Competition Preparation

You and your horse have reached a number of riding milestones in the last few months and you would like to test your performance in a competition and measure yourself against others? Then it’s time for your first competition! For newcomers to horse competitions, the planning and organisation can be a big challenge. What requirements do I have to fulfil to take part in a competition? What should my competition outfit look like? What do I have to consider for transport?

In this guide, we will help you with everything from creating a training plan to prepare for a competition, to taking care of your horse after competing in your first competition!

What to consider before the competition

A number of conditions must be fulfilled before you can take part in a competition. So that you don’t forget anything important just before the competition, you should take care of the necessary documentation in advance so that you can concentrate fully on your preparations for the competition.

Where the three main disciplines dressage, showjumping and eventing are concerned, whatever the discipline, they appear in two forms – unaffiliated and affiliated. If you want to be affiliated, then you have to join the governing body for the required sport. For example, eventing, this is British Eventing, for showjumping, this is British Show Jumping and for dressage, it is British Dressage. You will need to register the horse, the rider and the owner. You will then be issued with a membership card, a rule book and a right to compete at affiliated events.

The main difference between unaffiliated and affiliated competitions is that unaffiliated riders can compete at any level. In affiliated competitions, the riders are graded and move up and down the levels accordingly. So someone who normally rides at preliminary level could ride a novice test or higher, should they wish to do so. And a more experienced rider can enter preliminary or introductory classes if they desire. However, some venues include rules to prevent that. So do read the schedule before entering. One needs to register and pay a fee to affiliate, and the standard of judging for affiliated tests is considered to be higher grade, whereas unaffiliated tests can be judged by anyone and the standards are often more relaxed. Unaffiliated shows often take place at riding centres and are organised by riding/pony clubs. Some riding schools also run unaffiliated competitions using their own horses. So you do not always have to have your own horse to compete. Most unaffiliated shows are performed under similar rules like affiliated shows but the judges will sometimes have a more relaxed attitude towards the dress code. An example being, under British Dressage rules, you’re not meant to wear half-chaps to compete; however, you generally are allowed to wear these in unaffiliated shows.

If you wish to compete, ensure your horse has been vaccinated and that the vaccinations are up to date, as this is compulsory. All affiliated competitions will require that your horse is fully up to date with vaccinations and proof of vaccination status also compulsory. Nowadays you will also find many local or unaffiliated competitions following suit.

Check the rules carefully for your discipline and then you will only need to update yourself on any changes on an annual basis. Most organisations will flag their rule changes well ahead of the new competition season.

Tips for competition training

Competition preparation tailored to both rider and horse is important to get into the right mood for the big day. In doing so, one should not only deal with the required tasks and lessons of the competition, but also consider other important points such as the transport to the venue or the unfamiliar environment, the diverse stimuli on competition day and gently introduce the horse – if it is not used to such situations – to its new job as a competition horse.

If you work on a harmonious rider-horse relationship in the long term and incorporate spook busting and loading into your training, you have already laid an important foundation for a smooth outcome on competition day.

Create a training plan for the competition season

In order to plan the upcoming competition season in a sustainable way, it is worth dividing the preparation time into individual phases:

• Basic work
• Pre-competition work
• Competition
• Recovery

Basic work phase

When it comes to effective show preparation, you can’t start too early. The further away the horse competition is in the future, the more important it is that the basics learned so far consolidated in order to create a good basis for new lessons and tests. There is then also enough time available to devote to greater topics such as loading training or spook busting, which should basically be revisited again and again in order to let routines develop. This part of the competition preparation should take up about 50% of the available time.

Since the basics that have already been learned are tested here and there is still plenty of time, you can take the training a little slower if the frequency is high.

Pre-competition phase

The closer the competition, the more specific the training should be for the new lessons to be learned. Enough time should be allowed for the new training exercises to become routines without being under time pressure, i.e. about 30% of the available time until the competition. The more intensive the work with the horse becomes, the shorter the training sessions should be so that your horse is not overstimulated. Also remember to take sufficient breaks. The horse should also have a day off when it can recover in the pasture and move freely according to its natural pattern.

Competition phase

Yes, the competition is also part of the active training period for you and your horse. After all, you don’t stop working afterwards and in most cases it doesn’t stop at the start of a competition, but continues with the preparation for the next competition. On the day of the competition, your horse is under the greatest mental strain, both from the unfamiliar external stimuli and from the correct performance of the new tasks. The training intensity and frequency should therefore be adjusted in the days before and enough opportunities for recovery should be planned in so that the general strain in the week before the competition is not too great.

However, this does not mean that the horse should not be exercised. In hand-walking, the use of a horse walker or even a short hack provide exercise without overstraining the horse. The period of the active competition phase makes up approx. 10% of the preparation for the competition.

Recovery phase

After the competition is the start of the next competition. The first highpoint of your joint training is now behind you, now is the time for both of you to take a deep breath and reflect on the experience together. Your horse should now have time to recover, moderate work without any training demands should be on the schedule in the first days after the competition, approx. 10 % of the entire competition preparation cycle thus goes to an appropriate recovery period. Turnout, in-hand walking or hacking provide a mental and physical balance after the demanding phase.

There is no secret recipe for creating a training plan. Everyone organises themselves in their own way and the needs and training level of horse and rider are also too individual to make generally applicable guidelines. Some swear by planning their competition preparation „backwards“, starting from the day of the competition. Others divide their preparation phases into three-month cycles and define smaller intermediate goals within the individual phases.

In order to offer your horse variety during the preparation phase, it is advisable to define individual training elements in thematic groups, so that they can be integrated into your weekly plan again and again in a building block principle and you keep track of the skills to be learned.

To keep your horse’s workload always at a similar level, you can evaluate the intensity of the individual training elements with an individual point system and try to maintain the point level week after week. Competition tests should also be integrated into the training schedule here. As the workload usually peaks at the competition, you should reduce the workload somewhat in the days before so that your horse is not physically and mentally overstrained.

This lesson plan could, for example, look like this:

From this overview, which must be compiled individually for each horse-rider pair, you can then create your personal weekly plan in modules.

With our templates you can create your individual and uncomplicated competition preparation plan. With the weekly plan template, you can create a weekly overview of your daily training. The definition of individual weekly goals helps you to maintain focus. Keeping a written record of milestones achieved helps to motivate you for training.