The rest of this article I wrote for Canadian Horse Journals is available on their site https://www.horsejournals.com/riding-training/rider-development/psychology/when-things-go-wrong-show-ring

But he never does that at home!” When my horse responds to a cue “most of the time”, he hasn’t quite learned it. A busy horse show atmosphere is sensory overload for a green horse. By August, judges have sadly DQ’d a scorecard full of horses not “quite” ready for the ring. Summer school stinks

When things go wrong in the horse show ring, how to turn show ring mistakes into learning opportunities for horse and rider

Horse show judges are reminded to consider the intent of the horse show rule – to keep the purpose of the class and the standard of what’s “correct” to guide our judging
decisions.
In other words, to ask “What’s the point?”

Horse show safety tips – more points from an article I wrote several years ago- tips for a young coach, preparing riders for that first show of the season!