Planning a successful show season

TIPS FOR YOUR BEST 2022

To be successful in any arena, horses must be at their best on competition day. This often means maintaining a horse's levels of fitness and performance through the show season, which in South African spans many months of the year.

This is not always easy, and in the equestrian sport, there are no guarantee. However, taking a proactive approach to your horse's health and soundness is the best way to manage them and give them the best chance of a successful season.

TOP TIP Look at how your horse finished up last year to assess how well your previous plan worked. While 2021 was not a typical year by any stretch of the imagination, if your horse ended the year flat and exhausted, you probably overdid it, and if he ended it full of beans and ready to go, you could perhaps have done a little bit more.

PLAN

The first part of your proactive management has to be making a plan for the year ahead. You need to work out which shows you will attend and which you are happy to skip to give your horse the downtime they need. It is unrealistic to expect to participate in every show on the calendar with one horse, and it is likely to result in fatigue in your horse. Exhausted horses are more prone to injury or becoming arena sour, so it is vital to give them a balanced and realistic schedule for the year.

A horse’s downtime should allow opportunities for him to be a horse. He needs to have lots of turnout, roll in the sand and interact with his conspecifics. All of this is valuable, not only psychologically but also physically.

Beyond deciding which shows you wish to enter, it is a good idea, even at this early stage, to think about how many and which classes you want to take part in at any given show. Of course, this could change closer to the time, but having some idea in advance of how you wish to structure your competition schedule and build up throughout the year is good for both your own goal setting and setting a realistic trajectory for your horse over the next 12 months.

SHOW STRATEGY

Another key element of show success is having a plan for time spent at the show. If you are scheduled to attend an away show, for instance, investing in a portable paddock in advance could be a good idea to allow your horse to spend some time out in the sun rather than cooped up in his stable for the entire time at the away venue. Alternatively, practice walking your horse in hand now so that you can confidently do this while you are away to allow him to get some movement and mental stimulation outside of the competition arena.

Another issue to consider is show nerves. If your horse is the anxious type, perhaps planning to attend a few lower-key shows earlier in the year, or visiting show venues without actually competing, could be a good starting point for 2022. If you take the time to work on these issues early on, you will have a better year all round.

TRAINING

Plan your training in consultation with your coach. Think about how you want to build up through the year, and how much time off your horse will need in each week. Make sure your horse doesn’t work in the arena more than a few times a week, and try and create a plan that keeps his work as interesting for him as possible. Work out how regularly you will work on the high-level movements, or how often you will jump ‘big’, and stick to the plan unless your coach advises otherwise.

NOTE: LESSONS FROM HUMAN SPORTS

Human sports training advises athletes to push harder on days they feel good and not push as hard on days they don’t. This is worth remembering with our horses. Training sessions don’t all need to build up and up, and some light days are of value, but even more than this, if your horse does not feel good on a particular day – don’t push him!

WATCH YOUR HORSE TROT UP REGULARLY

It is a good idea to regularly trot your horse up throughout the year. Ask someone to run them for you and have a look at the regularity and symmetry of the gait. This allows early detection of issues and can prompt a call to the vet before the situation has become out of hand or more lasting damage has occurred. It, of course, goes without saying that if your horse does not look or feel 100% on a given day, you should not continue as usual and ‘hope for the best’ but instead proactively rest your horse and call your vet for advice.

Similarly, you need to run your hands over your horse most days to check for any lumps and bumps. It is also a good idea to pick out the feet yourself and check for any changes. Picking up issues early on is the key to getting them fixed promptly, and avoiding too much time out.

KEEP YOUR HORSE WELL HYDRATED

Monitoring water intake is a very good habit to acquire. Not only does it allow you to assess if weather changes are affecting your horse’s drinking habits and proactively take action, but it also allows you to know how much he is drinking when away at a show. This knowledge not only helps to avoid colic but, at a performance level, poorly hydrated horses will be more fatigued, so maintaining hydration status allows your horse to perform at his best. Start with this habit now, and by the end of the year next year, you’ll be your horse’s hydration expert!

NUTRITION

The start of the year is a good time to evaluate your horse’s diet and work out if his needs are being met. If you have any doubts, chat with an equine nutritionist and get their take on the best way to manage your horse from a nutritional perspective. Over the course of the year, keeping a close eye on body condition score will give you a good indication as to whether the current diet plan is working for your horse.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Whilst it is impossible to account for every eventuality with our horses, being well prepared definitely gives you an advantage. Make sure that your year is planned out to give you and your horse the best chance of success, and, most importantly, make sure you are both fit and well enough to enjoy every minute of it!