Cheer me up with your competition epic fails

Paid £35 to jump BSJA 'on a ticket' at a BSJA Christmas show, then £25 for a class with my TBX chestnut mare. Got in the indoor ring and there was a giant Santa in an inflatable snow globe in the corner near the first fence (that you couldn't see from outsde the ring). She wouldn't go near it and ran backwards for ages. We got asked to leave the ring before we'd even started. Cringe, never went BSJA again!!
 
That's bad luck Cheshire!! I'm sure yours wasn't the only one to spook :)

My biggest fail isn't so epic, but it felt epic at the time! There was a show coming that the yard was going to turn up for as a united team. Most of us were taking jump classes. At the time I was riding a lovely little 13hh welsh pony and we'd been flying over jumps like no tomorrow. Because I was young, stupid and thought ponyo and I were invincible I signed up for the 120 class. The yard all piled into the lorry and we got there at a nice and early 9am. My class was one of the last in the day at 4pm! So all day ponyo and me swanned around the show grounds, cheering on friends (who all did extremely well) jumped a clear round (or ten).

Around 2 o clock the rest of the yard was done and counting their rosettes and trophies, so they were all there waiting for me. Yard Manager gently suggested I might've signed up a bit beyond ponyo's abilities and tried persuading me to sign up for a nice 90cm class instead that was due to start much earlier, but no, I was DETERMINED. The weather turned from sunny and warm to windy, drizzly and freezing and my class was delayed half an hour for some reason or another. Cue my getting looks from the other folks on the yard who all wanted to cram into the lorry and speed home. But no. I was still determined.

When the class was eventually called I rode up to the arena with everyone else and noticed that me and ponyo were on an eye level with everybody else's kneecaps, not another pony in sight. That was the first inkling I got that maybe I'd made a big mistake. Ponyo was also sick and tired after the day he'd been through and decided to try and roll on the grass with me twice while we watched other people do beautiful clear rounds. YM and the rest of the yard were shivering on the sidelines looking miserable. When my number was called I suddenly turned chicken and couldn't go in because I knew I'd messed up big time. I started to sidle off but YM flapped at me and said "There she is!" so I swung ponyo around and in we went. Could feel some extremely puzzled looks from pretty much everybody as I cantered into the ring.

First fence was a refusal, then he went over. Took the second fence, the third, and refused twice at the double and we were out. I was crying with humiliation at this point, fully aware it was self inflicted, and cantered out of the ring. But I do remember all the other competitors on horses very kindly clapping on our way out :) Cantered straight to the lorry and put my boy inside and he gave me a look that said "don't do that again".

On the way home a friend tried cheering me up by offering to give me her 1st rosette to take home to my mum and the waterworks started. I've never signed up for a class higher than 100cm since!
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
Paid £35 to jump BSJA 'on a ticket' at a BSJA Christmas show, then £25 for a class with my TBX chestnut mare. Got in the indoor ring and there was a giant Santa in an inflatable snow globe in the corner near the first fence (that you couldn't see from outsde the ring). She wouldn't go near it and ran backwards for ages. We got asked to leave the ring before we'd even started. Cringe, never went BSJA again!!
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You're not the only one that has gotten into trouble at Christmas competitions. I think that it was Malin Baryard-Johnsson that one year, had problems getting one of her horses to enter the arena during Globen Horse Show, due to her horse seeing the Christmas decorated fences. Looking like for example (photos found through Google image search):

71991_1196704891.jpg


wpid-imag0994-1.jpg
 
Haha well that makes me feel a bit better. She wasn't really the spooky kind but if she got something in her head then she was a nightmare! God love her. Ah well, I'm sure Malin Baryard-Johnsson had possibly paid a tad more than me to do the same thing so I don't feel quite so bad!!
 
Few years back. Went to change rein in medium trot, madam suddenly got a bee up her bum and off I went. Don't really want to fall off mid competition :p
 
When I was about 9 I had waited around about 4 bourse for my class think it was open m+m workers. The course had Been the same throughout the day so I didn't re walk before my class. Went in and got confused at about fence 4 when the numbers were different! Went to judge and apologised and left the arena!

I was eliminated at fence one of a BE (XC) horse was not playing ball! Have cracked it now though!

Have managed to canter my way though an entire walk and trot dressage test also :)
 
I did an hunt relay on my fathers horse who was an old Grade B show jumper. He cat leapt all the nasty rustic fences then when we went to hand over the whip he galloped straight past the person I was trying to give it to, out of the ring, flat out down the horsewalk, 2 circuits of the lorry park, back up the horse walk, managed to fling the whip at the person who set off to do their round, my horse then continued flat out round the ring and jumped out over the ring ropes, 2 motorbikes, turned in midair and deposited me on the bonnet of a car!

I didn't get asked to do anymore hunt relays after that, cant' think why!!!!
 
slumdog said:
Only went a bloody fluffed up the second to last fence in the jump off! Did a super tight turn (I'm too competitive for my own good) and suddenly though ***** wrong fence, no, ***** right fence! By which time I had to do a circle. G jumped fab and would have gone clear, jockey needs a bloody sat nav! Our first BS show as well so I was so angry at myself!

Please cheer me up and tell me I'm not the only one who has made stupid rider errors!
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You think thats bad! I was at the Blue Chip finals in the JO and was going so well on to possibly win the class and turned back to the last fence and fell off evidence here if you would like a laugh :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR_on0jehRw
 
claire_p2001 said:
You think thats bad! I was at the Blue Chip finals in the JO and was going so well on to possibly win the class and turned back to the last fence and fell off evidence here if you would like a laugh :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR_on0jehRw
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I do not like laughing on other peoples be halve but :D I love your horse just looking at you like " what did you do that for ?"

Always good to know we are all together in making fools of ourselves;)
 
montanna said:
Ohhhh no! I bet you were gutted! Showjumping for you!
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Kikke said:
I do not like laughing on other peoples be halve but :D I love your horse just looking at you like " what did you do that for ?"

Always good to know we are all together in making fools of ourselves;)
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Yes I was gutted at the time and now I look back and laugh everytime I watch it! I know poor horse he was so sweet rubbish rider cost him the class :)
 
fattylumpkin said:
My biggest fail isn't so epic, but it felt epic at the time!
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Oh, god, I really feel for you on that one!

My first ever show, I was about six years old and riding a four-year-old Welsh B belonging to a friend of a friend of my mum's. I was so excited I think I'd got about half an hour's sleep the night before.

I don't come from a horsy family at all and none of us had any idea what I should wear, so my mum laid out my best, aunt-knitted, woolly jumper with a picture of a horse on the front. I turned up at the show in my bright red woolly jumper, and it was hastily decided that, no, I wouldn't be going in a showing class, for obvious reasons!

The only lead-rein class I was vaguely appropriately dressed for was lead-rein handy pony, so in we went. This was towards the end of the day, so the pony and I were both tired and overwhelmed. I was painfully aware that I was dressed completely WRONG and just wanted to go home, but didn't know how to say so.

The first element was walking across a mattress. The pony took one step onto it, stopped dead, and I promptly burst into tears, while my lead-rein wielder (the daughter of my mum's friend) did her best to pretend she wasn't with me. Thankfully, at that point, the judge took over the lead-rein and led the pony through the rest of the course, with me clinging to the pommel. I even came out of it with a rosette - fourth out of four!

It was a very, very long time before I went into *any* kind of ring again.
 
Pippity said:
The first element was walking across a mattress. The pony took one step onto it, stopped dead, and I promptly burst into tears, while my lead-rein wielder (the daughter of my mum's friend) did her best to pretend she wasn't with me. Thankfully, at that point, the judge took over the lead-rein and led the pony through the rest of the course, with me clinging to the pommel. I even came out of it with a rosette - fourth out of four!

It was a very, very long time before I went into *any* kind of ring again.
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Oh god - that reminds me of some long-blanked out memories my first pony - she just used to lie down in the middle of showing classes when she got bored....was horrendously embarassing for my eight year old self....
 
Going XC in the BE at Shipton Moyne (PN I think?) where you had to jump two cutaway walls on a 90 degree turn, jumped the first and the horse wouldn't turn so I jumped the non-cutaway wall to the side of the one I was meant to jump.. It was massive!

Going XC on a different horse - it was his first event in 3 years (ex 3* eventer that a friend bought as a schoolmaster for PC that promptly injured itself really badly) jumping round a PC Open.. Jumped so big off a drop that he disappeared through a gap in the hedge without turning so my only alternative without crossing my tracks was to jump the post and rail fence and hedge back. That wasn't such a fail though because we were still 2nd!

Being in the lead after DR & SJ at the RC National Junior Championships and missing fence 4 on the XC! My team won anyway (we had an amazing team that year!), but standing in the arena being congratulated and given sashes and trophies was truly mortifying when I knew I'd completely screwed up...

Trotting down the centre line of a dressage test on my 12hh pony and being bucked off in front of the judge whilst the pony took off back to the lorry.

Trying to do a really tight turn in a jump off and jumping a completely seperate fence (that wasn't even in my class, it was up for the next one) backwards. It was a triple bar...

The list could go on but that's all I can think of for now!!
 
Trying to read these in work and can't help snorting into my coffee trying not to laugh.. I too have too many to name..some of the more recent ones were, first time competing at RAF Championships last year, jumped the first part of a double, my horse swerved so I pulled him back and we collided and pretty much nose dived over the 2nd part, a spread resulting in me doing a nose dive into the dirt (someone very kindly captured the sequence on camera) worst bit was my dad had flown over from NI to cheer me on and help out, he ended up running around salisbury plain after the ginger one!Err at a recent jumpcross comp at quite a prestigious stud we were bowling along nicely and I swung the ginger one round to go up a bank and into a water element and we promptly slipped , I again took a nosedive knocked myself out and spent 6 hours strapped to a spinal board still in my stinky xc gear..horse was fine he used me for a padded landing just a couple of cuts to his leg..felt like a right wally, havn't been back there since!!At Swalcliffe ODE there was a delay waiting to sj so my hothead neddy (generally exciteable anyway) pretty much boiled over, we reversed into the sj arena then he exploded like a rocket, managed to get round in one piece only for the burger van people to express their relief at my safe exit from the ring to my OH..
 
fattylumpkin said:
That's bad luck Cheshire!! I'm sure yours wasn't the only one to spook :)

My biggest fail isn't so epic, but it felt epic at the time! There was a show coming that the yard was going to turn up for as a united team. Most of us were taking jump classes. At the time I was riding a lovely little 13hh welsh pony and we'd been flying over jumps like no tomorrow. Because I was young, stupid and thought ponyo and I were invincible I signed up for the 120 class. The yard all piled into the lorry and we got there at a nice and early 9am. My class was one of the last in the day at 4pm! So all day ponyo and me swanned around the show grounds, cheering on friends (who all did extremely well) jumped a clear round (or ten).

Around 2 o clock the rest of the yard was done and counting their rosettes and trophies, so they were all there waiting for me. Yard Manager gently suggested I might've signed up a bit beyond ponyo's abilities and tried persuading me to sign up for a nice 90cm class instead that was due to start much earlier, but no, I was DETERMINED. The weather turned from sunny and warm to windy, drizzly and freezing and my class was delayed half an hour for some reason or another. Cue my getting looks from the other folks on the yard who all wanted to cram into the lorry and speed home. But no. I was still determined.

When the class was eventually called I rode up to the arena with everyone else and noticed that me and ponyo were on an eye level with everybody else's kneecaps, not another pony in sight. That was the first inkling I got that maybe I'd made a big mistake. Ponyo was also sick and tired after the day he'd been through and decided to try and roll on the grass with me twice while we watched other people do beautiful clear rounds. YM and the rest of the yard were shivering on the sidelines looking miserable. When my number was called I suddenly turned chicken and couldn't go in because I knew I'd messed up big time. I started to sidle off but YM flapped at me and said "There she is!" so I swung ponyo around and in we went. Could feel some extremely puzzled looks from pretty much everybody as I cantered into the ring.

First fence was a refusal, then he went over. Took the second fence, the third, and refused twice at the double and we were out. I was crying with humiliation at this point, fully aware it was self inflicted, and cantered out of the ring. But I do remember all the other competitors on horses very kindly clapping on our way out :) Cantered straight to the lorry and put my boy inside and he gave me a look that said "don't do that again".

On the way home a friend tried cheering me up by offering to give me her 1st rosette to take home to my mum and the waterworks started. I've never signed up for a class higher than 100cm since!
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To be fair, that takes some serious balls lol!
 
My first ever show jumping class, it was this year at 75 cm. We were third to go and I thought I had asked all the questions I needed to and knew the course. Bell went and off we go. Approaching the third fence and I hear the tannoy saying my name and horses name. I thought, 'Rubbish, I have done something wrong.' And I pulled up in front of the fence. Then my friends shouted, 'No they are announcing you, keep going.' Ohhhhh - they hadn't announced the first two riders so wasn't expecting it. Rode round and approached fence again and horse went, 'Nooooo, this is clearly a bad fence, you stopped me jumping it just a minute ago' and flipping stopped. I managed to stay on and took him round again to shouts of 'ride him forward' - I did and the git stopped again. There ended my first SJ competition despite loads of work going into it. I was gutted but did die laughing once I had got over the humiliation. I just wasn't expecting to hear my name over the tannoy.

Lesson learnt - do not stop unless someone grabs your reins, even then I might just keep riding:)
 
- Have been chucked off during my final salute in a BE novice dressage test, horse galloped off back to my mum.
- Have fallen off at the first fence in two BSJA classes (same day).
- Have been eliminated from a dressage test for leaving the arena too many times!
- Came very close to being eliminated in my dressage test at the RC Champs (a 10 hour drive for us one way!) for forgetting...
- At a BE novice, I jumped the wrong part of a corner (didn't see the third flag) so eliminated myself (would have been 2nd).
- On a few occasions I've jumped the wrong SJ fence, 3 times I can think of I got the very first fence wrong!
 
I also remember entering the arena for a BE dressage test, down the centre line and then turned the wrong way! That was very embarrassing but in my defence, the XC was running right by the dressage warm up so my horse was like a rocket - every time I even touched his sides he'd leap about everywhere so I went in riding for survival!

Chloe_GHE - I've also fallen off in the car park. Was just swinging my leg over my Welsh D and he suddenly did the biggest bronc on the spot which sent me flying through the air and smacking head first into my trailer - scratched my GPA in quite a big way which was irritating! Think horse got stung by a bee or something as very very odd for him to do that, he then wouldn't let me on at all after that so we gave up and went home!
 
My gymkhana pony used to regularly buck me off when I was getting on, this was only at a show and generally if we had won a heat and I had to get back on for the final. She only did it once and was OK the rest of the time. Strange, just remembered that. Does anyone do gymkhanas anymore?

However, my most recent epic fail was to ride into the Main Arena at a County Show for a showing competition with my horse's boots still on. I thought I had lots of time but realised as I approached the collecting ring that my class was going in, so rushed to join in. He was well ridden in then! I should have stopped by the collecting ring and asked someone to take them off when I realised but I thought by then it was too late and just carried on. Bottom of the line..
 
This thread has really cheered me up about my own competition fails (sorry guys :D). Here are a few of mine, though I'm not sure how epic they are...

- Back in the day on my 14.2 (my first pony), I forgot to wait for the bell in our first SJ competition...and went clear of course; another time we jumped a fence the wrong way when he locked on and I could do nothing about it. Generally all rounds looked more like a hurdle race than SJing! Oh, and once I was doing pairs xc, I saw my mum by the course and wondered where my stepdad was. I was so busy wondering that I cantered straight past the next jump. We'd have won if it hadn't been for the run-out...the other half of the pair never ran with me again!
- In a SJ jump-off on a loan horse, I attempted a tight turn in a jump off. The horse managed the turn, I didn't.
- My first (and only) BD comp with my PRE, I foolishly took off my over-trousers before removing his travel boots and ended up with a smear of horse ***** down my breeches. Classy...
- I can also join the 'cantered through an Intro test' club
- My Hong Kong horse was so badly behaved at our early competitions that I retired from our first Prelim test when he decided to reverse instead of walk, and we managed 47.5% in our second. We regularly get 'calmly ridden' comments from the judge!
 
I probably have far too many to remember correctly LOL!

I have without a doubt done all the usual - starting before the bell, missing a fence, going the wrong way etc.

A memorable one was competing in the Petplan festival and getting bucked off mid test in front of 2 judges. V. embarrassing.

I also had a particularly dodgy event horse once. I remember in foot and mouth year falling off 4 times in one ODE. Once trying to croos the F&M mat on the way to dressage warm up, once in the dressage warm up, once in the sj warm up and once on the way to xc start. I also managed a 47 dressage, 20 sj plus numerous time faults that day. It was not my finest competing hour!

On the same horse, another day I managed a clear SJ, was carted rapidly towards the exit, brakes slammed on - reared, landed over the rope with front legs and pulled the entire ring down .....

I am now older and wiser and only choose to ride nice safe horses!
 
I have many epic fails, but the most memorable ones come from the same horse.
A chunky draught that runs backwards when he gets nervous/excited. This resulted in many an abliterated post and rail in his attempt to leave the SJ arena. If I managed to get him moving forwards he also had a tendency to jump out of the arena if he so wished. Mortifying. And dangerous.
 
So many I couldn't list them all but on my previous horse I'd done quite a bit of Dressage but not much jumping. I took him to a SJ lesson the day before a Dressage competition and the next day trotted up the centre line and didn't turn at the end - he jumped over the boards ! I was gob smacked, judge was gob smacked, Boxer was proud as punch as he though he'd got a clear round :biggrin3:

A couple of years ago on J was at Mk doing xc and she spooked at flowers on top of a corner fence and almost tipped me out the side. I'd just replaced the canister in my air vest and certainly wasn't going to pay another £17 out so soon. I managed to undo it but couldn't get the lanyard clip so called to the photographer to 'push me back on' After takIng about 100 photos he obliged. I got a round of applause :smile3: Luckily J just stood rock solid the whole time.
 
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