Does it worry you when you come last?

It depends. I hate coming last full stop but whether it eats at me is to do whether I think I should have been last. If we make mistakes or are not on form then it bothers me much less than if I thought it was a spot on test - it's subjective of course but it's fairness that bugs me - if I ride a good test and get a crappy mark I'm not a happy bunny...
 
I only go out to compete against myself, so the increasing scores etc is what it is all about for me to know,I am improving. Which is just as well as I came joint last on 2 occasions before starting to improve. I took on board the comments, tried harder and began to improve. I didn't like being joint last at all but I assumed it wasn't forever and I was right. The first time I stayed behind cos I was about to be placed was worth the crummy placings earlier on! :-)
 
Learn, enjoy and move on.

We had an outing which provided a win, a bucked off and an illuminated for 3 errors of course. A very long time ago and riding with a massive hangover. !
 
We usually either come first or last. I have an exhibitionist of a horse ;) I think just keep your chin up and think of the good days!
 
Back in my showing days in a previous life-- no, not at all. As a purely amateur rider, it is/was a hobby, and so to me, the whole point of competing as a hobby lost the plot when it ceased to be anything but fun. Yes, I enjoyed the "thrill of victory" and rode to do as well as possible. But-- given it was just a hobby, and not how I earned my living, at the end of the day, placing meant little in the overall scheme of life. It was not how I paid my mortgage, etc, so it seemed pointless to get upset if the placings were not always as I would have liked. When showing stopped being fun, I stopped showing-- and it is unlikely I will return to it in any big way-- the odd unaffiliated show perhaps-- but that is all.
 
If coming last had bothered us, we'd have had to give up! While it's nice to place/get a frilly, for us it's more about improving . . . we see competitions as a way of testing all the training and schooling . . . so as long as the scores keep going up, we're happy. We bring our score sheets home and go over them with our trainer, and that gives her an idea of what to work on in terms of ring craft, etc.

Also, remember that the other competitors are likely to be at a very different point in their journey . . . the last time we went stressaging we were in the same class as two international eventers taking out their baby horses (albeit in a different section). At prelim, you can expect to compete against people competing at novice using the prelim as a warm-up.

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PolarSkye said:
If coming last had bothered us, we'd have had to give up!

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Haha this is me too! I am delighted if I dont come last - and even if I do come last I am delighted if I am not eliminated! :)


The only slight downer is coming behind 4 year olds (Children not horses) in a cross pole competition - a frequent occurrence :/ :)
 
This ^ :D
These days, on the rare occasion we go out, I just want to have fun and for my girls and I to meet others and enjoy our day. Life's too short!
 
I don't have a horse at present so a last would be heaven for me, the fact I was even there with my own GG would be enough :D I think a last can have bonuses: the taking part, having the goal to do better, last but not least as they say :)
 
I'm not even remotely competitive so don't mind where I come. I compete (dressage) mainly for something different to do, however I seem to find that because I am so relaxed about the whole thing that I tend to do quite well.
 
No. If I wanted to be in the top half, I would have stayed competing at the level down - plenty do that. But have elected to challenge myself and step up a grade. And as my horse is not ideally suited to dressage, we are frequently in the bottom half, and occasionally at the bottom.

It's not that I'm not competitive, but dressage is very subjective and I'm more about competing against myself - as long as I can see the improvement over several months, I'm happy. If I look back to when I started on my ex-endurance horse, I was pleased to make 50% in level 1.

Failing that I just tell myself everyone else has been practicing for longer than I have and none of their horses could ever do a 100 miles. So there.
 
Staying on is more important to me. Coming last is least of my problems. Last time I went jumping my horse bucked so high put me in the viewing galley now that's worse.
 
For me it depends on class and number of competitors. If I come last in my novice out if a field of 3 or 4 nice horses doing a good test, I'm happy, he's only just started doing novice and some days he'll lengthen, others he just will not.

If I came last in a prelim out of 12 or 15 say, I'd be upset, unless he did something like bronc round his canter and spook at his own feet (faves at home to get out of practicing)

He's only been off the track a couple of years, home schooled slowly by me and tomorrow will be his 4th time competing. I'm more upset with a score below 60% tb
 
Its more our performance that I tend to base things on. If you feel you've had a great day and went well then surely it doesnt matter where you finish up? The way I look at it is someones got to come last, sometimes its you! Winning or a good placing is the icing on the cake. Conversely Ive had some pretty shocking days/rounds where I thought it went awful but have ended up winning - those arent satisfying at all!
 
It doesn't usually bother me, unless I think we had done better than others placed higher then it hurts a bit. We are all about having fun, everything else is just a bonus.

This is a very minor thing but I do remember being upset at a show when I had entered the fancy dress, I had spent a couple of weeks making an outfit from scratch, it was ponies first ever show too, we came last. I was upset that the judge had never even come up to us or spoken to us about the outfits, pony etc and I felt I had put a lot of effort (and cost) in that hadn't been recognised. That's life though.
 
No so long as I am happy with my horse I dont care where I place as she is a youngster so im not expecting any placings for a while !

Id rather come last & be happy with how she went than come 1st & be unhappy with how she went
 
I'm really competitive so I'm always out to win even if its very unlikely. Although I do tend to be half sensible about my expectations, like when I was competing BE I always just wanted to be in the top 6 (winning outright was unlikely as our dressage was crud!). Basically with an established horse I am always wanting to win. With a youngster, I just want them to behave well so I dont mind not being highly placed etc. with them. So I do compete with some perspective I think!

Off to my new horses first show tomorrow, yes I would love her to win but its showing so you never know with that, my only aim is for the horse to behave well and to have a nice day out. If she gets a rossette then that'll just be a bonus.
 
Sometimes, especially dressage, you can feel you're there just to make up the numbers, but I think as long as you had fun, you and the horse worked as a team, thats all that matters, I tend to compete with myself, if I can do better than the last time or our PB, then I feel good
 
I agree with one of the other posts about combinations competing at Prelim that should be at a higher level. My 6 year old mare and I didn't start canter work until August last year. We are scoring low 60's at Prelim level. I am happy with that, we improve our scores nearly every time we go out. Today we were competing against people scoring 8, 9 and 10 on the movements. How can a young combination like ours compete on a fair field?
 
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