Show Ring Excitement!

[KneesUp]

Just curious to see if anyone has any suggestions really. Pony is a section C, ridden in a snaffle at home, hacks out like a little star, could put anybody on him he wouldn't hurt a fly. Goes really sweetly when being schooled at home, not difficult in anyway, he's an absolute dream. Get him to a show, he goes really sweetly in his warm up and stands like a rock outside of the ring for as long as you want him too. The problem comes the second he steps foot in the show ring.
Obviously a little bit of excitement/anxiousness is to be expected, but sometimes he becomes totally unmanageable! He becomes a totally different pony. We've tried him in several bits, and whilst he is usually so happy in his snaffle he just gets really strong and tries to take off, we've put him in a double and a pelham for some brakes but he does not like them at all and it seems such a shame to take him out of his snaffle when all other times he goes so nicely. It tends to be mainly in the initial go round, so originally I thought it was because he was trying to keep up with the other ponies. We've tried group lessons and schooling sessions with other ponies and warming up with other ponies and he's fine then. After the go round, he generally stands fine in the line up (the majority of the time) and goes sweetly in his individual. However, he becomes so strong in the go round it actually becomes a little bit hair raising at times, once we've got him settled after a few laps though he goes amazingly and has movement to die for! But it is literally just in the show ring.

He's only 6 and it's his first real season under saddle and we're still in the process of working out what makes him tick, what he likes and doesn't like etc, so we're not expecting miracles obviously. I think it's just excitement really, he was very very successful in hand as a colt and i'm thinking it may be that he still has his 'inhand job' still in his mind.

I guess what I'm asking is does anyone else have any experience of this with their ponies? Anyone got any advice that we could maybe try? Any suggestions? We love him to bits, so if he really doesn't settle showing we'll let him do something else he enjoys (He loves his jumping!!)

[sjw87]

I've got one who was like this as a youngster - he is also a very keen jumper and for him, workers settled him.

Doing the jumping phase alone first just seemed to completely settle him ready for the group flat section

Sent from my GT-I9195 using proboards

[sarahp]

Well until you got onto the bit about him having been shown as a colt I was about to suggest you showed him in hand, quietly, to get him used to being in the ring! Of course I don't know your pony or how he was shown, but in general the in hand C and D classes do now show them VERY wound up to the point of appearing almost unmanageable, often with the accompaniment of lots of whooping, cat calling, shaking of tins of pebbles etc to help achieve that. If this is the case, he's only doing what he's been trained to do as a youngster.

I bred Ds intended to go under saddle, and latterly wouldn't show them in hand for this reason, except possibly the odd foal show for experience. I try to teach mine to be mannerly at all times and it seemed to me counter-productive to teach them stuff that has to be unlearned later on, always more difficult than teaching it how you want in the first place.

Workers sound a good idea and worth a try, and I wonder how he'd react doing dressage? With my young D years ago we used to have practice show classes too, a few of us together doing a go round, line up and show in turn but in a non show environment, maybe that would help, then you can abort and make him walk quietly on an inside track if he tries to go off on one? Or use small local shows as a training ground to do the same thing, in which case I'd have a word with the show sec/judge first so that they know you're going to do that.

[KneesUp]

Thanks guys, Sarahp you summed up what I had been thinking really, regarding the in hand. He wasnt wound up to the extent that most are these days but he had a bit more 'fire in his belly' let's say, so I think you're right and he has just got that still in his head. Will definitely give workers a try, thank you and the practise show in a non showing environment sounds really useful top, great idea! Thank you for your help

[sarahp]

You're welcome, hope it works for you.

[5874julie]

workers may really help, as in most affiliated classes you have two judges and you don't have to do a go round, just an individual show on your own, so it will help him to get used to being in the ring. dressage ditto.

[KneesUp]

Sorry 5874Julie only just seen your reply! We've been doing a few showjumping classes in recent weeks and he's doing his first workers class on Sunday, so fingers crossed!! Will let you guys know how it goes!! Thanks for your help!

[PrincessP]

I have the exact same problem although I put mine down to bad experience he had previously.. My boy even works in so sweet outside the ring. I have been looking at the relax me calmer as its supposed to be brilliant. I am a bit reluctant though as he doesn't need calmed at home. I am also going down the workers route at the moment.

[KneesUp]

So glad to have found others experiencing the same! We considered calmers but like you we didn't really want to have to go down that route as he doesn't really need them any other time. We did our first workers yesterday and *touch wood* he actually went quite nicely. It was only a local riding club show and for some reason the judge didn't even ask us to do an individual show, but he was fab in the go round, a little excited at first but settled really quickly, much quicker than before and he wasn't strong at all. Very much hoping it wasn't just a one off haha! I'd be interested to hear how you get on with the workers route PrincessP Good Luck!