x40 arena.. they do not need to be performed at the correct marker for them to be the correct movement. I am sorry but the impression i get is that all these things are for an excuse.. not much else.

Why should horses not be turned out next door?
I thnk all horses should go to shows and should go to western shows and experience the clapping the noise and the general distraction.

All horses would be better for it!
 
I'm sorry but you cannot practice a 20 x 60 test in a 20 x 40 arena-the dimensions of the arena mean that your movements would be in the wrong place or the wrong size!

I was not so bothered that there were horses turned out but as I said before and will say again it is bad manners to hold your horse that is turning itself upside down and inside out next to an arena where some one who has paid a lot of money and has spent a lot of time and effort having lessons is doing their test!I would not dream of doing that to anybody. We run dressage all the time and we make a huge effort to ensure that the rider in the arena is not distracted and also the judge is not distracted.
 
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