I really really hate show warm ups. They are certainly NOT for the faint of heart. This weekend I went to a show to support a friend. I was not riding, thank god. She was riding in Green reiner......and it seems that especially in "green" anything-it is a recipe for disaster. She was schooling-and she is good, horse is sane-thank god. But in the ring at the same time there were young teens also riding greens. One was being coached-no lie, by at least 3 people. i felt so sorry for the kid, let alone the poor horse. They were better when they started schooling than when they were done. Then there was my pet peeve. A "pro" (I use the term loosely here) schooling a horse for a "green" rider. He was unbelievable. Truly a hazard in the ring, with his running, stopping, spinning and SO rough......even my friends assistant trainer said something, and I guarantee if her trainer was there she would have slapped the guy upside the head. He was yanking, spurring and truly making a spectacle of himself. Everyone was talking about it. Ridiculous.
Then there are always the folks who cannot steer, or pay no attention to the fact that there are 10 other horses in a small area......I just HATE it. I think there should be a separate ribbon for surviving it.....and honestly-reiners are NOT as bad as the "old" days of H/J and the greenies going everywhich way while jumping. Even worse. They should figure something else out just for the safe schooling of the least competent riders. Just so they don't kill each other.:wink:
I will be doing circles in the ring (figure-8's to be specific) and doing my thing. CLEAR AS DAY you can see that there are tracks from where I've been going. I'm still doing figure 8's, out of people's way (or so I think), and yet there are still people who run right into me. I'm usually looking around and making sure that there aren't people doing that but there is always that person. Seriously, its like "Hey! There is someone doing small circles in the arena, lets run straight through her circle while shes doing it!" O.O
It can be a mad house...I'm so lucky that my greenie is a mentally dead broke horse...People warming up for speed is another story, LOL.
Agree the warm up pen is not for the faint of heart or the green rider/horse:shock: 20+ Horses going opposite directions on rail,at different speeds across each others paths & the inside ring is your horses longing.... Yup regular free for all:lol:
I hate being a bother with my horse, but I HAVE to longe her in the arena that she shows in because she is a longeliner. Otherwise I wouldn't need to. But clearly she's a yearling, and I only work her for 2 minutes on the far side and then I'm done. But EVERY trainer (mostly male) seems to make it a point to try and ride as closely as they can to my horse and do their hanky-shanky-panky. Poor Lily just shrinks away, but I wish she would just kick them for once.
Other times the warm up arena is filled with riders longing their horses, and they don't move. And they longe their horses for HOURS it seems. Especially when halter and longeline are in the morning and we're trying to get ready. I've literally been pushed out of a warm-up pen because this trainer kept pushing his horse wider and wider and I was wedged between another longe-r. Argh. So rude.
^That so reminds me of a time when I was showing....Faith and I were in the ring (w/t class...So there were green horses and riders in the ring) and we were asked to jog. So here we are just jogging when suddenly I hear a kid behind me say, "No! Stop it!" I turned around and I realized that this kid couldn't control his horse.
I kid you not that horse's head was on Faith's butt (well, her back). Literally if the horse took one step forward he would have gone to town on Faith...In my mind I just told Faith that if she wanted, she could kick him and she wouldn't have any consequence. But she didn't...Lucky for him. She just kept on jogging like it never even happened.
I feel your pain! We try to arrive early and my husband lunges Acey while I help get Kitten ready. Once it starts getting crowded, we stop. Acey needs around 10-20 minutes at the start of the show day to help her focus on her job (and because she's not used to being cooped up in a stall overnight!). Luckily there are not as many English riders after lunch when Kitten needs saddle time; so Kitten (10) has a bit more room to maneuver. Once the Western riders arrive, it gets WAY to crowded for my taste. It doesn't help that Acey is super protective and will throw a hoof (HorseFu) at any horse that gets too close when Kitten is in her back. *sigh*.
Warm up are the most nerve wracking part of our show day. Posted via Mobile Device
You would think there would be a certain amount of time allotted for a certain number of riders. These time slots would then be broke into segments. How can you truly have a good warm up with such chaos?
We are always told 'ride aggressive'. Not with your horse, but sit tall and ride true. Sometimes it is like playing chicken. Most horses won't crash in to each other (unless it is Duffy!).
We used to have a rider that rode around the normal arena, using school kids as practise for 6-8m circles. Or me when I was teaching!!
A lot of it is psychological too. More experienced riders will 'rider over' less experienced riders and set their nerves off on purpose.
I think it's really funny how barrel racers are dubbed the psychos of the horse industry...Yet I feel safer in their warmup pen than in any reining warmup!
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