MIND YOUR MANNERS

Today’s warm-up rings at dressage shows are crowded, chaotic and sometimes downright dangerous. I’ve witnessed near collisions, riders cutting each other off mid-movement and tension spreading from horse to horse like wildfire—at every level. In the worst-case scenarios, such mayhem can result in serious injuries. But even the mildest cases create situations that upset horses, disrupt riders’ focus and generally lower the quality of everyone’s performances.

The root of this problem is not overcrowding. In Europe, warm-up arenas are always jam-packed. If a rider commits an etiquette sin there, whether at home or at a show, her trainer will immediately reprimand her—and not always gently. From the beginning of every equestrian career in Europe, respect for other riders and the community as a whole is firmly ingrained.

I’d like to see this same standard adopted in the U.S. When warming up for a test, we all have the same goal: to relax our horses while gymnasticizing their bodies in preparation for the movements they have to perform. Competition jitters and the electricity of the show atmosphere already put most horses and riders on edge. The last thing anyone needs is more tension! Horses are very in tune with one another’s emotional states. So to minimize tension in our individual mounts, we need to act together as a community, treating each other courteously and considerately so that every horse in the arena feels a sense of calm and security.

I don’t believe that Americans lack respect or are inherently ruder than Europeans. We are simply less educated about ring etiquette and sometimes unaware of how our actions affect others. To rectify this situation, I suggest we all make a concerted effort to pay more attention to our own horses’ emotional states