Spooking during tests

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TT55

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I have a TB mare who i have been doing dressage with for about 3 months. We are both new to dressage and so only compete at intro level at the moment. She (usually) schools and warms up really nicely, but we are not having much success as she behaves like an idiot when we compete. At our last test she bucked before we went in (very out of character) and kept on shooting forward (spooking i guess). It's a constant battle to make her concentrate and if she ends up spooking during the test, all hope is lost! She tends to go around the outside of the arena ok before we start, but as soon as i start to circle her near A ready to start she goes tense and won't bend, her head goes up and everything just generally goes to pot. It's so frustrating as i know how nicely she can work! She'll do a nice warm up, awful test, then go back in to the warm up arena and be as sweet as pie!

I can't work out why she is behaving like she is. When we first started competing she got really strong and fast and i got really tense, which made her worse. When i managed to relax a bit, she started to go much nicer, but now she seems to have reverted back, although i don't think i am making her tense?

She has no reason to spook because we compete at home, in the arena we work in almost every day. We even are fortunate enough to be able to sometimes school in the boards that we compete in and we compete really regularly. So her spooking during tests is just stupid! She went through a phase of spooking during our lessons and schooling and my instructor said it was an evasion and told me what to do. I thought we'd turned a corner (also took her off Healthy Tummy and started her on MagOx) but after last weeks episode, apparently not. I'm not sure if she realises that once in a test environment she can get away with her antics?

Does anyone have any tips? Or stories of similar horses who have improved to make me feel better :)
 
Hate to say it, but, if she schools in the same arena, in the boards etc, it's probably you tensing up and sparking it all off. What happens if you do things like test riding clinics / run through tests between the boards with instructor there?
 
Yep, I'm afraid I'm with JFTD :p It could be as simple as you trying to ride 'prettily' in front of the judge, and sacrificing some effectiveness! (e.g. not correcting her as effectively as you would if you were just schooling)
 
JFTD said:
Hate to say it, but, if she schools in the same arena, in the boards etc, it's probably you tensing up and sparking it all off. What happens if you do things like test riding clinics / run through tests between the boards with instructor there?
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Pigeon said:
Yep, I'm afraid I'm with JFTD :p It could be as simple as you trying to ride 'prettily' in front of the judge, and sacrificing some effectiveness! (e.g. not correcting her as effectively as you would if you were just schooling)
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Maybe you are right and now that i think about it, a few really bad tests we have had lately have been when my instructor was judging! Although we did a test a few weeks ago and none of the above happened, she felt amazing... i went down the centre line thinking that i could win with her going as she was... tracked right at C, commenced circle at B, then spook to X as we approached E! This was a proper spook too, full on nostrils flaring, eyes bulging, legs flying in all directions (I even have a hilarious photo of it!)... So not sure what happened there!

We have never done any test riding clinics yet and I am yet to have a lesson in the boards (although hopefully we can next week), so can't say how she would be in those situations. Although she can have her moments during lessons... we had one a few weeks ago where the whole lesson had to be spent just making her concentrate! She's an annoyingly inconsistent mare, i can never tell how she is going to be!

I don't know how to improve though as i'm getting a bit fed up of paying for entering tests that go so badly!
 
The only time mine has ever spooked in between the boards was when I got to the medium canter right at the end and thought to myself "wow this is actually medium! Best test we've EVER rid... WOAH Holy christ :eek3: Fergus, was that drain cover really going to eat you?!"

I'm fairly sure it was because I stopped thinking about what I was doing and started thinking about how well it was going. It's amazing how easily you can lose concentration!
 
JFTD said:
The only time mine has ever spooked in between the boards was when I got to the medium canter right at the end and thought to myself "wow this is actually medium! Best test we've EVER rid... WOAH Holy christ :eek3: Fergus, was that drain cover really going to eat you?!"

I'm fairly sure it was because I stopped thinking about what I was doing and started thinking about how well it was going. It's amazing how easily you can lose concentration!
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Haha, that sounds similar... except the medium canter was a 20m trot circle and the drain cover was a person :P
 
And I caught it on camera:

10494632_224763007732753_6979925736898848740_n.jpg


#EmbarassingAnimals

eta - I have no magic bullet, but at least you're not alone ;)
 
you need to make sure your warm up then ride around the outside of the arena is no different when the bell goes. Trust me... been there and done that.

The amount of riders who you see tightening their girths just before their turn or as soon as the bell goes shortening their reins and riding more assertively, the horse picks up on this. I have a really sensitive horse now and he has really helped my riding from the point of view of making myself relaxed and tension free to avoid precisely this scenario. Get a decent book that describes some of these exercises and I am sure you will find a difference.

I have a book I got cheaply from amazon written by Tina Sederholm and it has helped my riding massively just with following some of the exercises she suggests.
 
silv said:
you need to make sure your warm up then ride around the outside of the arena is no different when the bell goes. Trust me... been there and done that.

The amount of riders who you see tightening their girths just before their turn or as soon as the bell goes shortening their reins and riding more assertively, the horse picks up on this. I have a really sensitive horse now and he has really helped my riding from the point of view of making myself relaxed and tension free to avoid precisely this scenario. Get a decent book that describes some of these exercises and I am sure you will find a difference.

I have a book I got cheaply from amazon written by Tina Sederholm and it has helped my riding massively just with following some of the exercises she suggests.
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Is it called "Unlock your riding talent" ? I might have to have a look. I can't pin point anything i do differently, but i'll have to make a point of noticing things that may affect my horse next time i compete.

Thanks for the photo JFTD, nice to see that it happens at the higher levels too :P
 
TT55 said:
Is it called "Unlock your riding talent" ? I might have to have a look. I can't pin point anything i do differently, but i'll have to make a point of noticing things that may affect my horse next time i compete.

Yep that is the book, it is fabulous. I didn't think I was doing anything different either but evidently I was.

Good luck!
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JFTD said:
Do you ever film your tests? I didn't think I did anything differently either, but it seems I do :eek3:
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No, i never have anyone there to do it :(

My instructor was judging our tests last week so i'm hoping he'd notice if i ride differently!
 
Ditto all other advice....sounds like it may be you tensing up without knowing! Something worth noting too, that if you ever affiliate you are not supposed to be judged by your instructor (BD dont like that!) so its not something you should be trying to get used to.

Have you ever competed somewhere that is not the yard you keep your horse at? Change of scenery might help in this case, I bet you know a lot of the competitors at your current venue if it is your yard so there is pressure of lots of familiar eyes on you, plus your instructor.

Whereas if you go somewhere different where no-one knows you and the judge is an unknown as well, you might find yourself riding differently.

Here's another thought - what is your horse like with canter/slightly more difficult movements? I know with a spooky horse the last thing you want to do is canter, however I find some of the more intelligent/quirky horses get bored with Intro and Prelim because there is so little to keep them occupied mentally therefore they mess around. But make them do a novice where they have to start thinking about what they are doing, and there is more for you to focus on movement wise rather than just keeping them going in one pace - so you both up your game. I rode one horse who was hopeless at Prelim, he just messed around (we used to end up outside of the white boards a lot!) but make him do a Novice and he loved it, giving him far more to focus on and he actually tried really hard. We got much better scores as a result and never looked back.

Just keep trying, go to different venues and do some test riding clinics to get feedback on what is happening once you get into those white boards. And if you have your brave pants on do a Prelim or Novice, see if that focuses your horse's mind a bit more!

It happens to everyone so dont beat yourself up about it, I run DR shows at weekends and have seen all sorts of incredible spooks right the way up to PSG so you are definitely not the only one!
 
kc100 said:
Ditto all other advice....sounds like it may be you tensing up without knowing! Something worth noting too, that if you ever affiliate you are not supposed to be judged by your instructor (BD dont like that!) so its not something you should be trying to get used to.

Have you ever competed somewhere that is not the yard you keep your horse at? Change of scenery might help in this case, I bet you know a lot of the competitors at your current venue if it is your yard so there is pressure of lots of familiar eyes on you, plus your instructor.

Whereas if you go somewhere different where no-one knows you and the judge is an unknown as well, you might find yourself riding differently.

Here's another thought - what is your horse like with canter/slightly more difficult movements? I know with a spooky horse the last thing you want to do is canter, however I find some of the more intelligent/quirky horses get bored with Intro and Prelim because there is so little to keep them occupied mentally therefore they mess around. But make them do a novice where they have to start thinking about what they are doing, and there is more for you to focus on movement wise rather than just keeping them going in one pace - so you both up your game. I rode one horse who was hopeless at Prelim, he just messed around (we used to end up outside of the white boards a lot!) but make him do a Novice and he loved it, giving him far more to focus on and he actually tried really hard. We got much better scores as a result and never looked back.

Just keep trying, go to different venues and do some test riding clinics to get feedback on what is happening once you get into those white boards. And if you have your brave pants on do a Prelim or Novice, see if that focuses your horse's mind a bit more!

It happens to everyone so dont beat yourself up about it, I run DR shows at weekends and have seen all sorts of incredible spooks right the way up to PSG so you are definitely not the only one!
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Thanks for your reply, kc100!

I know my instructor is not meant to judge me and so far out of the 25+ tests i've done, he's only judged 2, so it's not a regular occurrence :)

We have so far, only competed twice away from home. My first ever test, which was pretty bad (think of motorbike/giraffe horse hooning around the arena and you get the idea - but as it was our first ever test i didnt mind so much.) and again about a month ago. It's a fairly spooky venue anyway and i had issues getting her just to concentrate (she get's overwhelmed by all the sights and turns into a giraffe! Comments usually are "hollow"!). Unfortunately i don't have any transport for my horse so can't always get away, although we are hitching a ride to a competition at a different venue this weekend, so will see how that goes!

We have been working a bit in canter. Initially i found that as soon as i did anything in canter, the rest would go to pot and she would get really hollow, strong and rush as soon as we got back to trot, but she is improving. I usually do a bit of canter work to get the 'fresh' out of her, which often helps. We could perhaps have a crack at a prelim, it probably wont go all that well, as her canter is still quite green and she breaks in to trot sometimes. Novice is definitely beyond us at the moment though!
 
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If it helps my boy use to jump over the white boards when he had enough! It was always in canter, he would be going around nicely and ping I don't want to do it anymore. It was embarrassing as I use to go back in and carry on where I left off. Test sheets always use to read "0 left the arena" & "nice test but shame you left the arena"
 
Rebecca88 said:
If it helps my boy use to jump over the white boards when he had enough! It was always in canter, he would be going around nicely and ping I don't want to do it anymore. It was embarrassing as I use to go back in and carry on where I left off. Test sheets always use to read "0 left the arena" & "nice test but shame you left the arena"
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What else are you supposed to do if you don't carry on where you left off? haha. I'm glad my horse hasn't done this one yet... but i'm sure it's only a matter of time :P
 
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