Yesterday my horse and I went to a schooling show. She is 11 but still green to showing some we are doing the schooling series this year before going rated next summer.
I was always taught that a) rider schooling jumps gets right of way b) faster rider gets the rail c) call where you are going and d) heart to heart. I am in the warm up area (which is pretty small at all these shows, not a whole ring, about half of one) and my horse is feeling fresh because of all the activities around her. Ring was pretty busy and a few pony kids in there trotting around on their dead broke hunter ponies but I am almost on deck in the jumper ring. I have to go about getting ready so I do my warm up and start to canter trying to avoid said pony kids. Try to get around both ways but said pony kids will not give me the rail, and cantering the opposite way I am yelling āOUTSIDE!ā and had to sneak between pony kid and their coaches yakking (it was close and they were not paying attention to their riders) on the perimeter so I didnāt run anyone over and got yelled at.
Itās been bothering me since and I really donāt know what else I could have done? Please tell me how the heck am I supposed to get my warm up jumps done in this situation? There is no other alternative to this warm up area. I donāt want to be perceived as a dangerous rider with a crazy horse. I was in control and knew where everyone was, Iām not in the habit of being ignorant or running over children. Is it just me or it seems that not everyone got the memo on the warm up ring rules that I did years ago?
Did you get on early enough to āride your horse downā and by that I mean, give your horse a good long warmup , let her chill out a bit and just get used to everything going on around her? When things are hectic and/or I have a fresh horse, I will also lunge! Thereās nothing worse than a) being ON the horse that is being wild or b) trying to avoid the horse thatās being wild!!!
Its a lesson on to learn, donāt just expect to have the same horse you have at home! Yours is green to showing, so more prep is probably needed. Getting on just before you show (if Iāve read this right) is just not a good ideaā¦ personally the first day of a multi day show or a single day show, I like to have at least a 45 min hack before I even think about jumping ! And, if you cannot canter on the rail, go inside the rail walkers. Yes, calling is good but why did they give you dirty looks? Did you have a trainer to help diffuse anything? Did they walk in front of jumps you were actually jumping? If it truely was overly crowded and dangerous, I would personally just make the first fence on course my warmup and make note to avoid the show in the future!
It honestly doesnāt matter these days about who is right or wrong. You are an adult on a green horse; donāt expect children or less experienced riders to move for you, you need to work around them. Absolutely agree that you need to arrive at such a time as to have whatever space you need to work, and not expect it any other time. Those are the breaks.
With regards to your warm up over the jumps, hopefully you have someone helping set your fences. They can help call your jumps as Iāve seen a lot of riders think they are announcing their approach but no one can hear them. You can press the issue about getting to your fences, but in no way can you insist people come on or off the rail to accomodate you working around the ring.
In a crowded schooling area, if Iām jumping or galloping, I do not count on using the rail basically ever. I think itās generally safer for faster horses to be using the inside. People turning to the jumps likely need to use the inside. If Iām a slower rider (e.g., walking), I think itās actually safer in a schooling area to be on the rail. If Iām on the inside, I run a risk of getting in the way of someoneās path to the jump if they are coming from outside of me. Being the slower moving rider, I may not be able to get out of the way. When the ring is crowded, thereās more opportunity to be slow and in the way.
My problem is, I canāt lunge due to a stifle issue. Also the longer I ride her in sight of the jumper ring, the hotter she gets when its a show. Sheās smart enough to figure out whatās coming next and just gets pumped about it. Itās best to be quick and dirty and get in the ring. Sheās not like that every show, itās hard to predict which horse I will get until I get on, the pumped one or the calmer one. Sheās always better once in the ring.
This time is was a home show, we were hosting. My coach was very busy wrestling with running the rings and coaching us riders. I actually got only one conversation with her in the 4 courses in my division. Otherwise I was really on my own. Her niece came over to set jumps for me at the last minute so I would be able to get an oxer in. Before that I was schooling over the vertical as it was set by various trainers with their riders.
The rest of the time between classes I just gave up on schooling because of the way the warm up ring was going and kept walking. Went back in the ring for the other courses and finished the day in the top 4.
As you finished in the top four, sounds like you are upset about nothing. Good work.
You know your horse is difficult and it sounds like this was pretty normal for her. That may just be her style.
Thatās always been my experience as wellāat shows, those going faster, and especially those jumping, are to the inside, so that those on the rail can chat with trainer, get handed a whip, etc. Usually youāve got a couple of warmup jumps in the middle of the ring, no need to go the whole way out to the end/rails to make your turns.
Iād also try to avoid shows where there is one warmup that has to be shared with everyone from jumper riders to pony kids, because that is an accident waiting to happen.
Itās entirely possible that the pony kids had no idea that they were supposed to do something to get out of your way.
Pony kids always get the rail and you just have to go around them is the way I was taught.
I understand why you are frustrated. I donāt show english, but rodeo arenas can be just as tricky. You have crazy barrel racers, team ropers tossing loops, and calf ropers stopping dead in their tracks, without any warning. Best thing I can say is look out for yourself because no one else is going to.
Donāt let it eat you up, no one is gonna remember it. You canāt make everyone happy, and no one is gonna admit their kid was in the wrong (or trainers who would also be admiring they werenāt watching the kid).
Just gage the warm up arena. If faster riders are ridding toward the inside thatās where you need to be. If slower riders are toward the inside then youāve got the rail.
In the scenario you described, I feel the pony kids get the right of way and you need to work around them. Little kids donāt always think fast enough to know what to do in a situation like that. It sounds like their trainer should have been paying better attention though.
Last winter I was teaching a 7 year old student on a school horse. Kid knows how to steer, she knows what āinsideā āoutsideā or ārailā means. But she looked like a deer in the headlights the day another rider (a trainer who should have known better) came cantering at her on a 17 hand horse, screaming āRAIL!!!ā Poor kid had no idea what to do and was so nervous she didnt hear me calling to her to help her.
Go around the little kids. 
Thereās no etched in stone rules for schooling/warm up rings and no cops enforcing them, add nervous novices to the mix and a few Green horses and itās a mess. Itās no place to try to teach the horse or rider anything, any attempt to do so generally just gets both more nervous. Itās really just a place to warm up right before your class.
I schooled the day before and got up earlier to lunge or hack so had the horse prepared and didnāt need to depend on that ring. Not to be harsh but those with green horses canāt expect everybody else to defer to themā¦especially petrified 8 year olds or nervous 40 year olds who forget how to steer. Or even an experienced team 2 trips out trying to get three warm up fences in.
Never a good idea to try to āsneak between said pony kidsā. That is a good way to get yourself kicked or kick someone else.
Schooling rings or warm up rings can be chaotic. Especially when there are multiple divisions preparing to show. Though the rules you posted are good ones and definitely applicable, it is easier to follow when one is at home. Typically not so easy at a show when there are multiple levels of skill and experience mashed together. Just one of the hazards of showing.
I was schooling my mare this weekend. I just worked around the pony kids (one was mine). I am loud anyway so had zero problem calling out and navigating around. My kid knows the rules and I still see her zone out once in a while if she is working on trying to get the right lead etc. It is really up to the more experience rider to navigate the situation. If you mare is that green- there is a much better way to warm up than schooling in a chaotic ring.
Somewhere on social media, someone is posting about the adult flying around the ring, sneaking in between terrified kids and grumpy ponies.
More experienced riders always yield to less experienced because with the benefit of experience they know that significantly increases their chances of SURVIVAL
I agree with @vxf111 and most everyone else.
Yes, the rules you stated are ānormalā ring etiquette rules. But, not everyone teaches them, and at a show you donāt know who does and who doesnāt. The hierarchy rule to the ones you mentioned is that Experienced riders work around INexperienced riders.
And when jumping in those scenarios, I just take the inside path. Itās a lot easier and safer to just avoid the path of others, than have to cross it twice.
Bingo!
If you read any thread on this forum about ring etiquette you will see that there are so many different theories on what is the correct way to travel in a ring that there is no one right way that allows you to stand up and say āmy way is right, your way is wrongā except the general rule that novices get the right of way.
What I was taught (so generally speaking) is more like what IPEsq posted. Faster horses on the inside, slower horses on the rail.
There are no set rules - and I think a lot of the warm-up ring practices are somewhat regional, TBH.
In my experience, it has always been the faster/jumping riders take the inside so you arenāt crossing paths on your way to the jump with those who are moving slower or not jumping. I think that makes much more sense and is safer, and is always what Iāve been taught/have taught my riders.
Regardless, pony kids & inexperienced riders get right of way from the more experienced riders, for your sanity and their survival lol. But yes, their trainers should have been paying attention so shame on them for that.
For me I try to pick a path that doesnāt get in anyone elseās way. Sometimes that means getting the rail, sometimes the inside, sometimes circling at one end until a good space opens up. I too (when I rode hunters which was years ago) was taught slower horses to the outside, faster horses to the inside, call your jumps and watch for the greenies who might not have any clue or be too nervous to remember which way is up, much less to get out of my way.
Luckily where I am you only have your class to worry about but people donāt think about warming up in order so for a 30 horse class you get 30 horses in the ring walking around, jumping and even jumping fences far higher than your class. My trainer and I have resulted to bare minimum warmups recently. My last show I jumped 3 fences before going in and not one was an oxer because someone set it at 1m5 for an 85cm class and I had nobody helping me that day.
Iām only half-way joking when I say that I get more nervous for the warmup ring than I do for my actual judged rounds. I will say that there is a pretty noticeable difference in my area between the schooling series and the rated series, and even within the rated circuit depending on what classes are running at the time. The schooling series tend to have wildly chaotic warmup rings- lots of newer or inexperienced competitors- in my own experience. Moving over the the rated circuit actually led to a more organized warmup ring for me, and as divisions get more difficult (and therefore shrink in size) it gets even easier to navigate because everyone there knows the drill.
