It’s not that I mentally get tense or nervous at horse shows, I physically get tense. I clamp my legs and my arm doesn’t follow. After a little bit in the ring, I usually calm down and release my grip and relax, but I need some tips for relaxing immediately. I’m showing for the first time at this new place tomorrow, I’ve only shown my lease one other time. He had a lot of energy yesterday, and me tensing up in the warm-up ring wasn’t helping at all.

My instructor told me to take deep breaths, and that really worked, but are there any things you can do that help you stay relaxed long-term?

I have this really weird problem. Whenever I transition to the canter, I feel like my outside stirrup needs to be adjusted. My stirrup doesn’t move from it’s original position at all, it just feels like I need to put my foot farther into it. It messes up my balance because then I try to slide my foot farther into it, and then my horse changes his pace because I’m leaning forward, and I have less time to prepare for a jump, not to mention I’m uncomfortable because after I adjust it it feels too far and even more uncomfortable. I have no clue how to fix this, but it’s really bad. It doesn’t happen severely every time, just most of the time.

In equitation/medal classes, in both O/F and on the flat, at A and B rated shows, does your horse need to be in frame? I’m talking about the lower level classes – 2’3 – 2’9.