Do you ever get fed up with competing?

Firewell

Firewell

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And just think 'god I can't be bothered to go out again this weekend'?

Personally I go through phases, if I haven't taken my horse out for ages I'm gagging to go and I really enjoy the preperation and I tend to be more relaxed and enjoy the day more.

If I'm going week in, week out I almost feel stale, and I think 'not all this rigamarole again'! My horse is still quite young and we are still at the go to anything and everything for experience stage. I've planned my comps for my whole summer and hopefully by the end of next winter he will be established enough at everything that I can relax and just take him out once a month or more only if I feel like it.

I don't know how people with more then one horse to bring on stay motivated? I've been out with my horse and helping my mum 4 times the past week and a half doing jumping clinics, hiring arenas, BD, I have a CT this weekend and my mum has BD. I'm actually looking forward to the end of may when my mums on holiday and I haven't anything planned for 2 weeks of not competing!
When I'm not planning to go out though I feel guilty like I'm wasting time. I feel I should be making hay while the sun shines so to speak in case a little injury crops up or ground/ weather or holiday mean we can't go out.

Does anyone else feel the same? Sometimes I wish I could relax about it all!
 
I love my 'nothing on' weekends, just as much as I enjoy competing. I think you need time off from comps, otherwise there is no thrill/enjoyment of going.

So, in answer to your question - yes :)
 
Sometimes - generally when I am getting up at 2 am to go eventing. Or when I have to wait for three hours for my SJ class to start at a show and I've turned down seeing my friends (who are all meeting up to do fun things).
 
Britestar said:
I love my 'nothing on' weekends, just as much as I enjoy competing. I think you need time off from comps, otherwise there is no thrill/enjoyment of going.

So, in answer to your question - yes :)
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I agree with you!

I love competing but I also love lie ins on the weekend. :D if I were to go every week I think it would start to feel like a job, so I only go out to decent shows (where I like the course, easy to get to etc) every two/three weeks.

If it's a sunny weekend I also enjoy beer gardens ;)
 
yes been off them for ages. Cant be bothered coming last or getting eliminated and having to do all the preparation and driving there and back.

Its far easier paying someone to do it for me!
 
Only when it rains all weekend, or like last year, the wind was so cold I was trying to hide from it behind the indoor school pillars and video my OH at the same time!

Not doing much this year as we are starting the youngster, so actually missing competing. But one of the few shows we are committed to clashes with my mate's 40th birthday party so that's really frustrating! AAAGH!
 
I WISH i felt like that :p as i compete so rarely, i almost burst with excitement every time we go out, so no worry of that for me :)
 
I love competing :) but I don't go every weekend. Wouldn't be able to afford it apart from anything else!
I have kind of reached a point with older boy where we have reached our peak, so I rarely take him out schooling, have occasional jump lessons but the height he is happy at (up to 90cm) we are fairly competant at, so I tend to spend money on flatwork lessons with him and over summer event once a month. He also does RC teams and I think going out max twice a month is enough, keeps us both interested!
Youngster yes I try to get out more - last weekend was his first ODE, tomorrow one test at local evening dressage, sat will go and do one round sj, next thurs jump clinic... But it's so much fun and so rewarding with him as he progresses every time we go anywhere and I'd like him jumping a BE90 or two by end of summer then over winter some bsja and get him up to novice dressage. If we get there I would prob drop to one event a month with him too - luckily they are v easy together so can take both out to same event no stress at all!
 
firewell said:
And just think 'god I can't be bothered to go out again this weekend'?

Personally I go through phases, if I haven't taken my horse out for ages I'm gagging to go and I really enjoy the preperation and I tend to be more relaxed and enjoy the day more.

If I'm going week in, week out I almost feel stale, and I think 'not all this rigamarole again'! My horse is still quite young and we are still at the go to anything and everything for experience stage. I've planned my comps for my whole summer and hopefully by the end of next winter he will be established enough at everything that I can relax and just take him out once a month or more only if I feel like it.

I don't know how people with more then one horse to bring on stay motivated? I've been out with my horse and helping my mum 4 times the past week and a half doing jumping clinics, hiring arenas, BD, I have a CT this weekend and my mum has BD. I'm actually looking forward to the end of may when my mums on holiday and I haven't anything planned for 2 weeks of not competing!
When I'm not planning to go out though I feel guilty like I'm wasting time. I feel I should be making hay while the sun shines so to speak in case a little injury crops up or ground/ weather or holiday mean we can't go out.

Does anyone else feel the same? Sometimes I wish I could relax about it all!
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I went through a stage when I badly lost my confidence following some nasty falls and I ended up having hypnosis/cognitive therapy for my competition nerves. I'd be at a show, having looked forward to it all week only to dread going into the ring and I'd hate every second and feel a tremendous sense of relief to be loading up to go home again. Staying motivated was impossible and I felt I'd let both my horse and myself down and could never visualise things going back to how they were before the falls. I had no one to help me and it was incredibly hard. My O/H used to say I looked white as a sheet waiting in the holding area to go into the ring and there were many times that I would feel so weak from nerves that I could barely sit up straight on my horse, much less steer him round a track of show jumps!!!

And then something wonderful happened. :) I gradually got my confidence back in part from my instructor, and in part due to my sheer hard work and determination doing grid after grid after grid and putting pressure on myself to jump bigger and bigger every week, just an inch here and an inch there. ;)Suddenly 2ft 9 looks small. But the best thing was discovering a new bit which had literally overnight regained control of my steed and now I have terrible withdrawal symptoms if I miss an opportunity to compete.

My boy is on box rest atm following medication of his hocks and I have already planned my next three outings with him once he is recovered!!! :D

But I'd also say that it is important to put aside some time to just enjoy your horse out of a competition environment, and I do this by going on about 7 or 8 fun rides a year, so my horse can let his 'mane down' and I can laugh out loud with sheer joy whilst he tries to tank off with me across a stubble field.
 
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I don't get fed up with competing but I do get fed up with preparing for competitions and doing the schooling, learning the test, practicing the moves, and riding in the school. I do dressage and I show jump as well as trying to do a bit of showing, I also like sponsored rides too!

I don't go out every weekend but if I did I do think I might get a bit tired and my pony too might get fed up with it.
 
well i never EVER used to get sick of it all when i competed Monty alone, and even when he was also competed with Dani and Bugsy when we bought them..

but since i stopped showjumping Monty and Dani went out on loan, i have definitely got sick of showjumping Bugsy. Since because he got so temperamental, some days he'd be amazing, but 70% of the time he would just warm up nicely and then just stand and rear/nap in the big arena and waste all that preparation, money, time and effort... and also just took away the enjoyment. i have literally not been showjumping for months and don't want to compete him anymore. and to be frank, i don't think i'll pick up competing again regularly atall until we potentially get a new horse for me to compete - Bugsy is a smashing horse and i love him to bits, but he isnt fun to compete anymore and really has just shattered my confidence/trust with him!!

so in your answer to the question..yes, sadly i have got sick of it!!
 
I love it, but get frustrated as I don't have time/money to put in the prep I'd want to to do as well as I know we can! Therefore I am competing a lot less at the moment, but that has had the knock on effect of me having less motvation as I've got nothing to aim for ;)

Sooo, I am just enjoying my pony at the moment, going out when I want to go out and enjoy it, instead of having expectations on myself, hence why I've entered ODE's again to have a change of scenery and a bit of fun :)
 
KatB said:
I love it, but get frustrated as I don't have time/money to put in the prep I'd want to to do as well as I know we can! Therefore I am competing a lot less at the moment, but that has had the knock on effect of me having less motvation as I've got nothing to aim for ;)

Sooo, I am just enjoying my pony at the moment, going out when I want to go out and enjoy it, instead of having expectations on myself, hence why I've entered ODE's again to have a change of scenery and a bit of fun :)
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I know what you mean Kat! I don't have the resources to compete all the time or have loads of lessons - it can be frustrating because I know we can do better if we just had more experience. I guess I just have to be patient!

And it is meant to be fun at the end of the day - if I do it too much I over analyse everything we've done or not done and that takes the enjoyment out of it for me.
 
Glad I'm not the only one!
Don't get me wrong I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. I'm lucky in that my horse is competitive and he always gives me a good ride. It's the preperation! It takes so much work with training, learning tests, getting ready, getting nervous ect. It gets a bit tiring after a while!
I've just canceled one competition so I can concentrate on another one. I think it's remembering it's meant to be fun at the end of the day and not to put too much pressure on of I 'should' be doing this ect :)
 
My daughter is the jockey, i don't think she gets fed up with competing but we have agreed it is nice to have the odd weekend off now. She hunted and showjumped throughout the winter, we have decided not to affliate to BE this year as he is not too confident XC but to do BS & BD and some workers instead so we do have a nice bit of variation. I must admit though, not doing the BE is really nice as we have a 2hr drive to our closest event which makes it all hugely expensive, the furthest we have travelled this year is 20 miles, there and back before lunch sometimes!
I think we both enjoy going to comps but having a whole weekend off is a real treat.
 
no i think i am actually addicted!
saying that there are sometimes horses i dont want to copmete!
Ive been doing it for....umm...12 years, since i was 13.
probably half the weekends out of those years, every fortnight , although this ,last year has been quieter, finances and all that. saying that this week i have 6 days jumping out of 10, hurrah!!

the only thing i do wish is that there was more weekend time to invest in my boyfriend who only gets weekends off. but otherwise no!
 
MandyMoo that's a bit sad :(.
I got like that with my late horse, she kept randomly getting eliminated BS and it was heartbreaking! She would say jump clear in the first round and then be eliminated in the 2nd. I cried loads.
I totally gave up jumping her for about 6 months. I didn't do any shows but worked on my flatwork really hard. I then decided to do some unaff dressage just for fun, we were placed every time!
I also did lots of hacking and just really tried to enjoy her for her. We went galloping and exploring and I started jumping little logs. Eventually I was dying to do some showjumping so I just had fun with it jumping little at home.
She sadly died but I'm so glad I didn't get downhearted over the SJ and we had the best last summer together just doing what felt easy.
Current horse is a dude to jump so typically I've put the pressure on myself again! Need to remember it's meant to be fun :).
 
I'm not s true "competition" rider but over the summer try to compete twice a month and have lessons twice s month. I switch between being excited about our plans to dreading how much we've committed to. Due to the weather over winter we were pretty much snowed in between November and march so I just keep telling myself to get out and about as much as we can while we have good weather. Looking forward to my weekend off next week though!
 
God no- if I couldn't compete, I don't think I'd ride! I absolutely love it, whether its a walk and trot dressage test, a clinic or a one day event! I get excited every time, and I used to compete pretty much every weekend with my old horse and I never got bored- I just felt lost on my weekends off!
 
jenbleep said:
I also love lie ins on the weekend. :D
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I don't get weekend lie ins! I work every other Saturday - although I have competed after that, if someone takes my horse to the show for me, and I can just meet them there - and 1 in 4 weekends I'm on call. In addition, many of my on call weekends are spent running shows for the RC, so I think thats why when there is absolutely nothing, I cherish it :)
 
Not really but then i havnt got started yet!
When i had my old girl and was jumping aff we where out every other weekend, that suited me fine and i will prob do the same with the new boy. I dont have the finances to do it week in and week out plus i want to carry on with lessons, id rather do less shows but do better at them than do more and be rubbish.
That said im doing my first show of the year on sat, ive spent alot of time on training so havnt been out and ive not been to bothered about it. Once i get out i will want to do more i think.
I also have to consider the fact that my oh drives the lorry so has to come with me, its unfair to do loads as he has things he wants to do at weekend and i like my weekends off spending time with him. I don find myself a bit lost when i have absolutly nothing on, they are very rare weekends thou as there is always something going on.
As it is our holidays/days off next year will prob be spent at Hickstead or other shows so i dont want to push my luck! :D
I guess the answer is no, i dont get sick of it. I dont do enough to feel like that and im already planning shows and setting goals i would quite like to reach but i still wont be out that much so there is always an enjoyment to it. I also think that if you have a horse that enjoys it and doesnt make life hard at shows, it makes it more enjoyable. I think thats half the battle.
Plus i showjump so i dont have to remember tests in advanced nor to i have to scrub my horse to within an inch of its life every show! :D
 
firewell said:
MandyMoo that's a bit sad :(.
I got like that with my late horse, she kept randomly getting eliminated BS and it was heartbreaking! She would say jump clear in the first round and then be eliminated in the 2nd. I cried loads.
I totally gave up jumping her for about 6 months. I didn't do any shows but worked on my flatwork really hard. I then decided to do some unaff dressage just for fun, we were placed every time!
I also did lots of hacking and just really tried to enjoy her for her. We went galloping and exploring and I started jumping little logs. Eventually I was dying to do some showjumping so I just had fun with it jumping little at home.
She sadly died but I'm so glad I didn't get downhearted over the SJ and we had the best last summer together just doing what felt easy.
Current horse is a dude to jump so typically I've put the pressure on myself again! Need to remember it's meant to be fun :).
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yea it is a bit sad about Bugsy :( he is a smashing horse, and like your horse, moved onto dressage a lot (with mum though, not me.. im not a diva ;) haha) and is very good at it. i'm very sorry to hear your horse sadly died though :( how awful!! but definitely have fun with your current horse :) sounds a legend!
me and mum have discussed that if i pass my driving test this summer i can get a small cheap car (lol, bag of rust probably) and then i will be able to drive to the stables more from uni, and if i find i have enough time we might buy a new horse, more of a 14/15 year old that has been there, done it and can restore my confidence/fun in bsja again :) so fingers crossed!! because really i am one of those people who need to compete to ride... i can't just hack about with no aims :/ so sadly i actualy haven't been riding much recently and i miss it, but find not competing horribly boring!! oh dear!! so hopefully i can pick it up again in semmer/next uni year!!
 
I dont know the answer as i never seem to be able to get going!!

not been the luckiest unfortunately and no backing from family or OH so anything i do is off my own back or with encouragement from instructors. Last horse I had for 2 years before i got my own transport and she wasnt ready to compete without getting out and about to lessons etc. So once she started to go well and we managed our first BE then she had an accident during a lesson and had to be PTS :(

New horse is a lovely boy - however he has been a bit unfortunate with some cuts and scrapes. So our first ODE was supposed to be a week ago and a gash and some stitches stopped that :rolleyes:

I would think its like anything else - unless you are a pro - do what you enjoy and can manage :) your horse doesnt care if he is at home in the field or out at a party winning a ribbon. So long as your training is consistent and progressive not getting out every week isnt too much of a problem imo.

good luck to everyone out and about this summer :)
 
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