Competition Blues

G

gd1994

New User
Joined
23 July 2018
Messages
3
Visit site
So I took my newish (had her about a year) girl out for out 4th competition together, we did a couple of walk and trots but now do Prelims. She warmed up fab and was a bit dead on my leg in the test due to it running late however I wasn't disappointed with how she went. However we got a fairly poor score and I just feel very disheartened. I want to jump and do one days but even though I've been riding most of my life I can't get past the fear of leaving the ground and if she can sense I'm scared then she just stops.

I just feel like I'm not doing my horse justice, and she'd be fabulous with someone else. I have lessons as much as I can afford to, and she has come a long way in this year as she came to me unschooled, giraffe necked, no established paces, unloadable, didn't go in a stable. So I know deep down I should be proud of what we've accomplished.. I just feel like I'm holding her back.

I guess my question is how do others overcome this overwhelming feeling of failure and upset?
 
Your horse doesn't know or care about results and prizes - they care about food, safety and companionship. So if you are giving her those then you are doing her justice. Carl Hester said Valegro is at his happiest hacking out and being allowed to steal blackberries from the hedgerow - he doesn't care he's an international superstar.

So stop those negative thoughts and start enjoying your horse. If you want to get back into jumping could you have a couple of lessons on a schoolmaster? Did my confidence the world of good taking a 20 year old riding school pony round a xc course - he flew everything and made me remember why I loved jumping.
 
SEL said:
Your horse doesn't know or care about results and prizes - they care about food, safety and companionship. So if you are giving her those then you are doing her justice. Carl Hester said Valegro is at his happiest hacking out and being allowed to steal blackberries from the hedgerow - he doesn't care he's an international superstar.

So stop those negative thoughts and start enjoying your horse. If you want to get back into jumping could you have a couple of lessons on a schoolmaster? Did my confidence the world of good taking a 20 year old riding school pony round a xc course - he flew everything and made me remember why I loved jumping.
Click to expand...

This is excellent advice.

However, I do know how disheartening it can be to be a score that doesn’t seem to match how the test felt. I’ve had tests that have felt good and yet have received lower scores and then had tests where I’ve actually come out the ring laughing my head off about how bad it felt and I’ve ended up on a ridiculously high score. It’s the name of the game I suppose.

You sound like you’ve done a great job with your horse so far and she couldn’t care less if she’s not out winning everything. The most important part of her day is the bit when she goes in the field with her mates!
 
Thank you, I know you're right... she doesn't care what we do as long as she's full and loved which she very much is
 
I'm a shocker for over thinking and focussing on the negatives, and dressage is a notoriously subjective activity. However, I'd suggest you write a list of all the good things you've done and are enjoying, all the positives and things you enjoy. Then write a list of goals and aims, breaking them down into little stages that are achievable and measureable. Don't make them outcomes e.g. win a rosette, or get 70% in a test - make them about the journey and the process and think about how you will achieve those e.g. push for a bigger trot, breathe deeply during a test, remember a test, ride an accurate 20m circle. That way the score isn't relevant, it's the learning experience and your process goals that matter. The rest will come :)
 
I went through whole journey with my horse - watching my instructor ride him I always felt that he would do 'better' with him, however that is not what I bought a horse for, I bought a horse to enjoy and do MY best with :) That is the thing to keep in mind. Nobodies horse cares what scores they get and neither should you unless you are aiming for regionals :)

As a piece of advice for someone who has been through a journey with my horse and an ex trainee judge:
Stop looking at your scores and start looking at your comments - if you're a geek keep a diary with the overarching positives and negatives of each test and see if they change. Sometimes tests don't suit your stage of training and it can feel ten times better than it used to but the test is showing up other issues that aren't your priority at the moment.

An example from my history - over arching issue for me (irregardless of the test) was forwardness, lazy horse, not correcting properly - so I worked on this. My comments changed from needs to be more forwards to needs better balance - I had fixed one thing that felt great to me (I wasn't knackered by the end of the test, hooray!) but I had created another problem and the test I did had tonnes of transitions in it so the balance issue made the test score worse.
 
It is a crazy idea we all have that our horses would be better with someone else isn't it, no doubt there will always be someone better at than you, a lot of riders at bd are professional, they may ride between 5 to 10 horses a day at home, compete week in week out so of course they are better, they should be!
If the horse had so much potential for these riders why aren't you being approached when your out being offered a load of money because that's often what happens with mega talented horses, people try to snap them up!
As much as I think my horse is the absolute best thing since sliced bread and of course she would go better for a pro rider I don't feel like I ever want that option, I adore her and we have a great time together, she isn't ever going to make the Olympics but she will take me further than I ever thought because she wants to try for me, that's the absolute joy of having a nice horse, trust me you would be cursing if you had one that didn't want to try for you.
Pay a pro when you can to have a sit on and get the motivation from it then work as hard as you can to aim for that, work yourself off the horse, go to demos, work hard on your core strength and fitness as that is often a clear difference in rider ability when you see pros ride, get all the motivation you can and go for it and just remember there are many, many people that feel about you like you feel about other riders, they probably watch you in awe you just don't realise it ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top