Feeling disheartened

[ohdearme]

Just come back from an arena eventing competition where I had FIVE stops… and hit the deck with the last one. Feeling very disheartened (and sore!).

Even more annoyingly, we have schooled over the exact course at the exact venue several weeks before and she flew it all and was very gung-ho. However as soon as it’s a competition, once we’ve left the warm up she goes very backwards and it’s hard work getting her to jump at all!

She has massive scope, loves her jumping and is fab to a fence - at home, arena hires, warm up etc. Just as soon as she goes in the ring, will sometimes just shut down. Not 100% of the time, we went out a few weekends ago and came away in the ribbons for both classes SJ!

Any tips other than practice practice practice? Planning on getting a physical/health check etc to make sure, but she’s so super always at home/arena hires etc.

 

[dominobrown]

Might be no help but one of mine would tense when he heard the start bell. I found acoustic ears helped (or ear plugs etc), might be no help and I would definitely do checks.

Also if she leaves horses happily in training, or try and create a 'competition' environment as much as possible, but if she is 100% of the time until its an actual competitive situation the problem might be you? What I mean by that is we tend to ride differently in competitive circumstances... even if we are not necessarily nervous or tense. So for example when training flatwork we can have a tendency to think ' Oh, I won't ask for canter now, I will do a circle, Gert more bend and a better trot then ask', however in competition we have to canter at the marker, even if we don't feel 100% ready. A horse that expects you 'practice it again', or do a circle, when you suddenly start riding like it must happen NOW in competitive circumstances can feel flustered. Try practicing a mix of both, so I sometimes school really working on quality and taking my time to prepare, but do run through tests and try and be accurate and ride to a letter making a plan and sticking to it like you wound in a competition. Hope that helps!

 

[Highmileagecob]

Is there an audience that worries her? More horses or activity than on practice days? Tannoy? Lighting? Shadows? It's difficult to know what the horse is worrying about when she is good at hiding the concern! Do you feel the shutdown coming at a certain point? If you can organise it, it may help to take her to different venues and not compete. Just go for the atmosphere, and praise her when she stays calm and relaxed.

 

[BunnyDog]

Ok so lets pull the string a bit...


What happens in your mind when you go into the ring? Are you having your own bit of worry since she has shown you her worries?

Do you have any videos to show what it looks like? Even if just pm'd to someone so we can objectively see/hear what it looked like to an outsider?

I will say the best thing I ever learned was to only jump one jump at a time. It sounds so stupid but.... Going over one fence at a time is vital to how you look at the day. You need to be successful at each fence, even if it's just that you got over it, ignore how well it went. But when you focus on one at a time, it makes it easier to judge each fence on it's own and not be overwhelmed as a rider, and not transmit that to the horse.

Also and this idea relies a bit on having the budget to do this, but can you go to a competition and only do half the course. End on a high note and walk her out on a loose rein while praising her. Obviously you'd have to pay for the whole but if the competition days are the issue, might be best to confront this in a competition and make yourself let go of the competing goals and take on the mindset to work on you and the horse communicating on course in a competition as the goal instead. There are always more shows.

But remember it's far better to halt the rolling snowball effect now and try to stop the progression. Take the time, try some things and know that we have ALL been there. 100%.

Em

 

[Orangina]

In addition to the suggestions above, could you try going down a few heights so really she only needs to think about being in the ring as the jumps won't be challenging? So if you normally jump say 90cm take her down to 60 or 70cm. I have had success with this in the past

 

[SEL]

I also find going to competitions which don't matter helps both horse and rider. Clear rounds are great for that or trot round a 60cm.

Anything where you don't care about the result and see if taking the pressure off helps.

 

[Squeak]

I also find going to competitions which don't matter helps both horse and rider. Clear rounds are great for that or trot round a 60cm.

Anything where you don't care about the result and see if taking the pressure off helps.

This was my first thought, drop the height as low as possible and go to clear rounds where you can school round in a competition environment and make sure you've done everything, warm up, clothes, tack etc. as if it was a competition.

What is she like doing dressage? If she gets worried they're possibly the same issues and you could try and work on them on the flat first.