Participating vs Competing

[Chestnut24]

Okay so I am doing the regular show prep of organizing my stuff etc. for a competition this weekend, we will do 80 and 90 cm jumpers. My horse and I are well prepared, have been doing everything in training up to 100 cm, he has enough scope for the job and more, and yet… I more or less hope not to bomb.

In other aspects of life, I am definitely up for competition, and expect to win (or at least try to) but at horse shows? Not really, I just hope to survive and be reasonably good. Does anyone else have this? How do you turn your mind into competitor mode, or are you just there to be part of it all?

[GraceLikeRain]

I think participating is such a healthy mindset at a horse show. A lot of horses would be more relaxed if their rider had that mindset.

[Lost_Shoe]

I observe that the majority of riders are there to participate (and improve and grow as riders and train/improve their horse and their partnership with their horse) and not necessarily to win.

[Farosh]

Agree and you’d be surprised how many times a well planned, quiet clear round can be first place. Or top ribbons.

[paw]

Especially if this is your first time, don’t worry about winning. It may happen, it may not. Sometimes the ride that wins is so scary that people watching are gasping - don’t let that be you. Just go have a good time.

[Mouse_amp_Bay]

@Farosh

Agree and you’d be surprised how many times a well planned, quiet clear round can be first place. Or top ribbons.

This. x100

I am a competitor. I like to win. BUT - best way to do that is to keep a calm, cool and collected approach. It’s just another horse show. I’m not going to the Olympics. I’m not at the Olympics … with the gratitude mindset that my job, my career, my professional designations and thus my living is not - in any way shape or from - reliant on whether I get a 1, 8 or nothing in this class.

The benefits of being an amateur.

With that mindset, when it stays as it should, I focus on doing the best training round for my horse. Yes, it’s a horse show … but I’m there to develop our skills as a team, our relationship and to have fun. So we may try the occasional inside turn as instructed by our coach, or a more direct line or whatever is suggested as being a stretch goal for us … but the main focus is forward, straight, calm cool and collected … because a smooth efficient round is a quality round - and quality rounds win!

And pardon side vent but oh my oh my … the galloping around like yahoos with the coach yelling to go faster really gets my gears … reckless. Dangerous. I wish stewards would go over and have a quiet word with some of these “instructors” to encourage better riding, quality riding - maybe moving to more optimum time classes when under 90 cm is the way to do it but a bit more (tactful) intervention would be appreciated.

[findeight]

S/He who wishes to finish first must first finish.

Op needs to concentrate on riding a very well planned track, good position and managing her strides, not a ribbon. In time you will learn that if you master those three things, you will win in the long term and you win more than a ribbon.

My trainer sometimes asked me to do a timed Low Jumper round at a small show on my Adult Hunter mare as a demo to prove a point. I just planned and rode the best track usually shaving 5 seconds off the run and gun times at an average Hunter pace on the shortest line between the fences. I chopped many steps off that course with inside turns, shortened approaches and slicing a few. Even added a stride in a combo to set up a roll back turn sacrificing an added stride to eliminate 10 strides to get around to the next fence. All things that are impossible at a dead run. Trainer made her point.

Get the win thought out of your mind for now, just try to be the best rider following the best track and the rest will happen on its own. Your horse will thank you too…dealing with your tension adds to their job and they do not care about where they pin, they do care about enjoying their job and pleasing you when you are clear and consistent in your riding, show or at home. Which is not easy BTW.

[NoSuchPerson]

I never expect to win.

My horse show goals are:

1. Don’t fall off.

2. Don’t make stupid mistakes.

3. Don’t freak out when I make stupid mistakes.

Sometimes I win, too, but that’s entirely incidental to achieving those goals.

[poltroon]

My mantra is,“Be the smoothest, most elegant, best last place entry you can be.”

It would be a good day if I had a good round and everyone else is even better.

[JenEM]

I used to do this too. Mainly to get that First Fence Chip out of the way somewhere it didn’t matter, but also to just get me relaxed and thinking forward. Trainer just said “ride it like an eq trip”, and while we usually didn’t win, we’d end up 3/4/5 that way without even trying to be fast.

Lower jumpers especially, there’s a lot of run and gun riding that can be beaten with a thoughtful, planned trip. Be happy meeting that as the goal, not the ribbon color, and have fun

[greysfordays]

Lots of really good advice here. I think my best rounds are the ones where I am most in a “flow” state. For me, the biggest detractor of that is fear. I’m usually not afraid of the jumps but I am sometimes worried about mistakes or making my trainer look bad, etc.

The best way to dislodge the fear (there is apparently some science to this) is to connect to the gratitude side of your brain. When I walk into a ring, I mentally thank my horse for getting me to this point, I thank myself for having a job that allows me to do this, I think gratefully on my trainers who work really hard to get me to the ring feeling confident, etc. And I remind myself I do this for fun. All that usually helps me to slow down and clear any lingering doubts as I count my strides to the first jump.

And what everyone else says is true. My goal is to have a round that I’m proud of from start to finish, if I make a mistake, I want to recover well and be a good partner for my horse. My classes have 40+ people in them, I’m there for the pictures, who am I kidding!

[Madison]

@Chestnut24

How do you turn your mind into competitor mode, or are you just there to be part of it all?

My version of “competitor mode” is to try to be better than I was the last time I showed. I can’t control how that compares to anyone else in the class, or what anyone else does, so I don’t worry about “winning,” but improving on my own rounds is one thing that is in my control so I focus on that. If you have a great round for you and your horse, and still don’t place, you should still come away satisfied with the progress!

[findeight]

You have to train your brain that you are not competing against others, you are competing against yourself. Each time you jump a course, anywhere, it needs to be better than the last course you jumped.

If you hear that a rail coming down behind you, don’t think “Oh sh*t I won’t get a ribbon” think “why did that happen and how can I fix it before the next fence”. If you get time faults stop after you get out of the gate, turn around looking at the course and say “where could I have saved time’ not “dammit we were too slow again”.

You also need to acknowledge to yourself what was good about that round, what you liked regardless of where you pinned or not. Were you better than your last round? Did you really nail that single oxer? Was that scary combo just there when you came off the corner? Thats when you win.

You might find a Sports Psychology book helpful or a therapist as well as look into granting yourself grace and gratitude journaling. We are too hard on ourselves and lack self compassion. Look into that.