Q. I ride and show my trainer’s horse. I’m comfortable on the horse, but cantering among others bothers me a little. Some of the things I wanted to know are, how are all of those riders able to not run into each other when there are ten of them in the ring and riding at the canter?
A. To answer your question (which made me smile a bit), horses do sometimes run into each other in the show ring. They sometimes crowd, bump, cut off, and run up on each other as well. Riders do their best to keep these errors to a minimum, however, by waiting until both they and their horses are adequately trained before entering the show environment. Mistakes such as those mentioned are usually made by inexperienced riders and/or young or inexperienced horses.
A rider who can not properly handle his or her horse in the ring and who ends up causing problems for the other riders will quickly earn a bad reputation on the show circuit and lose friends in the ring. It is in everyone’s best interest for each rider to demonstrate both strong riding skills and proper ring etiquette at all times when riding in close contact with other horses – not only in the show ring.
I would suggest talking to your trainer about getting some practice cantering with other riders in the ring at your home barn. Perhaps (s)he can set up some sort of practice horse show class with a few other riders who would also appreciate the experience. Dodging the dog or setting up obstacles in the ring to canter around will be helpful to a point, but it’s very important to get in some practice time with other riders as well.
Once you are very comfortable riding at a canter and are able to control the pace and perform accurate figures riding alone, you will find it as easy to go around other riders while cantering as you do at walk and trot. It’s really all a matter of practice and more practice. Just make sure you’re doing all this practicing at the teaching stable with other students rather than in a show ring with other competitors!