If you’ve read any of my blogs in the past I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I used to work at a show barn. I dealt with the small/local shows and it was a really good experience, but also one of the most unpleasant times in my life. Being someone who had never shown before, it was exciting to get a taste of the show life and get a feel for how everything was organized. While working a show was awesome, being able to support the kids, get their horses ready and the other responsibilities that came along with it, it is ridiculously different to being in a show!
I had my first show over this past weekend. Everyone can (and will) give you advice and tell you this is how it’s going to be, this is what happens, but you don’t really know anything until you’ve been through it yourself. Getting there Friday afternoon and schooling was probably the most terrified I’d been in a long time. It’s a new environment with all these new sounds, smells, sights and strange horses walking around, I had no idea what to expect from my horse. But, she did awesome! We had a great schooling day, she didn’t spook at anything and was near perfect! I was super happy (and impressed), and it got me pretty confident going into the next day.
Saturday morning. I didn’t have my first test until 1:30, so I had a ton of down time. I got to watch the other competitors at higher levels do their thing and got a feel for the “show day atmosphere.” I got to watch people from our own barn compete (they were fabulous). About 20 minutes before I’m supposed to ride, it was time to warm up a little bit! Again, my horse was perfect and she was like in the zone. I was not. As the time got closer and closer, my nerves kept creeping up on me. I literally thought I was going to pee myself (I also hadn’t gone pee before I got on the horse so it was a possibility that I could’ve). I was so nervous going into the show ring and going down center line. Of course, you get to warm up in the ring before your test starts (not enough room around), and we had some trouble around the judges. As the test started, we were slow in the trot which made our canter non-existent, in both circles! After the test I was so sad! But after I was reminded that my horse didn’t spook, I didn’t fall off, and even though we didn’t have the right gaits, we still performed the whole test! My second test I was a little more at ease about (although you couldn’t tell by the way I was sweating). In this test, we did canter! However, on the wrong lead; but we fixed it immediately. I scored all 6’s except in the canter circle which we had problems with in the first test and was still slightly a problem in the second. Overall, she did much better in the second test and it was pretty good for my first time EVER!
With that, here’s a few things I learned about showing that no one tells you..
- On schooling day, stay until the end, there’s usually a dinner provided.
- You DON’T have to wear you show clothes the whole day
- If you do wear your show clothes, wear a t-shirt and sweats over so you don’t get them dirty
- You do not have to warm up 30 minutes before you go, 15 minutes will be fine!
- Don’t eat right before you get on your horse to do your test, you’ll feel awful!
- Pee before you get on your horse, you’re wearing white pants, that isn’t going to look good!
- Watch your fellow riders and cheer them on! SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT!
- It’s ok to mess up!
- If your horse didn’t throw you off or spook too much to be a danger, you did good!
- Don’t cluck to you horse in front of the judges!
- If you’ve started your test and your horse spooks, don’t exit the ring or you’ll be disqualified!
- Don’t forget to thank your groom!
