The world of eventing is full of new riders and horse people. Even if you’ve been around horses all your life, there are bound to be a few things you didn’t know when you got started in this sport. We’ve all made mistakes at one point or another. With the right information and practice, we can avoid compounding those mistakes by educating ourselves on best practices before we make them in front of other people. Self-inflicted wounds are the worst. It’s easy to forget that these mistakes are on the public record now, and we have to own them before we can move forward with a clean slate. We’ve all made mistakes, but there are some common mistakes made by new eventers that we can keep in mind as we progress in our eventing careers so that we don’t compound them with new errors.
Knowing what you need to know
If you want to improve as an event rider, you need to know what’s important and what you should be focusing on. There are so many aspects of eventing that can be overwhelming at first. What are the differences between dressage, cross-country, and hunt seat? Why does your horse have to be ridden in a different jacket on the cross-country course than on the dressage course? What do you do with a horse that throws its rider? If you don’t know these answers, you need to spend some time educating yourself and researching the different disciplines so that you’re not ignorant about the most important aspects of eventing.
Don’t rush into booking competitions
If you’re new to eventing, don’t rush into booking a ton of competitions. You don’t know what your horse is capable of in the ring yet, so you don’t know what level of event you should be competing at. You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re competing at too high of an level. It’s better to book a few smaller and lower-profile events and build your confidence and skills before you try to compete at the Grand Prix level. You don’t know what you’re capable of until you get in the ring with a lot of pressure on you. That’s when you’ll know if you have what it takes to be an event rider. If you jump into the big leagues too quickly, you’ll put too much pressure on yourself and make mistakes you’ll have to live with forever.
Don’t buy the horse before you’ve even looked at it
If you’re new to eventing, don’t buy a horse before you’ve even looked at it and held it in your arms. You don’t know what horse is going to click with you. You don’t know if you’re going to be a good fit for each other. If you buy a horse without looking at it first, you’re going to regret it. You’ll always wonder if the horse would have been better suited for someone else. You don’t want to get stuck with a horse that you don’t like or is a poor match for you. You don’t want to be in a situation where you have to sell a horse because you don’t have the budget to keep it. You don’t want to end up spending a ton of money on a horse that ends up being too much for you.
Don’t jump into the deep end of the pool
If you’re new to eventing, don’t jump into the deep end of the pool and compete at the Grand Prix level. You don’t know what you’re capable of yet, and you’re going to make a fool out of yourself if you jump into it too quickly. You’ll get frustrated and make too many mistakes. You need to build your eventing skills and confidence before you try to compete at that level. You’re going to make mistakes. Everyone does. That’s how you learn and improve your skills. You don’t want to make the same mistakes over and over. You need to be patient with yourself as you build your eventing skills and confidence so that you don’t compound your mistakes.
Conclusion
If you want to improve as an event rider, you need to know what’s important and what you should be focusing on. There are so many aspects of eventing that can be overwhelming at first. What are the differences between dressage, cross-country, and hunt seat? Why does your horse have to be ridden in a different jacket on the cross-country course than on the dressage course? What do you do with a horse that throws its rider? If you don’t know these answers, you need to spend some time educating yourself and researching the different disciplines so that you’re not ignorant about the most important aspects of eventing. You don’t want to jump into the deep end of the pool and compete at the Grand Prix level. You don’t know what you’re capable of yet, and you’re going to make a fool out of yourself if you jump into it too quickly. You need to build your eventing skills and confidence before you try to compete at that level.