Focus on Tournament Preparation: Tips and Tricks for a Successful Start

Tournament preparation as a whole and as a whole

If you want to present your horse at tournaments, you have to think about a few things when preparing for the tournament. In the following article we will go into more detail about the individual stages of tournament preparation. We will not only explain to you which requirements have to be fulfilled, for example, to enter horse shows, but we will also give you some practical tips along the way.

Under the term "tournament preparation" we understand on the one hand the bureaucratic preparations, such as the nomination of tournaments and the declaration of readiness to start, but on the other hand also the preparation of horse and rider. Here the preparatory training as well as the horse and leather care play an important role. At the end of our article you will find a checklist for free download. It is intended to support you in preparing for the tournament. ‍

What requirements must be met to enter a tournament?

The almost most important tournament preparation that you have to make in order to be able to start at a tournament at all is the entry. Tournaments can usually be entered online. When entering a tournament, first check which tournament regulations it is. On the one hand, there is the Leistungs-Prüfungs-Ordnung (LPO) for competition sport and on the other hand the Wettbewerbs-Ordnung (WBO) for amateur sport and beginner competitions. 

Do you want to start at a LPO tournament? Then you should pay attention to a few points when registering. Note that your horse must be listed with the FN as a show horse. Do you start in class E? If you answer this question with a yes, a free trial license is sufficient for your tournament start. If you want to start in class A or higher, you will need an annual show license for which you have to pay. To acquire the license, the required riding badge must be submitted. LPO tournaments can be named via "Nennung Online" as a portal of the FN.

The starting conditions for WBO competitions are much more unrestricted. Here neither a tournament license, nor a riding badge or a registration of your horse is required. Nevertheless, the conditions of participation should be checked. Often the membership in a riding club is required. WBO competitions can be entered via the WBO entry form to be entered. At some tournaments, the entry can also be made online. This depends on whether the organizer has set this up.

Your horse should be vaccinated against the influenza and herpes virus regardless of the tournament regulations explained above. The vaccination is a compulsory condition for participation. All conditions of participation can be found in the tournament announcement of the organizer.

It makes sense to have different test classes in the various disciplines in which the riders can start with their horses. This ensures that riders who are at a similar level of performance can compete with each other. The classification into the different performance classes is based on the riding badge. The table below shows you in which classes you can start with your riding badge.

How often may a horse start at a tournament? According to the LPO § 66 horses may have up to three tournament starts per day. There are exceptions in the WBO. Here it is allowed that horses perceive a maximum of five starts per day. ‍

The final training session before the big day

Tournament preparation with a view to the final training session can be quite different. What the training looks like depends not only on the rider himself, but on his level of performance.

Not all riders use the last training session before the tournament to prepare for a task, individual lessons or a course. Some riders prefer to take a more relaxed approach to the unit before the tournament and use the time for a quiet ride, for example, so as not to overstimulate the horse's muscles. After all, who needs sore muscles at the show?

However, the last training before the start is never the only decisive factor for a successful tournament preparation. A training plan tailored to you and your horse, on the other hand, increases your performance in the long term and thus leads much more to success.

Leather care

Even if a tournament is still a sporting event and not a beauty contest, the outward appearance is considered the first impression and as they say, the eye eats with you. Accordingly, tournament preparation includes not only training and bureaucratic things like naming, but also leather care. 

• The first step is to disassemble your bridle and saddle. To help you with this, we recommend that you take a photo of your equipment beforehand. This will help you to reassemble your equipment at the end. 
• Before you reach for the leather care product, you should clean the leather of your saddle and bridle with saddle soap, for example. 
• After cleaning, take the leather grease and use it to care for the leather. Make sure to use the grease in doses. In the worst case, too much grease can cause the leather to swell. 
• Wipe off excess leather care with a dry cloth. 
• Also clean your stirrups and the bit. You can also use a root brush to clean the foot plate of the stirrup. 
• Reassemble everything in the last step. 

By the way, it is recommended to properly clean and grease the leather equipment at regular intervals of about two to three months. This is the only way to keep the leather supple and prevent it from becoming brittle.
If you are not sure whether you are allowed to use your equipment at the show, you can check the Equipment Catalog of the FN for information on approval.‍

Horse care

Not only should your equipment be polished before the start of the show, but you also want your horse to look great on your big day. 

• Wash your horse with a horse shampoo. 
• Brush your horse and give him a relaxing massage.
• Braid your horse for at least dressage and style jumping competitions.
• With the use of hoof oil and the use of a shine spray, you can still give your horse the final touch.‍

How can readiness to start be declared?

Before we tell you how to declare your readiness to start, we would like to draw your attention to check the health condition of your horse. The physical integrity of your horse is the most important thing. You should only present your horse at the show if it is in excellent health. Therefore, be sure to check the health of your horse before you declare your readiness to start!

As a rule, you can declare your readiness to start at the latest one hour before the respective test. Sometimes, however, the deadline is already the day before the test. We advise you to inform yourself about the deadline as early as possible. The readiness to start can be declared in different ways. For example, you can call the registration office of the tournament and have yourself checked off. You can also register online or go to the registration office on site and let them know that you will be starting.‍

Loading made easy

When all tournament preparations are made, the trip to the tournament can begin. Now only your horse has to be loaded. With experienced horses, this can be done within a few minutes. With other horses, however, loading can become a real challenge. If you are aware that your horse is difficult to load, be sure to incorporate loading training into your daily routine. Especially in medical emergencies, it can be vital that your horse enters the trailer quickly. In this case, every second counts!
Luuk Teunissen explains in our video series how hard-to-load horses can be made less afraid of entering the horse trailer. 

Mental training before the start of the tournament

Many riders are very nervous when it comes to starting at a tournament. This is where mental training can help.
So-called "mental training" refers to various psychological coaching methods designed to promote and strengthen a person's various competencies and skills. Social and mental competencies as well as mental abilities, resilience and well-being can be promoted.

For whom is mental training interesting? Mental training can help in a wide variety of scenarios and is suitable for a broad target group. It has many advantages, which we would like to list for you at a glance:

• Increasing the ability to concentrate
• Strengthening self-confidence
• Identification and elimination of stress triggers
• Recognition of anxiety triggers
• Improving the relationship with the horse 
• Identification of own strengths

Mental coach Judith Diekmann explained to us that mental training is used for a wide variety of scenarios. Some riders use this method to develop themselves in concrete learning tasks. By this she means, things that are not yet working so well, but should be worked on further. Another scenario is negative experiences that we associate with a bad experience and therefore want to avoid. Also, the expectation of oneself from oneself or that which one thinks is brought to one by outside people is an issue that can be improved in mental training. 

Rob Ehrens is the national coach of the Dutch show jumping team. He described to us how riders should deal with setbacks. It is difficult when the results get worse and worse from tournament to tournament. However, according to Rob Ehrens, a change in training does not necessarily lead back to success. Rather, he recommends approaching this situation with calm and without panic. You should not deviate from your plan and continue to train hard. Since we are working with a living being, not everything is predictable. Even if the rider is in his top form, it can always happen that the horse, for example, lets his leg hang down over the jump and thus the bar falls. Therefore, it does not help to panic. If you enjoy riding, you will perform well and then the successes will come all by themselves. Besides, nervousness before shows disappears as soon as you go to shows more often and become more experienced.‍

Show preparation for dressage riders

If you have named a dressage test, you should know that you may need to memorize the task. Repeat the task as often as possible in your daily life to memorize it better. For example, use the time when brushing your teeth to go over the task in your head or run it by yourself in your living room. Record the task on a sheet of paper and graph it. Figure out for yourself the best way to memorize the task. It can also be helpful to think of mnemonic devices.

You can find the most common tasks illustrated in the media library of our Academy. It's worth taking a look here, because in our videos you will also learn what the judges pay special attention to and in which lessons you should be particularly attentive.

Walk the course

As a show jumper, you have the opportunity to walk the course before your start. The walk-through usually takes place about a quarter of an hour before the start of the competition. As a rider, you should already be dressed in your competition clothing. Take your time to look at the obstacles and decide which routes you want to ride. Decide which distances you want to aim for between the individual jumps. Measure the distances with large steps. A large stride is about one meter long. Usually the horse always lands two meters after the jump. A canter jump is about 3.5 meters. During the preparation for the show you can practice measuring distances, for example, when building a course in your training. At home you can test how big your strides have to be to cover one meter.

By estimating the distances, you can also deduce at what pace you should ride through the course at each section in order to land correctly with your horse and not score any demerit points. If possible, decide during the walk when you want to take your horse back and when you should send him a little ahead to hit the distances correctly.
Are you riding a time trial and want to get through the course in a fast time? Then it makes sense to also consider what options there are to shorten distances.
Memorize the course. It can be helpful to remember the colors of the individual obstacles, for example. Test in your training how you can best memorize a course.
In our Academy we have published a video on how to walk the course and how to implement the knowledge gained from the walk. Ludger Beerbaum gives numerous tips and explains what he himself pays attention to. He goes into detail about the possibilities and leeway that one has as a rider at the tournament. In addition, three rider-horse pairs are shown for better illustration. Comments explain what the pairs emphasized in their ride. Watch the video for your tournament preparation.‍

Your tournament can come!

Now you know the most important things to keep in mind when preparing for your tournament. As promised, we also attach our checklist for a successful tournament day. It should serve you as a reminder and ensure that you can start your tournament weekend more relaxed from now on. Feel free to write to us on our social media channels and tell us about your tournament. We wish you every success and keep your fingers crossed!