03/08/2025
From my latest article in The Collection:
The Importance of Schooling Shows
(Specifically for young horses)
One of my passions in life is to breed and produce warmbloods for the amateur market and the professional market alike. My goal is to produce the brains that appeal to the amateur market with the movement that appeals to professionals, as well. Breeding is an art and a science with the occasional sprinkle of luck, and it’s one that makes my soul sing. Another passion of mine is to develop horses from scratch up the levels of dressage. There is something so satisfying and validating about watching your hard work pay off as you receive a good score on your latest dressage test, or as you watch that young, uncertain horse become a confident partner both in and out of the ring. When both of these worlds collide we really see the importance of schooling shows.
What is the purpose of a schooling show? Well, it’s in the name! It’s to school your horse in a low pressure, friendly environment. Schooling shows are a great segway for riders and horses to dip their toes in the competition environment without the stringency of the nationally recognized shows. Why is this important? Let’s say you are learning how to play guitar. You are taking regular lessons, you are doing your homework, and you’re practicing at home as you should. If you decided you felt confident enough in your guitar playing skills to now perform for other people, would you choose to play locally at first? Or would you step right into Madison Square Garden and play in front of hundreds of thousands of people for your first gig? The same logic applies to schooling shows and shows us why it’s critical to keep these shows alive.
We’ve established that schooling shows are a fantastic way to introduce a horse to shows.. so how can we best utilize these necessary shows? And what are some key tips for taking youngsters to these shows?
- Have no expectations for your young horse going in
You may be going incredibly well at home. You may have practiced your test at home 100x and you feel more prepared than ever. However, shows are an electric atmosphere, and your horse is out of your regular environment. It doesn’t matter how prepared I feel for a show with a young horse, I always go in with zero expectations. Which brings me to my second point..
- Make it a positive experience for your young horse.
You’re setting the mood and tone for your horse for the rest of his/her life at these first few shows. It’s critical to make it a positive experience for them. Remember that one time you tried something and it went epically bad? Did you want to try it again? Neither does your horse. Your horse gains nothing from you taking them to a show, and they do their very best to humor us while we dress them up and ask them to perform in this new environment. Therefore, it’s our job to make sure this a pleasant experience for them. Give them extra pats, be confident (because they may not be), and make sure to keep it as low stress as possible for them.
-Give yourself PLENTY of extra time.
I feel this goes without saying at a horse show in general, but its incredibly important with youngsters. They need time to soak in the new environment, settle down, and regain their focus as they process what is going on. I always give myself a longer warm up than usual (not a harder one, though), hang walk the property, walk on the buckle in a relaxed manner, and make sure to allow your horse to familiarize with the sights.
-Be extra mindful of the horses around you in the warm up.
If you ride at home rather than in a board setting, like me, you may be limited to how much exposure your horse gets to being in a crowded arena with others. The warm up ring can be daunting even for a seasoned pro, so give yourself extra space from others, and make sure you are respectful and extra watchful of the horses around you. Young horses can be silly. They can be even more silly when they are feeling crowded, passed by strange horses, and are in an electric environment. It’s your job to keep yourself AND the other riders around you safe to the best of your ability. I like to call out to riders as I’m coming up behind them or as they come up behind me to let them know that I’m on a young horse and that I’ll provide extra space as we pass each other.
-Have fun and have a sense of humor
If you ride young horses, you have to be able to take a joke and have a sense of humor. Just enjoy the process of developing your horse. Enjoy being the building block to their future career with you or with other riders. You may go in expecting scores in the 70s and walk out scratched because your youngster spun out after trotting straight at the judge (even after passing said judge 5x prior). You must be able to take that with some humor, give your horse some confidence to walk up to the scary objects, and giggle as you leave the arena. There’s always next time.
- Thank your schooling show volunteers 🌟
Thank your schooling show host, judge, and all of the volunteers that put the show in place. It’s a privilege to have a lower stress environment to take our young horses to as we build their confidence (and ours!)
It’s these things above that create that trusting partnership that we all strive to achieve. It’s the ability to school in a show setting with the added bonus of most of them being lower cost (because let’s be real… I don’t want to spend $500 to have my 5yo spin out on me in the ring when I could go to 4 schooling shows for the same price). It’s the naturally more relaxed environment that allows a young horse to digest the pace of a horse show and the chaotic nature of a warm up ring and allows them to prepare for the days that they step into the bigger rings. Schooling shows are important. We must keep them alive. Our young horses depend on it.
Xoxo
