OK.  this may be a stupid question for some of you but I've gotta ask.   how do you stay calm and relaxed at horse shows?  I rode endurance for years and it never was much of a problem.  of course we do have a lot more time to relax while riding 50 or 100 miles..   I've been riding  w/a dressage  trainer for a couple years and love it!  BUT- we enter the ring, I become tense, which in turn makes my horse tense, and my mind turns to mush.   even with a reader an 8 minute test seems to take forever and I forget what we're supposed to be doing.

I was just wondering how others deal with the show scene. 

thanks for all suggestions!

ride each section of the test seperately- that's what someone else suggested too.  not too good of an analagy but  kinda like at the start of a 100 mile ride if you get to the first vet check at 15 miles and say we only have 85 more miles to go it seems overwhelming but if I said we only have 15 or 20 miles to the next check it was more manageable.  

this whole dressage thing is pretty intense.  I sometimes overanalize every movement and get frustrated when things don't go as planned.  I"m certainly not going out there to win-but despite me my 6 yr old gelding is doing very well.    we're mostly doing schooling shows- our area has them about every 3 weeks which is nice.  

how do you meditate and remember all the movements of each test and all the little movements w/in each one?   and stay supple on the horse, think outside leg to inside rein, think about thru ness and good connection and half halts and impulsion, etc etc.  

I found that my mare was so much more relaxed being the only one in the ring (showed breed shows previously) that it helped me as well, but that doesn't answer your question.

I would borrow from the dog agility people and walk my pattern physically as well as in my head. Follow the course on paper while making the same turns. Yes, people may look at you but it cements that pattern in your brain. For the breathing part a friend told me she hums the Doxology and by gosh, that works! You can't hum and not breathe.

Have a little show potion (wine cooler) and see if you do better.  Go easy on the drinking because of the heat, it's not the same as sitting under a patio in the cool breeze.  I don't recommend allergy meds, I've seen kids nearly fall off a horse from taking these types of pills to calm their nerves.

my younger daughter (shows hunters) got so nervous that she would zone out or make herself physically ill.  we did a couple of things: we borrowed an older horse that is a packer in order to build her confidence (she had had some difficult rides recently) AND, in order to make it all about the ride, the trainer "took away" her ribbons.  she had to leave the ring and area before the places were called.  they tried this strategy for 2 shows and it helped.  the point was: are you happy with your round?  if yes, then it doesn't matter how you place.  learn to focus on a couple of goals for your ride, concentrate on those goals and if you accomplish them during your ride, you have won.

someone had suggested some type of drug to try but when i asked a doctor friend about it, she explained the drug was for heart patients or people with high blood pressure.  (dangerous for a kid to take). sort of makes me wonder if the riders should be drug tested instead of the horses...

Well, I haven't shown for a couple of years because I found I was too stressed.  Being a horse show competitor, as well as a horse show mom, was too many things at once.  These last 2 years I became the groom and chauffer instead, and I LOVE IT.  I like doing the chores and fussing over the horses without worrying about having dirt on my show clothes.

My daughter just turned 14, and until these last 2 years, the only way to keep her calm was to put her on her horse and take the reins out of her hands and then start walking and leading her, and talk nonstop.  When it was her turn to enter the ring, I'd time my walk to have her at the gate on time and walking through it without ever breaking stride.  Left to her own devices, she would stress to the point that her incredibly calm babysitter mare would start stressing and then the two would go to war.  The mare would fall apart, and my daughter would cry.  Since I couldn't deal with that while waiting for my own class, I quit showing so I could deal with her. 

Next summer I might show again.  I've got a good mare that I'd like to try out in the ring.  However, I know myself, and my stress is in the days, hours, and minutes leading up to the show.  Once I'm in the ring, I no longer care, it's all about the horse then, and I feel like I'm just practicing.  So, if someone could find a way to get rid of my pre-show stress, that would be awesome.  Maybe I need my own personal groom, too?