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Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on April 23, 2009 at 11:48am

Welcome! I hope he listens this time! Where and what are you showing? Don't worry, most people are nervous before they compete. Will you have friends or your instructor there with you? Post photos! :)

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Permalink Reply by Amy on April 28, 2009 at 3:55pm

Good luck in your show! As exciting as it is to want to win, try setting a personal goal for yourself. If your heels normally come up and your toes point out, focus on that! If your horse cuts the corners, focus on riding him deeper into the corners. You get the idea :) Try your best but don't think of it as a competition. Focus on your personal goal and before you realize, everything starts falling into place. Win or lose, you'll come out feeling successful!

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Permalink Reply by Amy Allan on May 20, 2009 at 6:01am

its ok. im preetty new to dressage to, ive only done a few tests.
once your in the arena relax, in the world cup level u get horses freak out and dont listen. If its your first test you should just be doing prep or prelim, these tests are basic and have nothing complicated in them. Just make sure you know the test well, back to front and upside down. Draw it, stare at it, image it. Make sure youre ready. Watch others doing the tests and it will help. also make sure you know your letters

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Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on May 20, 2009 at 4:32pm

Hi, Kess:

Good for you! Don't worry so much, as Amy says, things happen to international riders all the time, so just accept that you may have to deal with issues during your test too.

I think that at this point you should focus on the test pattern and relaxation for both yourself and your horse. Learning to ride tests in competition is a different job from learning to ride, so be kind to yourself and your horse. Remember that a test is just that, a test. It's a test of your schooling, and the purpose of riding the test is to give you positive feedback where it's warranted, and help you to see what you need to work on. It is NOT an evaluation of you, the person, or of your horse as himself. It is only an evaluation of what happens during those five minutes in time wherein you ride the test. Test results do not make you a good or bad person, or your horse a good or bad horse - they are a snapshot only, and sometimes they're not even a very accurate snapshot.

Try to set a reasonable goal for yourself for this competition - perhaps it's that you're going to get your diagonals right, or you're going to remember to balance your horse in corners, or ride really correct and round circles. Evaluate your performance and your horse's against that goal, and take your test results with a grain of salt - good or bad!!

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Permalink Reply by Megan McIsaac on May 30, 2009 at 11:23am

Hello! I am new to Barnmice too! Good luck at your competition. Remember to have fun and so what if you go off course or your horse doesn't listen to you at times- you will have something to laugh about later and almost everyone have been in your shoes before. Don't worry it will get easier!

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Permalink Reply by Puzzle on July 1, 2009 at 8:58am

I try to ONLY concentrate on what I am doing when competing and it helps a lot to ignore the horse - as far as possible of course!

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Permalink Reply by Carey Sages Mackin on July 1, 2009 at 9:38am

Hi Kess

New to barnmice and maneuvering here but know about being nervous. All I can say is "who cares what anyone thinks". Just breathe and think about having fun and not what your horse MAY do wrong. Visualize you and your horse doing the test beautifully and perfectly like a pro. Feel him going smoothly in your mind and waltzing cleanly through your test. I don't even like calling it a test. A routine is better, less intimidating. We were trained as children to cringe at "tests" in school, so maybe using another word is better to evoke a more positive feeling.
Enjoy yourself and just breathe! It's supposed to be fun!

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