Horse won’t settle showing … Any ideas

[sjdress]

My horse has done dressage all her life and behaves wonderfully at competitions.
I have tried to take her showing to do veteran classes now she is older and she has behaved awfully, so much in fact that I have taken her out the classes due to her behaviour.
I truly think she just doesn’t understand what she is supposed to be doing so becomes anxious and inpatient/rude!
Any ideas on how we can overcome this? I have practiced a similar set up to a show at home and she behaves perfectly.
Is it a case of keep entering shows or just forget it and accept she doesn’t want to be a show horse?!

 

[Spotherisk]

Maybe try in hand showing and see if she settles?

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Which part of the class is she unsettled in? Or as above, try inhand first.

 

[spacefaer]

I had an eventer I tried to do workers on. He hated other horses coming up behind him and had a set time he was prepared to stand in line before he'd start being a pain. I gave up in the end as I always seemed to get judges who took forever to assess and deliberate.

 

[fetlock]

Is it just when she's in the ring, and she's fine outside of it?

Is it on the go-round, standing in the line-up or her indvidual show, or all of those things?

 

[sjdress]

She is fine in the go around but as soon as we stand she loses it! I tried in hand and she was really naughty, rearing and trying to push me out of the way, totally unlike her!

I did show her as a 5/6 year old and she didn’t behave like this at all then, but she is 23 now and has done dressage ever since so I just feel like she doesn’t understand what is being asked of her.

 

[fetlock]

No idea of this will help yours, but when my young horse wouldn't stand in a line up (or for long at home either) I spent quite a while building up from asking him to stand for a minute, then two minutes, then three minues and so on on his own. Reading a tip from one of the great showmen of the time, which was to build up to reading a newspaper on the horse, that's what I did - taking a book initially with me out hacking and stopping somewhere and read some of the book, to the point I could do the newspaper thing with him standing still and relaxed for 15/20 minutes.

This was at home, but wasn't going to solve the problem in the ring so over the winter I boxed him a good few times to the local riding school to join in with their group lessons, after explaining what I was looking to get out of it. Mine blew up on the go-round too, so this helped me with that problem too, but it also helped with the standing problem as I spent a good proportion of that group lesson just standing in the middle with him watching the rest have their lesson.

Those were indoors. I enlisted the help of a couple of friends to get some practice in on a grass field, again with lots of me standing, whilst they rode around me, with some sessions of us all standing in a line having a chat. All of this did help immensely, though obviously still doesn't recreate a buzzy showground environment. I did then also have him to a few local, small shows, not to compete but to stand around a lot and anywhere, including near the practice jump, where you were guaranteed to have people flying about. Then did a few best turned out classes with him, so he had nothing more to do than walk, and stand still in a line.

In the end,though always prone to the odd bout of above the ground gymnastics in the go round and still found showgrounds terribly exciting, he did at least stand like a rock in the line up.

 

[J&S]

Sounds like it is the proximity of the other horses she doesnt like. Perhaps you could try putting her on the end of the line for a few "practice " shows? Speak to the judge and explain if necessarry. On the other hand, you could say that at 23 she knows her own mind (and is good in all other respects) and would simply rather do some thing else!!!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

This is my Connie all over. He was shown in hand unbroken as a colt until he was two then ridden until he was 6 and was a prolific winner. I got him at 8 and decided to do an in hand show with him at 10 and he just lost it. He didn’t want to be there, used his teeth to tell me how unhappy he was and at one point tried to lift me off my feet by my lapels. I took it as a sign he was stressed and unhappy and I have never put him in that position again. He’s now 14 and I know what his stress trigger points are and showing is one of them.