do you have problems in collecting ring

ticobay831

ticobay831

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Just wondering how many of you have problems when warming up your horses in the collecting area at shows.
My friends horse can be a bit sharp and even though she has a red ribbon in his tail to warn people they still seem to ignore the fact that its there for a reason.
hes not a kicker but he just gets abit panicky if a horse comes up behind him too fast and tends to go into reverese at quite a speed, which can obviously be quite dangerous.

Do any of you have similar problems? and how many of you wear red ribbons and do they help, do you think ? :-)
 
I do. But only because people don't seem to 'get' the left to left thing, or personal space, or no walking 3 abreast on the outside track gossiping, or jumping fences in the right direction... :p

J&C
 
Yes! I currently have a terrible kicker and not only put a red ribbon but also warn people as I go round but my god people still get so close at speed that I have to constantly shove her out of the way to stop her getting the chance to lash out.
Even prior to having the kicker I used to go sj on my own and would be amazed at how one person (and helper) would totally take over the warm up fences and alter them constantly despite others clearly wanting to jump them, and then my absolute pet hate when people catch a lead over a fence so close that if you knock it down they will have to jump flying poles!
 
I bloody hate them, its like rules of the school go out the window with manners and common sense :mad: folk cut you up left right and centre.
If i can i avoid them like the plague or wait until theyre nearly empty.
 
A green ribbon can be useful (young horse) and I use a green ribbon on my 18 year old!!! Just to make sure people do give us a wide berth... Someone told me once that a white ribbon can be used for an unpredictable horse.

I tend not to use the warm up area's and go and find a quiet corner somewhere if possible... Sometimes you get kids hooning around but I don't like to be a party pooper and so I make myself scarce... I only go in to use the warm up jumps and I only do them a few times anyway :)
 
The dressage warm up is even worse :confused:
Especially if your not on the big brown warmblood.
I find its best to stand your ground, using school rules and in a load voice tell anyone who comes too close that your horse really WILL kick.That the ribbon is not part of your MatchyMatchy.
It is also your responsibility to avoid other horses to some degree .I sometimes feel that a rider can use a red ribbon and expect to have right of way everywhere they go .Not saying you are like this .:)

No real help I know you just have to keep trying. .
 
My kids can find showring warm ups intimidating. My intructress said the same-you need to stand your ground then people are less likely to push you about. But easier said than done.
 
Luckily I've only been to little places and they are very laid back!

But if I go somewhere big I'm thinking of a massive big multi-coloured ribbon making my horse look somewhat like a big birthday present

Including:
Red for kicker
Green for beginner
Orange for rider likely to be bricking it and/or not paying attention
Purple for horse likely to just follow another horse like a big lamb

At least other horses might be very scared and stay away!!

Any other colours I've forgotten for tail ... I feel a gap in the market here.
 
Show jumping is def the worst, people have little regard for personal space, there are still the odd rude people at be and bd but not as bad.

white ribbon is for stallions i think
 
yes I think it is white for a stallion.

I always put a red ribbon in my boys tail as he has a tendancy to buck, not actually strike out at other horses but buck as we go into canter, so I assume using a red ribbon would cover that but nooooo people ride right up his backside all the time!
rules of the school i think do not apply in a warm up........to most people!!!! i think some think cause their horse is bigger or better they have more right to charge around and push everyone out of the way, they have no time for other people and I have witnessed quite a few nasty accidents in warm up arenas, that would not have happened if people were just sensible and polite! I actually witnessed a punch up between 2 grooms before in a warm up.....nice entertainment but when your trying to watch and warm up a fizzy TB its just too much!! :D
 
I hate collecting rings.

People that don't pass left to left, groups of people walking around the outside track having a gossip, then the person that stands in the way making tack adjustments, then when you get to the jump it's 3'6 despite the class only being 2'6, just as you're approaching the fence it gets adjusted 2 strides out, then cut up by a little pony practising their jump off turns, then you survive the fence, land and after two strides met by a wall of mothers having a nice chat in the warm up, get stressed and then give up.

And then dressage is a whole different ball game. People practising their 10m circles around your horse as you're trying to trot innocently around the arena but end up as a moving target, then mrs show off half passing into you, since when was half pass in a riding club prelim? Then you slam on the breaks as the person in front of you does canter to halt then stands for ages in the way as their groom removes their bandages before the test. You get over that, proceed at trot to find someone who insists on running through their test as they haven't learnt it at home and make sure they do the test spot on and screw the rest of you.

And it doesn't get any better at affiliated, it is often worse.
And breathe.
 
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They drive me mad. I agree about people with red ribbons needing to take responsibility though for their actions - some dratted woman the other week had her red ribboned kicker positioned with it's backside facing the narrow gate, so you had to walk by it's back end to get in :mad: If your horse kicks, bl00dy well stand it somewhere out of the way!

I also get wound up by people who you shoot up the back of because they cut in front of you / stop dead for no reason - I don't ride close behind people, but it is a confined space and I have to be within a few strides of them sometimes if I want to get a canter in! I can emergency stop my older horse if you decide to practice your canter-halt transitions on the track, but my younger one isn't so proficient.

That said, people who ride up the back of you are just as bad and jumping fences without calling drives me insane. And people who get their helper to shove fences up / down without allowing others to use them :mad: Or the ones who shove past because their precious warmblood is more important than your little native. (I nearly hit someone the other month for saying this...)
 
Our local riding club have introduced a 'no more than 6 in the warm-up at any one time' rule at shows on our yard. A few people have had nasty falls (including me) caused by people barging past on uncontrollable horses. There is lots of off-road hacking around the estate and their reasoning is that you can warm up on the lanes and tracks and then use the warm up arena only for some final trot / canter work or to pop the practice fence a few times. I have to say, it has made a huge difference - you feel like you can breathe in the warm-up and it is much more civilised.
 
Can't say I've had many major problems in the collecting ring.

By the sounds of things though, all of these problems come down to not enough space.

I've only really had a problem before where the collecting ring was seriously small, too small even to get a good canter out of my 14.1hh pony!
 
Once when I was watching an unaffiliated dressage competition there were only two people in the very large collecting ring, it was a 65m x 25m international sized arena. One of the persons was wearing a tabard stating she was blind and had a helper on the ground to help with directions and to make sure she didn't accidentally collide with another horse. However it turns out that this made no difference and the other rider cut up the blind rider causing her to have to stop so sharply :o
Bad accident averted :/

On an upside her horse was absolutely stunning :D

But makes me anxious about showing because mine is not the easiest ride kicks out randomly sometimes even at horse she regularly sees :/
 
Fortunately I never venture into SJ warm up arenas, and they do appear to be the worst. The most 'fun' ;) that I come into contact with are in hand collecting rings for the main rings at a certain county show. The ridden classes, and some in hand, are done in two outer rings with large warm up rings, open spaces etc backing onto the lorry park. A lot of the in hand however is done in the 2 main rings, usually around showjumps set up for big classes, and before dancing diggers or whoever go in and trash the lot. The collecting ring for these is tiny, surrounded by the back of marquees etc, accessed down a horse walk that is gated most of the time for the public to walk round the shopping, and they have to be herded back and gated off for horses to go through from time to time. At a class turnaround you might have 20 horses leaving the ring, 20 waiting to come in, and usually a few who are hanging round for something entirely unrelated. Depending how the classes for, sometimes these will be mares and foals, or a class full of in hand stallions who have just done a lap of honour. Always jolly good fun. Somehow we're all still alive.

But ditto what the others have said, mostly problems only happen because of a lack of space for the number of horse/activites going on. Even your biggest most determined idiot should struggle to flatten too many people in an 80 x 80 space for example - but that's the stuff of dreams! Or the classic scenario of a reasonable sized area, but with a whacking great tree in the middle etc. However, unless you need to jump, there are usually ways round if either you or your horse can't cope with the collecting ring/warm up, even if it means finding a quiet corner of the lorry park.
 
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