I agree by all means ask. I would not think ill of someone who asks. But then accept it if the answer is no.
I reassured them my horse would be fine and he was. There were zero issues. In fact it was clear the stallion rather liked him.
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The point is that in shows you may have to assert yourself from time to time.
Especially in the warm up ring.
Or when there’s a Fresian stallion behind you.
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Regarding the stallion issue my former BM would always write STALLION END STALL W SOLID WALLS PLEASE.
Shows used to stallions accommodated.
Others would put him in the middle of a barn aisle with wire half walls surrounded by mares. It was usually the mare owners who would complain.
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[quote=“SillyHorse, post:69, topic:772220”]
Why do people think stallions all need special accommodations? Don’t they put manners on their horses?
[/quote] I bought a stallion 8 years ago and was blessed to get one with good manners. BUT he also LOVES company so would have been thrilled to have a gelding behind him - solid wall not necessary. He is also good enough to share common fence lines. So long as its not a girl, lol.
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If we are morphing into trainer issues, I had a pro come up to me at a show where I was longeing my gray Arab way far away from the show rings, on the other side of the trailer parking. It was possible to see what was going on in the rings, but still, pretty far away. Her gripe? Her client’s horse had a good buddy at home who was gray, horse allegedly saw my horse, thought it was his buddy, and it messed up his test, allegedly.
I was kinda new to the dressage thing, so I had the stunned into silence reaction. I didn’t let it ruin my day, but still a head scratcher. Was I supposed to know this in advance somehow and dye my horse black???
People are weird…
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We went to our assigned stall and there was somebody else’s horse in it! The guy said, snottily, “Oh, I was hoping you wouldn’t show up,” and very grumpily vacated our stall.
He wasn’t a BNT, but a very well-known amateur.
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LOL the noive of some people! (As Bugs would say)
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I would have said, “Yeah, likewise”.
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Why do they even run through the entire test? Pieces I understand but gosh I don’t want my horse anticipating that test - unless it’s an ocd mare that needs to know her test or she gets pissed - still done at home!
Sorry you went through that!
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People are weird. There’s another owner at my barn who has decided her 17hh ID-heavy draft cross must have been traumatized by a Highland pony at some point in his life, because he (sometimes) plays up when he happens to be on a trail ride or sharing the arena with my Highland. My horse never pulls a face at him and completely minds his own business. I mean, maybe?
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since Highland ponies are a dime a dozen all over the world, right.
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There are more of them in Scotland, where we live, than anywhere else, but they are still pretty rare!
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Whatever happened to doing your homework at home and showing up to a horse show ready to warm up and compete?
If you can’t possibly compete without running through your test in it’s entirety beforehand with nobody else in the ring, well, maybe you should’ve done that at home a few more times instead.
If your horse is so green and/or fractious that it can’t handle schooling with a few other horses, perhaps it’s not quite ready to show yet.
Good lord, people. Showing your horse is neither mandatory nor a universal right … if your students can’t turn in a respectable performance without you monopolizing the ring and preventing others from exercising their horse, maybe they’re not ready to show yet.
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Last year I went to the Pinto World Championship show for fun and they had dressage.
They had a timed practice in the ring with 2 hours for dressage and 2 hours for western dressage. This is not a show where dressage is a main focus for basically anyone. But, us regular dressage people went in and around each other at the same time and did the general bits to get the horse used to the arena.
In and out around 20~ minutes.
When I went back with my friend for Western Dressage, trainers had taken over the ring and running their riders through the whole test. The line of riders waiting was outrageous. Luckily, my friend was a seasoned show person so she managed to sneak in a ride the few tricky parts.
In and out in 10~ minutes the wait time.
It was absolutely crazy to me.
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THIS, exactly.
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I’ve NEVER heard of such a thing, is this really becoming the norm??? Yikes if so. Is the facility where the schooling show being held the trainer’s “home base”. I could understand, but NOT agree with, the territorial behavior if so. If not, that’s just unbelievably rude. I’m sure enough time has gone by now, did you speak to show management about it, and if so, how did they handle it?
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I have to admit I saw the title to this thread, and thought, “What fools would keep hogs in their arena? Don’t they know that hogs love to root, and they will destroy the footing?”
Former hog farmer here. 
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I agree with the last paragraph in your post, but feel the need to comment on the second paragraph.
I don’t have a regulation dressage ring at my home barn. My instructor does, but it’s outdoors and if it rains, we are out of luck for practicing. I moved up to First this year. Had a couple of lessons before the first show but it has been rainy here so we couldn’t go outside until the week before the show. Ran through 1-1 once. Had a lesson the day before the show at instructor’s place, of course it had rained all day so no ring practice. The original plan was to run through the test at the showgrounds the night before my class but the picture below shows how much it rained that night! So when I rode my test Saturday and Sunday it was the 2nd and 3rd time I had ever ridden the test from start to finish.
If it hadn’t rained so much, I would have for sure been out in the rings at the showgrounds to get a few more run throughs of the test.
Luckily 1) my horse kinda shrugged his shoulders and said “just tell me where to go” and 2) all I needed was 2 scores to qualify for Arabian Sport Horse Nationals from 2 judges. Does not matter what scores are, just need 2. We weren’t spectacular but we got it done. Whew!
However, neither my instructor or I would ever dream of tying up the rings for 45 minutes. Bad sportsmanship!
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