First dressage today, v v v p***ed off!

[charlie900]

The little sod to so long to load that we arrived late and I missed my test! I took him in the warm up arena and he settled well and worked sooo nicely that I could have had 1/2 a chance of being placed. I have been trailer training him since beginning of July. On monday he walked in like a babe. Today it took 3/4 hour and he was as stressed cas hell damn horse,

 

[the watcher]

It is possible he caught the stress vibe from you, especially as time was getting short. We always start loading far too early, allowing a good hour. We very rarely need that time but it does mean that there is no pressure so we can stand around and wait if necessary.

The down side is that we often arrive ridiculously early!

 

[charlie900]

I think you are right he does pick up on me a lot. Trouble was that the gates at the show werent going to be unlocked till 1/2 hour before they started and I was supposed to be 1st in.

 

[Stella]

Thats rotten for you

But I'm with The_Watcher on this. I bet he picked-up on your nerves and the longer it took, the more stressed you are both bound to have become. Maybe best to go for the ridiculously early option next time.

It was my first test last week and I didn't allow extra time to load, looking back that was a bit risky, but I was lucky!

 

[catembi]

TBH that's a bit pants that the gates opened so late. I prefer to get there an hour beforehand so I can get myself organised. (Altho what normally happens is a disaster of some sort, usually involving me not being able to get o/h out of bed, not being able to find some vital piece of kit or the lorry keys going awol...)

We turned up a day late once cos I thought the comp was on a Sun & it was actually on a Sat.

I was extremely annoyed cos I'd bathed (grey) & plaited.

Better luck next time, & at least your horse got a taste of the atmosphere.

 

[TarrSteps]

Also going with the "leave yourself extra time" option. It's pretty standard with horses that if you act like you've got hours it will take five minutes, if you act like you've got five minutes it will take you hours - they get very anxious at even the suggestion of rushing. Since you were the only one who knew you were going to a show

he shoudn't have been any different than all the times you've practiced unless you changed something, however small and inadvertent.

One thing that might help is to have a set routine for loading and stick to it. Horses are supreme creatures of habit and see the world very differently from us so some change you consider minor he might consider major and react to accordingly. Having a routine will also force you to take a certain amount of time with the process and just slow everything down a notch. Sometimes everyone just taking a deep breath does the trick but that's VERY hard to make yourself do when you're heading out to compete.

I'm sure it will be fine next time. Have another practice before you go out again and then try to replicate what works EXACTLY on your next show day, right down to how you act and feel.