Show Stories- The good, the bad, and the ugly

[Texarkana]

I was at a derby cross event with my mare: you know, a combination of the SJ and XC phases of eventing.

We were getting ready to enter the ring for our round when “LOOSE HORSE” came over the speaker. I looked around to see the loose horse barreling right for us.

My mare used to have an erratic bolt in her. So at this point a stream of expletives is going through my head as I tried to figure the best course of action, knowing there was a good chance she would try to join the loose horse. Jump off? Stay on? Try to run away from the loose horse? Stay still? I took a page from my racehorse days and put her butt to the rail of the arena and stood turned out. Miraculously, she didn’t bat an eye as the horse whizzed past us uncomfortably close.

I thought it was crisis averted. Of course, I was on deck and didn’t have much time to get my heart rate down before heading on course myself.

We got out on the XC portion of the course and she was not herself. She was sucking back at every fence. The loose horse incident was still on my mind.

We came to a little table. She tried to stop. I went to the stick. She jumped it like a deer, but caught her toe on the lip of the table. The table wasn’t anchored and flipped over, getting caught between her legs. She kind of crow hopped around as she tried to kick it away. I lost my seat. As I was falling I realized my foot was hung in the stirrup. I was frantically trying to kick it free, mentally preparing myself for getting drug. My foot came free, but I landed on my head. Thank goodness for helmets. All while hearing “LOOSE HORSE” for the second time in the span of maybe 5 minutes as my horse took off erratically back to the trailers. Luckily she stopped when she saw my friend who she recognized.

That was not a good day.

[sweetsalute]

My first ever show, at the age of 15 (and mare’s first ever show). Very windy day, we trot down the centreline, almost get to C, and half the arena surrounds blows over. Poor horse jumped almost out of the arena, decided it was maybe not going to kill her and we proceeded to get a reasonably respectable score for a first time!

More recently, we went to a fun day to try out Working Equitation (if you’re unfamiliar, from my limited knowledge, think obstacle courses for horses!). Riding same above horse, who these days is quite unflappable and actually really enjoyed it all. Anyway, we are doing an obstacle that invloved holding a very long stick…my horse is totally ok with it all. Go to hand the stick to another rider…I drop it, her horse freaks out to the point where she feels the need to jump off and I’m left feeling exceptionally embarrassed that I caused such an issue! Other horse took a long time to go anywhere near the stick after that

Another, I was 16, at a casual schooling show with a few middle aged ladies from my barn. One asks if I would mind just hopping on and walking her mare around in the trailer area just to get her moving. Ok, no problemo, horse is a lovely soul. Show organiser comes up to me and proceeds to yell her head off…apparently rules don’t allow such things! Fair enough if it’s against the rules…but as a grown woman, screaming at a teenager in public when a simple “hey, you may not be aware that’s actually not allowed” would have sufficed. I should note I had other organisers apologise to me for her behaviour.

Same woman a year later at a jump training day, where my horse was having a bad day and did.not.want.to.jump, proclaimed loudly to everyone “gosh how DANGEROUS that rider is” (horse simply politely ducked out at jumps), her daughter then proceeded to literally crash through every single jump.

Yes…that woman had a reputation and still does to this day!

[endlessclimb]

Was at an eventing derby with my late mare, who was a fire breathing dragon to the fences. The course was super fun and she was attacking everything I pointed her at.

We came off the little hill they had, and there was a jump at the bottom. Me, being so proud of myself that she and I had successfully navigated it at a reasonable speed and not at Mach 1, for a fleeting second I forgot which fence I was going to next.

Mare says “no problem, I’ll pick one”.

She locked on to the fence that was straight ahead, about 10 strides out. At that moment I realized that the correct next fence was the one at a 45degree angle to the right, also about 10 strides out. Mare was NOT HAVING IT and stayed locked onto the fence in front of her. A pulling matched ensued, where she was telling me to stuff it, THIS fence, the one she had her eye on, was next. Three strides up, I surrendered the fight, softened, and we jumped the (wrong) fence beautifully.

The announcer saw exactly what happened and was choking back laughter as I was eliminated.

If that wouldn’t have happened, we likely would have come in 3rd. On some days, I miss that mare.

[Bluey]

Our riding center was taking some horses to a three day event in two days, common in Europe decades ago.
Some of those were new horses being tested we had been riding a short time, so you never knew what would happen.
I didn’t have a horse there, was along to help.
Normally another fellow and I got the very green ones and the lighter, more nervous, flighty older horses.
This other tall, hefty rider tended to get the big, heavier set horses that take an acre to turn.
He was assigned to ride a new big part draft horse imported from Hungary, I think, very pretty light sorrel with big bald face and four stockings, handsome beast, to compete with.

We get to the event and that rider gets a stomach bug and is very ill, so the trainer tells me I get to ride Handsome, all of 4’11" and 98 lbs of me.
I am so happy to get a ride, never give it a thought I have never ridden Handsome and, other than a few jumps in our outside course at the center, no one else has.

All goes well in dressage, roads and tracks and steeplechase, just hang on, horse is lovely, if no speed demon, seems to have just one gear up to now and has a steady temperament, just does his job, not looking around, just stay out of his way.
Then we start cross country jumping and here we go, he decides how to go and what distances and is ignoring me, doesn’t even complain when I am trying to rate him, just keeps on going his own way.
The whole ride I only had moments where I was in charge, in one place we had to slide down a small bank into a water crossing and the ones on top told me they were laughing as he never even slowed down and looked as other horses had done, just keep on going like a cartoon character over a cliff.
I had learned a few jumps previously to just let him go, but while fun right then, it was kind of unnerving remembering that ride.
Sure, I could have stopped him any time, but that was not the game plan and, well, he was safe anyway, just needed a passenger telling him where to next.

In those old days, as professionals, we only rode hors concurs, so our placings didn’t matter.
Our trainer was impressed with the horse and he sold right away, what a wonderful horse that was.

[quietann]

A test that did not go that well:

EEK! Dressage letters on their sides are NOT OK. Nor is the judge being in a TRAILER!

Yes, unbraided as well. She spazzed out about 2 minutes before our turn, and her running braid went poof.

Obligatory apologies for poor bridle fit…

[LawsofMurph]

Last year, my guy and I were getting into our first “real” show season. Went to an overnight schooling show at 1st Level. Warmed up great on Friday night. Had absolutely zero problems.

The next day, our first test was not going great. It was tense and unpleasant but we were at least getting through it… until we had to canter.

Horse decided ABSOLUTELY NOT and planted himself in a dead stop. Embarrassed, but undeterred, I gave him a nudge to move on. Nope.
Gave a little spur. Nope.
Popped with the whip. Nope.

Trainer abandons plan and calls to me to get him moving with all the good trainer advice. And we did start moving.
BACKWARDS.

We went back and forth several lengths of the arena all in reverse. I’m literally crying in the ring because the embarrassment and frustration was so overwhelming I wanted to slink of the horse and never ride again.

I gave up and signaled to the judge I was done. I thought my nightmare was over until the judge asked my trainer if we wanted an extra minute to school the horse since there was time. Trainer said yes.

Curse you super nice schooling show judge that just wanted to help me succeed!!

We managed to accomplish one begrudging canter section that was partly on the wrong lead before I was allowed to leave the ring. I told my trainer I was done showing for the day and did not want to do my next test. She said absolutely not and put me back in the warm up ring.

Now, if this had been a horse movie I would’ve whispered into his ear about our magical connection and how much the blue ribbon meant to me and we would’ve gone in with a Grand Prix test and had all the awards rained on us.

Nope. The jerk did it again.

Our first outing in the 2021 show year was a double elimination.

Then two months later we were Reserve Champions at a rated show. Horses are weird.

[sweetsalute]

I do so love mares. I have two. Very different personalities (one’s in your pocket, the other says eff off if you don’t have food). Totally opposite energy levels as well…but both, when they DECIDE on something well…good luck talking them out of it! The older one in particular, will generally do anything as asked, she’ll let me know if she doesn’t much like it, but she’ll do it. On occasion, she decides something is a no go, and once that decision is made, I could move heaven and hell, and the answer is still absolutely not.

[clanter]

at a Class A show we loaned one of our horses to a girl who was a beginner rider, she wanted to enter what was call a Command Class where the judge just called out various gaits in no particular order

This horse had been shown under this judge several times over the years so she kind of knew the horse somewhat.

Horse would work under voice commands

So judge took notice that the horse was listening to the ring master talking over his walkie talky thing to tell the ring announcer to change gaits/directions, horse was changing gaits/direction when the ring master said so (rider was along for the trip)

Judge flip flopped the normal order of changes then was laughing by the time the order to Line Up on the Ringmaster was given…as the horse continued to follow the ring master from point to point finally stopping directly in front of him

[JBCool]

My (and my brother’s) childhood horse would do this. I would SWEAR she would even listen to what class it was and know if she was going to have to canter in the class or just walk & trot Best. Horse. Ever.

[Paint_Party]

@LawsofMurph

Our first outing in the 2021 show year was a double elimination.

Then two months later we were Reserve Champions at a rated show.

Your story made me laugh, so hey, your humiliation ultimately had a positive benefit. And congrats for hanging in there, trying again, to come out a champion!

Now if I could just figure out how to channel your positive energy for my greenie boy at his first big show coming up…

[Happyhooves]

It was a busy day at a small chaotic HJ schooling show where my recently acquired older horse had broken loose earlier that morning. Dobbin thought it was great fun to be free, whinnied gleefully, and refused to be caught for quite a bit. The announcer kept calling out “Loose horse!” with more urgency, and I was sick, having visions of him running over someone or getting hurt. But finally he grudgingly decided it was time to accept the cookie and be caught.

A nervous older rider at the best of times, I was still rattled later when I entered the arena to start a small flat class. We were being judged when suddenly a huge rescue helicopter hovered low next to the grounds, and over the deafening chop chop chop, the judge stopped the class and the announcer called out urgently, “work at will”. But it turned into pandemonium as the noisy helicopter prepared to land. Horses were skittering everywhere, parents raced for their kids and ponies, and people were hastily climbing off their horses. The announcer said, “hold hard.”

I was trying to stay calm while my horse started to dance, picturing myself climbing off and my horse breaking away and tearing out the gate and racing around again at lightning speed. I vaguely remembered being told that Dobbin could do some fancy dressage moves back in his day, though I hadn’t ridden dressage for years. And anyway, since I’d just gotten him merely for plodding-around pleasure, I certainly had never tried anything on him. Still, I decided my best course of action to try to avert disaster was to distract both of us. So I quickly dug deep into my memory banks for moves, some from reading dressage books, others from long-ago dressage lessons. I started to cue him for some simple things and he responded right away, and so I stepped it up as things came back to me. Try this. Try that. Distract. Distract. Within seconds, he puffed up and sparkled–and began showing off. We did all kinds of things that I never knew I could do, and he responded willingly, surprising me with his skill level. We both totally forgot about the helicopter and were totally lost in dressage land. It went on for a while, and was truly one of the most thrilling rides I ever had. I was kinda sad when the helicopter finally shut off and the flat class resumed. Walk, trot, canter sure seemed dull after that unexpected magical moment. Just lost that sweet old horse, and I’ve never forgotten this experience with him after all these years.

[Spudsmyguy]

At an event derby last year that I helped out with as well as competed. The day before we set up the dressage arena in the usual spot and called it good. Next day, early, I was on my horse warming up ready for his test and one of the barn workers at the farm we were at turned out a sassy young horse in the paddock about 50 - 100’ away from the dressage. The horse was galloping around, bucking and farting for about 30 minutes causing all the horses currently in warm up to go ballistic with spooking, bolting, spinning. People were falling off, horses getting loose, etc. A real sh__ show. My horse who was previously attentive and working quietly, started bolting every time we passed by. Finally, one of our volunteers asked that they move the horse to a different paddock, which they did and peace reigned supreme. The judge’s comments were “tense” yeah, ya’ think?

I had this little spitfire of an Appendix mare that was a xc demon. She would jump anything from any distance, just point and shoot. At a recognized a few years ago, we just came out of the water and were supposed to make a left and then a right to line up for the next jump which was a kind of a bench with brush. Well miss mare didn’t want to take the left then the right but barrels right for it at an angle. I was trying my darndest to get her straight because we had to veer right to get to the ditch and she was veering left. She was basically “hold my beer and watch this.” Sailed over the jump and then does a turn in mid air to make the right. Let me tell you, there were gasps from the onlookers watching this unfold. We came in 5th in our division.

[clanter]

@Spudsmyguy

I had this little spitfire of an Appendix mare that was a xc demon. She would jump anything

daughter’s new horse we kept finding him in the paddock with one of the mares, daughter thought I was putting him in and I thought she was… he was jumping the paddock fence to get in… so he became her eventing horse (along with all his other duties)

Five feet was nothing for the little guy, daughter set up a Test run for him to see just what he would do

out on a course

[peedin]

A nervous older rider at the best of times, I was still rattled later when I entered the arena to start a small flat class. We were being judged when suddenly a huge rescue helicopter hovered low next to the grounds, and over the deafening chop chop chop, the judge stopped the class and the announcer called out urgently, “work at will”. But it turned into pandemonium as the noisy helicopter prepared to land.

Why did the helicopter go to a horse show? Did someone need medivacing?

[LawsofMurph]

@Paint_Party

Your story made me laugh, so hey, your humiliation ultimately had a positive benefit. And congrats for hanging in there, trying again, to come out a champion!

Now if I could just figure out how to channel your positive energy for my greenie boy at his first big show coming up…

I’m glad that experience was useful for something

Trust me, there was no positivity that day. Just a deep dark cavern of shame. And at least you have the benefit of a youngster! My guy was 23 at the time.

Somehow saying you had a bad time on a green horse just sounds better than having a bad time on your old horse who is definitely broke as heck but also a jerk.

[Happyhooves]

The helicopter landed next to the grounds, not sure what that area was for, but it wasn’t part of the Showgrounds.

[Night_Flight]

My mare had quite a personality and absolutely loved her job as a jumper.

She knew where the in-gate was and would get excited as soon as she knew she was about to go into the ring. She could sit parked at a horse show for as long as you wanted, provided she was at least 15 feet away from the in-gate. Any closer and the in-gate acted like a magnet, and she would hit canter as soon as her body finished passing through the gate.

Now, once she was pointed towards the in-gate and put into a walk, you did not want to stop her or slow her down. Doing so would result in some very sideways movement that was not easily controlled (side note: I tried schooling this off-property many times at clinics and by renting rings for schooling, but she knew the difference and would never recreate the behaviour at anything but an actual horse show).

While there were no incidents, for the safety of everyone given how busy in-gates can get with waiting horses and trainers, I would always warn the in-gate person, the steward and yell “heads up” before starting our walk towards the in-gate in order to reduce the odds of having to apply any slowing aids or having her go sideways into anyone. At most shows, the in-gate and steward knew us and would even clear the gate before being asked.

In the last year of my mare’s career, when she was 20 but still a fire breathing dragon, we went to a horse show where the steward was from out of town and where the in-gate area was known to be particularly crowded due to its location along a busy path.

Well ahead of my division, I approached the steward to inform her of the situation. The steward was not made aware of my mare’s age. It took much convincing for her to agree that the in-gate would best be cleared for everyone’s safety. She would only agree if I gave her my word that I would stay behind at the end of the day and practice loading my “young horse” into the ring with her supervision, because she said I couldn’t rely on every show accommodating us throughout the rest of my mare’s career. In order to keep the peace, I didn’t correct her that we were, in fact, at the end of my mare’s career and that this situation, while not ideal, worked for everyone for many years.

We did our division, even won the jumper medal (thankfully the in-gate was behind the judge in that ring so the judge missed our traditional exuberant canter depart just after clearing the in-gate).

We returned to the in-gate at the end of the day, as promised, and my wonderful mare proceeded to quietly walk back and forth in and out of the ring with no drama. She knew that if all the horses and people were gone, then nothing exciting was about to happen. I smiled at the steward, thanked her for her time and for allowing us to clear the gate earlier for my “young” horse, and took my 20 year old horse home.

Edited to add some photos of the lovely dragon to demonstrate her transformation through the in-gate.

Waiting for her turn innocently:

Being magnetically pulled towards the in-gate:

Dragon on course:

She had about as much character as you could get.

[PaddockWood]

I’ll never forget the last time I rode in for a test and was in the FLOW STATE. In the warm-up I was in a state of awe and appreciation and knowing someday when I was old, I’d look back on days like this. It set the tone for an amazing ride.

When I entered for my test, I was in the moment versus a deer in headlights. Really riding. Doing half halts - seeing the test as a series of body movements. And had a nice score as a result. Being relaxed and seeing it all as fun really makes a difference.

It was truly glorious and I’ll never forget that time with my dear old guy now 29 and retired.

It’s what it’s all about really.

[2tempe]

So a bunch of years ago I bought a stallion - had part leased him, knew him well, had been to shows. A perfect saint. Then one morning at a show I pulled him out to wash a poop stain off his otherwise white back end. When the cold water hit him, he took ONE step back and POOF, the break away halter did its thing. My worst nightmare was happening.
BUT - he calmly trotted off down the barn aisle - just enough speed that no one could easily grab the naked horse. Up and down several aisles, across a grass field at the canter (including a couple flying changes) with brief stop to graze, then to the other section of barns, up and down the aisles “look at me how handsome and sexy I am”, back to the grassy field where 6 of us were planning to herd him into a round pen. He stopped reared in a lovely manner and stood perfectly still while we pieced enough equipment on him to get back to his stall. He never went near the show ring. He did not interact with any of the stabled horses. He did not cause chaos in the warm up ring or mount any sweet young things. He did not run around like a crazy horse. I lost several years off my life…

[Paint_Party]

@Night_Flight

She had about as much character as you could get.

Ooh! Love the “dragon on course” expression. Now that’s a fine animal, that right there!