Help!
I went to a schooling show this weekend (the first one I have been to where everyone there actually rides dressage most of the time…a little more competitive than the previous ones I have been to where everyone pulls their backyard horse out of the pature, memorizes the test, and then saddles up their muddy horse the morning of the show for the first time in months and rides the test!).
The warmup ring was pure and utter chaos! To make matters worse, I have a smallish pony who gets very nervous and claustrophobic around other horses and riders, and this is not helped when they have big giant whips bouncing around as they trot straight at us or canter up right behind us. I don’t know if it is because I am on a pony, or what, but it seemed like I spent the entire time just trying to stay out of everyones way.
One lady told me “left shoulder to left shoulder,” so I assumed she meant that was the general way it should be, so I tried to do that, but that didn’t seem to work either as people were all over the place.
It wasn’t just me…two horses actually crashed and someone fell off because of it, which my horse saw, and I swear that made him more nervous. :eek:
Now, I know that he will get better and better the more we get out, but in the meantime…what is the proper warmup ring etiquette? Or do I just need to get used to getting run over because I have a little pony in a sea of warmbloods ridden by riders with their eyes on their horse’s necks? This warmup ring is scary business!!