News: Articles: Are You Ready For Nationals?

An Amateur Point of View

Are You Ready For The Nationals?
by Russ Vento

Although it seems like only yesterday that we were at Scottsdale, the fact is that all of the regionals and even two national shows (Youth and Canada) are over. We’re closing in on U.S. Nationals! So now—six to eight weeks before the show—is an ideal time to take stock of ourselves and our horses. It will help us get the most out of our upcoming trip to Louisville.

It is fair to ask why we need to do anything special, if we have been doing our best all season. Why not just pack up, head out to the Nationals and figure on continuing to do our best? Well, it is exactly because we have been doing our best all season that we should now stop and reevaluate ourselves. The U.S. Nationals is the biggest prize of the year; this is no time to leave anything to chance.

The key now is to honestly evaluate ourselves and identify a plan that is best for us. After that, having done all that we can to be prepared for the most challenging competition on the calendar, we can just sit back, enjoy, and do our best.

Take Stock Of Yourself And Your Horse—Honestly

The place to start, as usual, is to take an honest, objective look at yourself and your horse. Are you competitive in the division you have entered? What still needs work—the canter? The trot? The jog? Anything? You might as well be honest now, because if your Nationals experience doesn’t work out as you had hoped, a reality check ahead of time will probably reduce the disappointment. Setting yourself up for disappointment by overestimating your own talent—and your horse’s—doesn’t pencil out in the long run. (It is useful to do this even if your trainer is showing your horse.)

After you have analyzed your technical abilities, take a look at your attitude. Are you really ready for the ring? Do you have a plan for your ride? For instance, if your horse excels at the canter, do you have techniques in mind for getting it out where the judges can see that canter? If it has weaknesses, do you have a plan to minimize how much attention they attract?

One aid in developing a strategy in the ring is videoing yourself, and then, studying the video with your trainer, discuss all of your options And again, ask yourself: Are my horse and I really ready to win? Don’t blow your hopes out of proportion; set realistic goals and focus on reaching them. If that means a blue ribbon—great. But if it simply means increasing your ability so that one day you do win that blue ribbon, that is fine too. Your confidence for the future and your enjoyment of the third week in October may depend on your honesty with yourself.

One reason I’m such a stickler about reexamining the whole situation is that I think you show your horse at its peak in the division in which it is most competitive. If your horse is a true amateur horse, it doesn’t need to go open. On the other hand, if it is not ready to be an amateur horse, then it needs to go open.

I realize that all of this is really hard, because there is so much emotion involved. Our passion for the Arabian horse and what we do is very distracting; it’s hard to be objective. It’s best to recognize that it may be hard for your trainer to be objective too. Some have no trouble telling you when things are bad, but for others, it is not easy. It is the law of human nature that if someone needs your money to pay the electric bill, he or she might not be so ready to upset you with bad news unless you ask specifically. But in any case, I think that your trainer will respect you for it.

The Practical Aspects Of Being Ready

The great thing about taking another look at yourself is that if you and your trainer decide that something needs fine tuning, you have time to do it. You have time to build up strength in your performance as well as your confidence—just that little extra that might make all the difference.

One question is, is your show ring attire ready? If you need a new saddle seat, now is the time. And if you are a little round or if a little thin, there are ways of breaking up the lines with lighter or darker colors to make you look slimmer or more filled-out. Or perhaps you find that you need to be a little more colorful. Many times when the horses are body clipped, they don’t have all the bloom that they need, so maybe more color on your part would help. It is all part of your overall appearance. For many of us, I think that it is good for our confidence just to know that we look our best.

None of what I am saying is limited to the performance divisions; halter exhibitors face the same challenges. Many of us are not 20 anymore and maybe our running style leaves a little to be desired (not to mention that running around the ring is not as easy as it used to be). You don’t have to be a sprinter, but ask your mother, your wife, your children—anyone you trust—to take a look at how you run. If you need to get better at it, figure that you have just acquired a new exercise. For women, this is an ideal time to make sure that “athletic support” is in place. A video is helpful here too.

Nerves are nerves, so if you’re going to be nervous under saddle, you’re going to be nervous in-hand, and our halter industry has developed the stand-up into a performance. A handler’s mental capability definitely affects a horse’s standup, as well as its entrance into the ring and its overall attitude during the class. If you have a confident, strong attitude going in, your horse is going to feel confident and strong; it’s going to trot and flag its tail over its back. The whole picture is different from what it would be if you are meek and quiet and run hunched over as if you didn’t want anyone to notice you.

Now is also a good time to line up your support team for your classes, whether it be your family or other people in your barn. I’m not saying that they should interfere with what your trainer will be doing—I’m just saying that it really helps mentally to know that they are there on the rail for you. You know you’ve got people parked around that arena that are there to tell you if you are on the wrong lead or whatever. You can’t have too much support.

Finally, if you have really looked at yourself and adjusted whatever needed work, you will know that you are on top of your game. An added benefit to that is that you should be pretty safe from the mind games that some other competitors play. Sad to say, they are out there, just as they are in golf and tennis (“I saw you yesterday, you’re really having trouble with that lead”). That’s all designed to make you doubt yourself, and distract from your performance But if you have gone over your own act with a fine tooth comb, you will recognize it for what it is and shrug it off. You are on your game, and you are beyond such tricks.

Is Your Horse Ready?

You might think that if your horse has been winning all summer, it’s in good shape for U.S. Nationals. It may be—but the Nationals is different from any other show, so it pays to be sure.

The biggest change at Nationals is the number and intensity of trips your horse will be asked to make. Say, you figure your horse is going to have to go through a 20-minute class more than once (in fact, depending on the division, as many as five times) in the week. Is it physically fit to do that? That is a huge thing to take into account. If you’re working him 10 minutes at home, you can’t expect him to stay at his peak for 20 minutes. Sure, you will not be going all-out for those 20 minutes, but it is fair to assume that it will need more stamina than it probably has now. You might consider increasing either the laps of your work or the time of your work—not the intensity level, but maybe just a little extra cantering, a little extra trotting. That benefits you too because you are going to have to do the same thing when you’re in the ring with your horse. So as you are making sure your horse is fit, ask yourself: Can I be at my best for 20 minutes, or am I going to be winded halfway through the class?

Depending on our own individual schedules at Nationals, this may not seem like a problem at first. But many of us help to offset the costs of showing by leasing our horses for JTR and different things like that, while others share the horse with family members. So you may not be showing, but your horse may. Just remember to consider the horse’s schedule when figuring out its optimum level of fitness.

Another factor to consider is whether or not you or horse showed in Canada or at Youth Nationals. That presents a new set of challenges in keeping your horse at peak level—in the case of Canada, that means that the horse must be at a peak near the end of August and then again in October. A complication is the physical stress of hauling to Regina. That doesn’t make your task impossible; it just gives you more to think about.

This is also the time to make sure your farrier is on schedule. As amateurs, we can pretty much rely on our trainers to make sure that our horses’ shoes are at optimum comfort for the best performances, but it never hurts to ask. If your horse is better with freshly-done feet a month or right at six weeks out, it pays to make sure it is done on time.

In General

While you are nailing down all the fine points, it won’t hurt to check out your horse’s wardrobe. Does it need new blankets? Are its blankets clean, and are there enough of them to get through the show? Do you have enough leg wraps? Knowing it is all taken care of again leads to the confidence of being prepared.

Also, nearly all of us want videos of our rides. Do yourself a favor and call Seehorse early. With the number of entries in most Nationals classes, Seehorse will book out early. Get your reservation in and check that off your list.

My final piece of advice may sound silly, but I promise (from what I saw at Youth Nationals) that it is not. Make sure your horse is qualified. So many of us think a championship automatically qualifies us for the Nationals, but unless there were enough horses in the class, it doesn’t anymore. Check your qualifications and your divisions, and get online to make sure that you earned the points you think you did. Then check the AHA handbook to see that your horse is qualified. We have some very positive new rules, but the operative word is ‘new.’ It takes time for some of us to get used to them.

In closing, let me just recap: Look at everything and then believe in yourself, in your horse and in your trainer. Just don’t leave it anything to chance.

For anyone who would like to email questions, topics, or comments, I can be reached at info@battagliafarms.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Russell Vento Jr. has been involved in the Arabian industry for 25 years, and since 1989 has been a partner in Battaglia Farms. He was honored twice with APAHA Amateur Horseman Awards. To date, he has owned or shown 30 U.S., Canadian and National Show Horse national champions, and he now enjoys watching his daughter Skyler win on many of the horses with whom he was successful. He has been a Large R USAE/AHA judge since 1996.