warm up arenas . are they always mad

[debsflo]

local venue putting on combined training so some people just doing dressage,some just sj and others doing both .very busy and warm up area has practice jumps.everyone bombing around in different directions and no room to practice test and to me seemed very stressful and at times potentially dangerous. oare all warm up arenas chaotic or do some have a sense of order.the jumps were meant to be taken from a certain direction ie red on right but no one was.our horse gets very upset with people cantering near her so we stuck to dressage and kept out the way but its a bit frustrating

 

[katie_and_toto]

Yes, it's annoying when people ignore the 'left to left' rule and you nearly have collisions

 

[monkeybum13]

Dressage today was hectic
Unaff sj is the worst - no one seems to follow left hand to left hand, red wing on right etc

 

[Cliqmo]

Sadly when it's busy at our local venues everyone always seems to want to crowd in to the arena anyway

It's really annoying when you see the same person 'warming up' for over an hour

 

[bushbaby28]

not always.... I always hope for a quiet day lol as mine is so distracted in the warm up if theres more than 2 people in there and he hates having horses pass him. Find it really frustrating.

 

[sherbet]

Its a shame there is not a ribbon you could put in tail like for hunting etc to say give me a wide berth please. Or its our first warm up please excuse us!!

 

[Jo_x]

[ QUOTE ]
It's really annoying when you see the same person 'warming up' for over an hour

[/ QUOTE ]

Quite a lot of horses need this long a warmup for them to settle though

It is really annoying when people cut in front of you though, especially when you are heading towards a jump!

I have never been in a warmup arena with enough space to run through a dressage test.. there just isnt enough room for everyone to do this, and having to move in and out of other people makes a set pattern impossible.

 

[Mabel98]

I always think that the warm up is a real test for young horses. If they can cope with the mayhem, they can cope with anything. Weekday events and affiliated seem to be less chaotic though

 

[LMuirEDT]

I think it depends on venue and discipline. Altho I did go to a recent dressage comp and the warm up for the first class was hell. An hour later before 2nd class the warm up was empty... just luck of the draw.

 

[Sol]

I had a lovely argument with some old guy who was posing as 'trainer' (didn't seem to have a clue tbh) at a hunter trials once, who repeatedly had a young girl on a pony jumping the practice fences the wrong way. He then yelled at ME for jumping (or attempting to jump) them the RIGHT way, so I rather loudly pointed out while still warming up that RED = RIGHT therefore I was actually correct

I don't think he was impressed, but did shut up and everyone got on with jumping it the right way.

One of the other things that annoys me is when people randomly slam the brakes on or move diagonally into your path without warning. Even if you're a good distance away, someone moving or stopping their horse suddenly can make your plans to move around them a little tricky! I always check behind me as well as infront/to the sides before slowing down or just moving in general!

I have yet to come across a nice place to warm up :/

 

[SonnysHumanSlave]

Ohhhhh I didn't know about ther red is right thing!!

Wonder how many times I've been oblivious to that!

 

[charlimouse]

I once got somebody eliminated at a unaffilliated JAS competition which was being run under BE rules. There was tape on the jump wings to show how high the warm up fences could go (ie 5cm higher than the class). 1 woman had her helper put the fence up to about 4ft (class was 85cm), every time she knocked the fence down, so hogged the fence and kept coming for ages. I asked the helper to put the fence down, and pointed out the rule about height of the fence. At this point the rider came over hurling abuse at me that her horse needed to jump big, otherwise it would knock all the fences down in the arena, to which I made the point the horse was knocking down the 4ft fence so her plan obviously wasn't working. I then had to go in and jump my round (without any warm up fences!) and mentioned to the steward on the way in about the rude lady jumping an oversized fence. When I came out (after a clear round inside the time!) I saw the steward attempting to talk to the rider. The rider started abusing the steward, at which point the steward ordered her off the competition venue, and banned her from all future events (this is a large yard that runs BE, BSJA (sorry BS!), BD, Showing, unaffilliated, and alot of training days)!!!!! I have seen this woman a few times since at competitions and she always evils me, but it's fine she is generally eliminated!

 

[ester]

well done charlimouse, I hate it when that is happening as it makes it very awkward for those with no assistance.

 

[Charmaine18]

This summer will be my first show season with my own pony to compete on.

I'm far more nervous about riding in the warmup arena than about the jumping or anything! I hate riding in busy, crowded places anyway, it will be hell for me. Worth it though, going to a show with my own pony has been my dream all my life.

 

[china]

i reallu dislike small warm up, where i work has just had a new arena built and its a very good size but they are using the smaller arena to warm up, i did dressage yesterday and really struggled to warm up in there when it was busy, my boy hates whips so every horse that went past him he jumped out of the way just incase he got tickled with a whip and he was worried about being kicked. today there was seniers bsja and it was manic, when you have 20 odd horses cantering around and jumping 1.10 warm up fences they were prety much jumping on eachother! anyone who lives around gloucestershir area who knows rockhampton, no that is a horrid warm up!!

 

[ForeverBroke_]

My number 1 pet peeve is when you're standing quickly for either a halt/ transition of some sort/ let people pass/ or to change your girth etc. I leave the track free but stand more or less on it still, so as not to disturb people circling etc.

Most sensible thing would still be to go around or avoid rather than squeeze past my inside, and yet people still do?!?! Quite often they'll either bang into the fence or kick my stirrup.

Where on earth can I stand out of the way without getting rammed into , besides out of the arena?!

 

[nikkinoo]

they are a nightmare and my horse is terrified of others, I am thinking of maybe putting a red ribbon on her tail to keep people away from me.

One arena all the spectators (children running about and dogs barking) stand down the long side of the arena watching the class, often people are sitting on thier horses, they are on the track so you cant pass between the jump and the fence and you have kids riding ponies around in there all day its chaos and a major accident waiting to happen.

another place I go say no more than 4 in warm up arena at any one time, think that is good, as there is plenty of room for you to keep your horse walking around after warm up and you shouldnt need to jump a practise fence a hundred times, its there for a warm up not to teach your horse to jump.