The Final Countdown: What We Do the Week Before a Horse Show
Have you noticed that there’s been a lot of articles written on equine fitness and what type of programs different top riders implement with their horses recently? I love reading these pieces. It’s fascinating to learn what accomplished riders do to build and maintain their horses’ fitness and all that goes in to helping these equine athletes peak at the right time. I always think it’s fun to get a small glimpse at what makes them so successful in the show ring. What’s interesting, though, is that while we talk about programs for our horses in a broad sense, we don’t often talk about what we do from a training standpoint the week ahead of a horse show to make sure our horses are ready to perform at their best.
I was thinking about this while riding earlier this week (and preparing for a horse show next week). Over the last few years, I’ve gradually started to implement a pretty consistent system in the week leading up to a horse show. At first it was subconscious, but I’ve become more cognizant of it recently, especially since I’ve started writing down aspects of every horse’s training in a calendar. I’ve found more often than not it allows our horses to arrive at the horse show with a good balance of preparedness, soundness, and mental freshness. Of course, horses can be unpredictable, and sometimes even with the best of preparation, things don’t go as planned. But a consistent system leading up to the horse show helps to remove some of the many variables that come with riding and showing horses, which is definitely helpful in and of itself!
There are three things I focus on the week leading up to a horse show. First, I want to make sure the horse is mentally and physically prepared for whatever classes he will be showing in the next week. Second, I want to ensure that our preparation that week leaves the horse comfortable and physically feeling good. Third, I want to be sure to incorporate variety into the week’s rides to keep the horses mentally fresh and happy to work.
When we’re showing a fair amount – like we do Florida, we often won’t even jump the horses during their week off between shows. That is, unless there’s something specific that the horse or rider needs to work on, or if the rider feels he or she needs more practice. The same thing applies during the summer if we have just a week between competitions. If we have a longer period of time between horse shows, I’ll usually plan for the horses to school twice the week before we leave. Once, usually earlier in the week, over a course appropriate to the classes the horse and rider team plan to show in the following week. That doesn’t always mean that we jump a huge, long course, but I do want to make sure that the horse has seen something similar to what he will jump the following week during his school. If horse and rider feel good after this, we’ll often take the horses through some sort of gymnastic later on in the week. They might only pop through an exercise a handful of times here, but I like to have the last few jumps a horse jumps before heading to a competition be something that leaves them thinking about their parts. This also gives us an opportunity to re-enforce any sort of jumping technique or rider position tweaks we’ve been working on in the weeks prior.
If possible, I try and get the jump schools in by Saturday, so that the horses can have a day to hack out and stretch before getting on the trailer. It’s important to me that the horses have a recovery day before making any sort of trip. In a similar vein, we’re also careful not to over train this week, either. If you look at human athletes – take a marathon runner, for example – most aren’t running a practice marathon the week before they run the real marathon. They’re also not still working on building their fitness in this final week, as they’ve done all the necessary preparation in the weeks prior. This is because top athletes recognize that the body needs time to recover, and can’t be asked to be operating at 100% all the time. The same goes for horses. If they’re ridden too hard the week before they show, they’re likely to be a little body sore, tired, and perhaps not quite at their peak. Obviously, we have great therapeutic tools as well as care providers like equine chiropractors, acupuncturists, and massage therapists that can help with that. But a good way to prevent overtraining induced discomfort from affecting performance is to try not to get there in the first place.
Last but not least, in the midst of all our pre-show preparations, I’m always intentional about getting our horses outside the ring. Sometimes, we as riders can get so hyper focused on getting ready for the horse show that we create for our horses a sort of merry-go-round monotony of riding around and around in a ring. This can leave horses feeling fried, bored, and unenthusiastic about their job – which is the last thing we want when preparing to go into the show ring! With that in mind, I always try to intersperse our schooling and training with a few trail rides, walks down the road, or nice trots on the path around the farm. Not only is this fun for the horses – but it’s a good way for the riders to decompress and enjoy their horses as well. I’ve found that doing this balances out the other preparation work that we’ve been doing throughout the week, and leaves our horses happy, mentally fresh, and ready to do their jobs the following week.
This combination of training, recovery, and variety has created a system that works well for us, and is something that can be tailored to work for just about any horse. Does anyone else have a specific routine prior to leaving for the horse show? I’m sure I’m not the only one who has a “pre-show” program of sorts. If so, let me know in the comments!
