IN the third article we discussed developing the horse’s rideability and the reliability of the aids. Practising your skills until your performance is repeatable consistently will greatly increase your chances of good competition safety and success.

I hope this series has illustrated how competing horses is not about narrow focused competition obsession. Competing is merely a snapshot of where your training is at that moment in time. Progressing the training of the horse and rider with continual improvement should be the goal of all training regardless of level.

In this final part of this four-part series we will be looking at the final lead up to competition day for horse and rider including final sessions, supportive management, tapering and rider mental state.

Final sessions

The world’s most successful athletes have often explained the importance of spending time rather than wasting time. The sharp focus of the final training sessions will be dependent on your specific discipline.

In eventing you have to employ the same core skills over all three phases remembering that each must map to the next in a logical cohesive process using the same signals. In your final sessions you need to hone the skills, further deepening the responses already trained rather than employing new aspects. Practising your test or the lines you expect to meet on course will brush up your final concerns.

During the course of your training you will have developed your rider responsibilities (look and plan, speed, direction, balance and position) which should be well established and easily drawn on in the final sessions. The horses core skills should also be well entrained at this stage with quality transitions, equal feeling on both reins, suppleness, regularity and co-ordination. This in turn will solidify self carriage and a strong partnership which you lean on during competition day.

Supportive management

In the final phase of competition training the supportive management is just as important as the actual training sessions. For eventing, soundness is one of the primary concerns. Wear and tear from fast work or cross country schooling can put pressure on joints and soft structures.

Special care must be taken when working on hard summer ground. Many traditional practices for maintaining soundness still hold true today but we must take note of the latest research to promote optimal health and soundness. Lots of options exist for cooling legs after fast work and it’s worth doing research into the best option for you and your horse. Proper nutrition over the course of your fitness and training programme will supply the essential requirements for health, wellbeing and fitness.

For pre and post competition, electrolytes can be important for horses in strenuous work. However, you need to test out the use of them during training to ensure they suit your horse. Other supportive management pre-competition includes ample turn-out allowing the horse to move freely unencumbered by the rider. After competing turn-out when joints or soft structures are sore or tight will help promote speedy recovery.

Tapering

There is a temptation, particularly with inexperienced riders, to over-ride in the final week. Oftentimes when people are coming up to a jump competition riders will jump every day that week rather than work on the canter ensuring the horse has enough rest so they can be competition fresh and ready.

Marathon runners in training usually undergo a massive reduction in training in the last two to three weeks prior to a big race. This is to allow muscles, joints and the cardiovascular system to fully recover to confer optimal performance on race day. While horses are much better adapted to strenuous activity with a highly developed cardiovascular system compared to humans, a horse’s taper, while still important, does not need to be as long. When you are planning your season (in more conventional non-Covid times) there are usually a large range of shows available to choose from. You have to decide on which shows are your priority. Some shows are for training to bring on mental and physical fitness. Whereas other shows are season highlights where you are competing to win. For these season pinnacles tapering will give that winning competition bounce.

Rider mental state

Riders and coaches can often be overly focused and geared towards competition success rather than progress over time. The pressure on riders to be successful can be exhausting and stressful. This is especially relevant with the prevalence of suicide particularly among young men in the industry.

Mental self care should be a key priority with any person involved in the equine industry whether amateur or professional. As riders we can mount under a lot of pressure to make every session count and go exactly to plan. As a coach I am acutely aware that every session is not critical but every session is valuable, however the same is not always true as a rider. Making small incremental improvements is much more important than flashy big changes that don’t last.

If you improve an average of 1% every session in 100 days the horse is 100% better.

Finally, your interior monologue can either help or hinder your progress. Ensure that you look at each situation with a realistic positive outlook. I try to end each session with a small star (small skill developed), a wish (skill you wish you could develop) and a big star (the session highlight).

The whole process of training horse and rider partnerships is to achieve the “Happy Athlete” as per the FEI rule’s definition. Incremental development of small steps with the help of an experienced eye on the ground will make your competition day snapshot more successful.

Remember that competition is just part of the journey and improvement can always be found, but don’t let the improvement get in the way of the satisfaction of a job well done.

If you would like to contact the author with questions or for coaching please email; Brendan@BerginEquine.com