Warm-up arena psych out!

P4NN

P4NN

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Have you ever been in a warm up arena and feel like you are being made the target of other riders and their horses?

I competed for the first time in nearly a year after recovering from jaw joint replacements. I entered the warm up which was tiny for the amount of riders in there. (have a feeling there were a few in there grinding their horses into the dirt before their test as there were so many and only 2 test arenas being run)

Anyway I like to start by riding off track in walk for a few minutes to work myself in (I'm a para) and by off the track I mean I'm walking along the 3/4 line so plenty of space to pass. I would say I'm clear in where I'm going and what I'm doing and follow the same warm up routine as I do at home. I'm very strict with myself about school etiquette and have no problems with riding with up to four other horses at a time at home. This particular occasion I felt I couldn't come out of walk and only managed a few metres of trot before I gave up and went in to do my test.

I'm probably being over sensitive but I felt other riders in there were either being completely blinkered to other riders whereabouts, or were doing it as a form of psyching other riders out causing their confidence to dip. Mine certainly did especially when a bloke on a huge horse shouted at me to get out of the way as he came cantering directly at me from behind! . He had just joined the track from the diagonal directly behind me. Now surely if he was following etiquette and was disciplined in his warm up he would have known where he was going and who is where! In my mind he sould have joined the track in front of me, therefore eliminating the need to shout?!

I'm probably completely wrong but I have always been fine in the warm up emotionally and I'm always courteous towards other riders. I have entered another test this coming Friday at oldencraig. I've never been there before ( new venues not normally a problem) and the thought of the warm up is petrifying me!

A friend has suggested, even though my mare is the most well behaved girlie I've ever known I should tie a red ribbon in her tail. This may deter other riders doing what I experienced last time. I'm not sure I want to label my girlie like this but if it works then I will?!

Have you ever experienced this? How did you overcome it?
 
Honestly while it sounds like the other riders were a bit careless and only focussed on themselves it also sounds like you are being oversensitive. You should make a complaint to the show if there are too many people in the warmup for it to be safely utilised but you also need to assert yourself a bit more. Ignorant riders trying to psyche people out only works if you allow them. You can't control the other riders but you can control your reaction to them.

Sadly not everyone is going to adhere to the school rules correctly, it's just a fact of life unfortunately. In your position i would actually do the inital walk work outside of the arena to loosen out and get myself mentally in the zone if the arena is too crowded to do it safely in there. If you have a few quiet safe horses on your yard then get them being ridden with you with the sole intention of crowding you, cutting you up etc and learn to work around it safely yourself and get more comfortable in that scenario.

RE the red ribbon....yes probably not a bad idea. Your mare won't give a toss whether or not she has a "label" and it is a way to "buy" yourself more space in the warmup. Chin up...get yourself out and about more and you'll get used to it again. I have a brilliant coach who once pointed out to me that in the early days with a young horse or with a rider who has been out of action the success is in getting to the show, through the warmup and into the ring. Anything that happens in the ring is a bonus. Perhaps approach Oldencraig with that frame of mind....use it as a schooling session for the practice ring, get yourself warmed up etc and give yourself time to try a few different techniques. Perhaps start without the red ribbon and if people are being sods go back to the box and get one. Assert yourself and when happy with your warmup the test will be a breeze.
 
Amage is mostly right. Once you started to feel unsure then any lack of consideration would have impacted on you more than it might have done otherwise.

Riders do sometimes try to psyc out others in the warm up - especially those they perceive as a threat. And I'm afraid bullies will prey on those they perceive to be weak in every arena - equine or not. But they can only affect you if you let them.

I would suggest though that you think carefully about anything that marks you out as a target - and a red ribbon can do. It might make people stay clear - but if they have no school etiquette it won't matter and it may serve to make more of a target out of you. My daughter was warming up for dressage recently on a fairly sensitive sharp lad. Another rider was holding her dressage whip out at 90 degrees (actually worked well to gain her space - but wouldn't necessarily recommend it - read on...) and my daughter's horse is very whip shy - so she was just staying away. After a while she noticed this other rider seemed to pursue her from one end of the arena to the other. We were just wondering if we were all being completely daft when the rider passed her and actually flicked her horse on the rump. Backfired a bit as horse promptly indulged in spectacular airs above the ground which he can do with considerable panache and at great length. Daughter stayed on but the antics rather startled the rest of the warm up who promptly gave her a decent berth. Daughter got him back and settled and scored well. The rider who struck her didn't. Life has a way of evening things up I find.

Anyway - try to focus on yourself and your horse. Other riders can only upset you if you let them. But if the warm up is too crowded raise the issue with the ring steward.
 
You have to be a bit brutal in a warm up else you can feel pushed out. With showjumping people will hog fences and jump illegal fences, you just have to tell them what for really. Once people get to know you they don't take the piss. I'm never rude or unreasonable but I won't have people taking over the warm up !
 
It happens everywhere - I had someone ride into me in the warm up and said "oh, didn't see you there".
I ride a 17h coloured horse - he is hard to miss!!

But other experiences seem worse than mine, that was my worst. Plus I dont mind as much if someone comes near me, I tend to be on one of the biggest horses anyway. Dressage is definitely the worst place for warm up intimidation - some people just don't care who they ride through!! The ribbon sounds like a good idea, but it might just be ignored.

Funny enough I find eventing warm ups the best, but that is probably due to the amount of space to warm up in.

Don't worry about people cutting you off, just ride on and ignore :)
 
My other half always says "elbows out" i.e. make your own space, not in a nasty way but don't be intimidated as there is definitely some physching out goes on. Quite easy to say not always so easy to do. We put a red ribbon on current horse to try to get him space - not sure it makes much difference but may help. Well done at getting back competing and hopefully you can find places with more space to get your warm up confidence back. Good luck for Friday.
 
I think it tends to be more that people are oblivious and rude. I am terrible and have to really force myself to not spend the whole time trying to get out of everyones way. TBH it isn't the rude ones that bother me you just need to be a bit tougher you have just as much right to the warm up as they do. As long as you are sticking to the "rules" they can get out of your way. If you are cantering up behind someone it isn't up to them to get out of your way. What really winds me up is the "Crazies" I know all horses can have there moments, but if you really can't control your horse don't go to a show. Galloping round the warmup is not good for anyone.
 
You're too nice ;). You have to be more bossy! Courteous of course but don't let anyone intimidate you. You have as much right to be there as them, you're test is just as important. Chin up, kick on, ignore what everyone else is doing and when you get worried think of me screaming 'upright!!' As I'm flying round red faced, ginger beans legs flying everywhere as I attempt to jump a practice fence hogged by 10 snooty trainers over here :p.
Don't let the b****** keep you down, everyone for themselves out there. I wouldn't use the ribbon, pannys too nice for a ribbon. It's a bit like driving, being assertive helps everyone else know where your going anyway.
Proud of you, good luck at the next one xxx
 
Thank you all for your supportive comments! Makes me feel a lot happier.

I'm definitely not going to use a ribbon but instead it has been suggested to me by a fellow para rider and the idea backed up by my trainer to use my hiviz vest that I have for hacking.... It has 'disabled rider' printed on the back. Maybe that will help my confidence too.

Will definitely be thinking of you firewell lol!
 
Bumping this, some nice advice here. I suffer from being " too nice" and the comment made about being assertive like when you are driving a car, was really helpful :)
 
I've recently started competing at a large competition centre and each time I go I find the warm up arena very intimidating. There are always a few riders who are very gung ho, and canter round h£ll for leather, totally monopolising the arena. There's me, like a little mouse, going stop start stop start, apologising and basically playing dodgems. I hate it ! If just feels like some people are so inconsiderate. I'm sure they all laugh at me on my little cob. But it's ok, as I regularly beat them !!
 
Nightmare before Christmas said:
You have to be a bit brutal in a warm up else you can feel pushed out. With showjumping people will hog fences and jump illegal fences, you just have to tell them what for really. Once people get to know you they don't take the piss. I'm never rude or unreasonable but I won't have people taking over the warm up !
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This. You always get a few nasty, selfish people in the warm-up who think they are wonderful and that they own the ring. I just ignore them and carry on with my warm-up even if that gets in the way of them being idiots and not following the basic rules. Never personally had issues in dressage warm-ups (never done BD though so maybe that's worse?) but BS is awful, I normally end up shouting at the grooms a lot who waltz in front of fences on your approach etc. BE is never an issues as its always a nice big field warm-up ;) I generally find that those who are horrid in warm-ups usually dont do well ;)
 
slightly off topic (apologies), but just out of interest, does anyone else find that the majority of people nowadays completely ignore tail ribbons?

maybe it's just me...
 
I hate warm ups , because my first good horse did not like them sadly I infect all my own horses with this .
I cure it by staying at home .
Op you just have to be brave make a plan and stick to it .
I always tried to find somewhere to walk at first that was not the warm up like round the car park then go I to the warm up ready to get on and trot and canter .
 
My pony couldn't care less about warm ups, but I have a horse shy TB who, while fine in groups does not like it when horses come up close behind him. A few events I go to, have smaller warm up areas, so I lunge him to give him a warm up before attempting the warm up arena. That way he is not as sharp and also, it doesn't really matter if he doesn't get an amazing warm up, as he is already warmed up to a certain extent.
If someone is repeatedly being an ignorant muppet, and riding up his backside I have no problems asking them to please keep more of an eye out for me... Should they continue, I will raise my voice and assertively remind them quite loudly to cease riding like a (w)anker and watch out for other people's horses.
Luckily, the eventing community over here is very small and I have only ever had problems with riders that are new to EA events. Everyone is pretty familiar with each others horses so it does tend to run quite smoothly.

My way of looking at it is, you have paid your entry fee same as everyone else. You have just as much of a right to warm up as everyone else, regardless of whether that person is Joe Bloggs from down the road, or Carl Hester himself and if some muppet is being a rude and inconsiderate twit then you are well within your rights to remind them that the world does not revolve around them. They may be blissfully unaware that they are causing you issues... Or you may encourage other riders they affect to call them out too.

I mean this in the nicest possible way... Put on your big girl pants and get a little bit more assertive. I don't mean be nasty, be polite and curteous but call muppets out on rude inconsiderate behaviour. :) You have every right to. x
 
blood_magik said:
slightly off topic (apologies), but just out of interest, does anyone else find that the majority of people nowadays completely ignore tail ribbons?

maybe it's just me...
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a lot of folks don't know what they mean!!!!

OP - know exactly how you feel! I find Sj warm-ups the worst for bad manners, cutting in and generally those with 'trainers' on the floor who just walk in front on you as you are about the jump the fence. However, SJ is my achilles heel so I feel less confident and less likely to ride like I own the school. Whereas in dressage or XC warm-ups, I am a lot happier.

I do find that some folks get so focused on their horse in the dressage warm-up, that they just don't look ahead and adjust what they are doing in keeping with others in the warm-up. The only warm-up that I have found folks actively trying to upset folks was a showing show warm-up years ago but that was just once and plain nasty and glad to say didn't work on my horse at that time. I probably wasn't a known face at that show and my horse was going well so IMO someone tried to 'buzz' me several times to see if it would upset my horse
 
Some people are just rude and ignorant but unlikely to be out to get you. SJ are the worst as you are all fighting for the warm up fence but dressage can be a nightmare as everyone is looking down!! Just concentrate on your own warm up routine and stick to it. Be polite but confident in your own ability - you have as much right as anyone to be there! And if anyone is rude, park it. You don't want to waste time worrying about them. You are there because you want to be. Enjoy your warm-up and competition. It's your day out.
 
blood_magik said:
slightly off topic (apologies), but just out of interest, does anyone else find that the majority of people nowadays completely ignore tail ribbons?

maybe it's just me...
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It's not just you. Mine wears a red ribbon for a reason, I have to be very careful especially in sj warmups. Last time, people were getting closer and closer despite me telling a few people to give us a bit more room. One of them ended up running up his bum (totally unnecessarily, i might add, they just weren't looking where they were going) and he showed them his heels.
He's not aggressive, just defensive of his space, so he didn't actually lash out. Hitching his bum up was enough to make everyone gives us some space after that :D

I should add that I take him out of the warmup if it's too crowded, as don't want to risk it.
 
smja said:
It's not just you. Mine wears a red ribbon for a reason, I have to be very careful especially in sj warmups...

...I should add that I take him out of the warmup if it's too crowded, as don't want to risk it.
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both of mine wear red ribbons for the same reason as yours and the number of people who ignored them at the weekend was astounding. L got himself so worked up that I ended up abandoning my warm-up and going straight into the ring (don't get me started on the people who should have had red ribbons in their horse's tail but didn't! 😤).
 
If the warm up area is too crowded then complain to the venue as it is potentially dangerous - with too many horses in there if someone came off it could be carnage!

At the shows I've helped out at in the past there has been a number and time limit on the warm up area - so only the say next 4 competitors allowed in and only allowed in x amount of time before the class (or rider) is due to start. I've noticed more and more though that there is no steward on warm up areas.

As for rude people - don't be too shy to say something. I'd have told the guy shouting from behind that I didn't have eyes in the back of my head!
 
Ah, warm up areas! I'm longing to get out to compete but Mr B is very nervous of horses coming towards him, fine with horses behind. I've worked him in with other horses and he can cope but I'm still really worried that I'll pass my nerves on to him. My old horse was exactly the opposite, if someone came too close, he'd pull a horrible face at them!!
 
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