How do nerves/excitement affect you at competition?....

Chloe_GHE

Chloe_GHE

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I was thinking the other day about how nerves affect me at an event. I'm not a very anxious person so I wouldn't say I ever really get nerves or my understanding of nerves which is shaking, worried, not wanting to do it full of self doubt, being sick etc but I do get nervous excitement and this seems to come out as being cold and yawning!
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On the way to an event the nearer we get I can feel my body temp dropping. I will often walk the xc togged up the the hilt but feeling like I'm about to shiver at any moment, does anyone else get this?... I also quite often start to yawn! I'm not tired at all I'm buzzing but I guess it is some primative response to get more oxygen into my body in preperation for exciting times so does anyone else also do that?...

Wierdly I'm more nervously excited at home plaiting up and loading up than when I arrive at the event and as soon as I get on ALL nerves disppear, not because I think I'm gonna perform amazingly but something about getting on means now we have started I have somethign to concentrate on to take my mind off things going wrong!
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So is that just me? please tell me you all have similar quirks otherwise I will feel like a cold yawny freak!
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I definately yawn, get butterflies and shake, but this tends to disappear once I'm on and working the horse in, its mostly on the drive to the competition!
 
im sure i read in an interview with some eventer that they tend to get sleepy instead of nervous too before XC so have a nap!

i get a bit nervous and worried just before i go in for my round, its got ALOT better over the years - as i kid i would always stop at the first fence, then i would wake up and go round fine!

now once i trot in the ring i am fine but i think the little nervy bit makes me ride better - i ride much better at shows than at home so i presume thats the nerves being useful!!
 
i yawn a lot when i am nervous!! so you are not alone there you will be pleased to know!!
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i used to get terribly nervous years ago, couldn't eat anything until i had finished at a comp - not good if your at an event and have a late, split section!! also used to have to pee a lot (tmi?)
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i'm a lot better now tho.. still get the yawning and a bit of a jiggly stomach from excitement!! (again same as you - no amazing performances expected but just to be out and about!) i think i am also a bit more quiet to be around but as i usually compete on my own it's hard to say.
 
You have mail
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I do get the yawning thing, usually if I have a long wait to go xc. But then my standard response to stress is to sleep. I'm sure there was something about it in one of the shrink's articles in the BE mag.

Packing the lorry in the days before and on the morning itself I get my "nervous tummy ache", been like this all my life and suffered it during exams etc. It doesn't actually make me ill but I feel like I'm going to be!

I think I suffer from tension coming into my body and making me stiff, particularly in the dressage phase. This can do awful things to sensitive fit horses, and I've definately improved in my "management" of this, although there's room for even more. At one point about 7 or 8 years ago both the horse and I were necking Rescue Remedy to the point where we were both really quite out of it in our tests!
 
I also get really cold when I'm nervous....but also get the shaking. Its awful. When we had our one and only outing with the midsurrey farmers couple of years back I remember I had a full on leg shake, like my whole leg was really wobbling and I couldn't stop it while I was desperately trying to pretend I wasn't petrified!!

I hate being that nervous, it is so bad it does take the edge off some of the enjoyment.
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But...have to say as soon as we set off the nerves vanish, its just the waiting that does me in.
 
Yep on the shivery the yawning front! The shivery think is an excited thing I think.... the yawning is definitely a nerves thing (or the having to get up at silly o'clock to go eventing thing
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Hehehehe! I do exactly the same as you..........I yawn all the way down to the XC, to the point I feel sleepy.

I shall look out for all those fellow yawners this year!!!
 
i think it's Pippa Funnell who gets yawny/sleepy, so you're in good company!
umm, i get really hot walking/running the course, have to remember to set off cold and underdressed because otherwise i have to carry my jacket most of the way.
i used to get snippy with tension but have learnt to control that now. my poor mother bore the brunt of it when i was a teen but then absolutely refused to take me anywhere for a month so i got control of it!
i get stiff with nerves, as T_E describes, particularly in the sj for me, i think i might hold my breath too. argh. i don't get nervous before the dressage, and have minor butterflies occasionally about 2 mins before leaving start box at lower levels, used to have rather more major butterflies if it was a really big track!
 
Re holding the breath - I can remember show jumping when it used to be I think an A5 class (first round then straight into jump off) at the first outdoor show of a year and nearly needing oxygen when I came out as I had been holding my breathe for so long! I don't think I get nervous regarding the actual competition although sometimes may be a little nervous if horse is feeling fresh but I get told by OH and others that I do get tense and that it affects my riding.
 
I have to go to the loo - a lot! I have to be very careful not to have any tea or coffee or coke before competing or I will be running to the loo, and have had to get off horse in warmup on occasion. I also get cold, don't know what that's all about.
 
I am lucky as I never get nervous far in advanced, have never been nervous for the dressage - ever! Which is quite handy. But I do get nervous once I am in the collecting ring for SJ & XC & particularly in the XC warm up I am capable of absolutely yawning my head off!!!! My horse is bit overly keen & normally launches himself at the practice fence which never helps things. Once the starter says go I am fine. I have only ever once still been nervous after the 1st fence & that was about that blooming table at fence 3 on the Intermediate at Central Scotland last year.

On the whole & within reason I do ride better under pressure & with a bit of an audience, I am naturally laid back & sometimes need the added adrenalin. Once when I was a youngish teen my Father got slightly fed up with the odd rather pathetic stop that I would have & betted me £100 (even more of a fortune then than now
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) that I couldnt get round the Novice at Poplar clear. I didnt half ride that day & of course was clear. It was actually a good lesson as it taught me to always ride XC like that.
 
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im sure i read in an interview with some eventer that they tend to get sleepy instead of nervous too before XC so have a nap!

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I get really sleepy with nerves, I normally fall asleep on the way to and from a competition but never sleep at it. I get anxious more than nervous though I think, I want to get going. I hate the day before and morning of the event. I tend to go better at competition than at home so I definately think it helps. I am MUCH braver XC in competition - in training, I wouldn't "choose" to jump any of the jumps I do in competition
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I tend to get butterflies when i think about it the evening before, and usually get butterflies and stomach cramps when actually driving into the lorry park! These usually go as soon as i get out the lorry and crack on with the day.

I get yawny when nervous also, and feel like i don't have much energy to do much. It's usually only when waiting around during the day that i feel like this, if i am busy or on the horse they all go and i'm fine!
 
I'm not usually too bothered. Am usually freezing when I arrive at an event but suspect that has more to do with travelling in the car for three hours with the heating full on then stepping out into our glorious British weather.

I did once say goodbye to my dogs before a particularly meaty XC though......
 
i yawn a lot.

also hold my breathe in the sj.

i tried rescue remedy but it never did anything.

counting strides out loud helped a lot with the sj.
 
Im one of these people who rises to the challenge, esp woth dressage where you have 5 mins to show the judge your stuff. I have a really spooky horse, who I really ride forward at shows... or else we part company!
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i dont particularly notice my nerves, but have always had quirky horses who taught me not to put too much pressure or empahsis on *just one day* so am pretty laid back and take it as it comes.

helps that current boy is very chilled in the ring and in no way spooky so theres nothing to worry about in advance!

(this is only dressage and previously SJ, if i had to jump some of the xc stuff you guys do, id cry!)
 
I thought I'd heard this somewhere so googled it:

"A long-standing hypothesis is that yawning is caused by an excess of carbon dioxide and lack of oxygen in the blood. The brain stem detects this and triggers the yawn reflex. The mouth stretches wide and the lungs inhale deeply, bringing oxygen into the lungs and hence to the bloodstream."

That would make sense then: when you get nervous your breathing becomes shallow, therefore a yawn is helpful.

I find deep breathing helps before the stressful parts (ie. all of it
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), but also cracking jokes or having a bit of banter with the starter/steward seems to take my mind off the feeling of impending doom.
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I tend to crack my fingers when i get stressfu/nervousl/tense situations
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Or crack any bones that will
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When I get very very stressed I faint. I really do! It is very annoying
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But when I get nervous I talk louder, make more jokes, but am very strict on timimg. But All nerves are eventually pushed back as adrenaline takes over
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Another way i de-stress is to continually run over the course in my head.

I dont normally "feel" anything before i go xc - mind goes clear and I focus on job in hand - so it would be unusual for me to get nervous!
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I get awful nerves - not hungry, shaky etc. OH drives me absolutely mental when out competing by taking the Sunday Times to the loo for a chill out before going XC, leaving me to get the nag ready.. His rational is actually a good one although a bit
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All the nervous symptoms are noradrenaline-based (the fight/flight response) but if you can do a No. 2, that activates the parasympathetic system which is the opposite of the noradrenaline and therefore relaxes you entirely prior to going XC... His words, not mine!! I obviously just totally shut down like some sort of human camel..
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Ditto Prince33Sp4rkle about having naughty horses so have grown up with out having the pressure that and the fact im naturally very laid back means I dont get nervous, I normally drive every one with me slightly mad by being so lade back, mum says if you cant find me when im warming up then look for the person gossiping and i'll be there
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Yes, but positively! OMG I'M GONNA FORGET THE TEST/COURSE nerves make me go over the test/course millions of times in my mind learn the test/course really well. OMG THOSE JUMPS LOOK HUGE nerves make me ride my best!
 
don't get nervous, possibly because I go out with zero expectations! However I do get excited in the lead up, even now Im excited at the thought that it's nearly the start of the season, to the point that I'm actually excited about going to BD!

I do ride more assertively at competitions, possibly because I'm determined to get round (mare has got a bit of a stop in her) but don't think this is a result of anything other than a dislike of being eliminated!

I know that being relaxed is the best thing possible for my mare, she's got enough nerves for the both of us.

I do go into a very positive frame of mind in the xc start box, the first couple of hunter trials I did with the beast I did get nervous as I was pushing her up a level and not sure what to expect, and can remember wanting to burst into tears half way round the second because she was going so well and I was having so much fun. In fact I still feel myself welling up with tears at the end of xc
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with pleasure, and possibly the release of whatever "pressure" has been building.
 
A recent study done on dogs showed that yawning in stressful situations lowers blood pressure - it's not intentional, but it does help the body cope with the pressure.

There's no doubt horses yawn as stress release. (The end of the licking, chewing and snorting spectrum.) I don't know if it promotes relaxation (see above) or is a sign of it, but it's quite common in horses that have been highly stressed but are coming out of it, as it were. If you're sitting on the horse when it happens you can literally feel the tension ebbing out.

I'm generally pretty chilled (perhaps because my goal has more often been to survive the day, hopefully with progress to show for it, and to do a job, rather than compete in the technical sense of the word) and if anything tend to slow down at events, as a way of making sure I don't end up getting hurried. Horses don't like hurrying.
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Often the only "symptom" I get is pain/tightness in the fronts of my shoulders, along my rotator cuff! Clearly something pulls/tightens as the adrenalin starts to flow but it's a bit odd when I don't actually feel stressed in any other way.
 
I get sleepy too & narky, the more nervous I am, the more narky I get! I also go off my food 'til after xc, which anyone who knows me will vouch is very unusual. I survive on lucozade & treacle toffee til after xc then eat everything in the lorry!
 
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