Five Horse Show Superstitions - Dressage Edition
I’ve come across a variety of horse show superstitions over the years. These superstitions range from run-of-the-mill, all the way to odd and elaborate. Some superstitions are about nerves and some are about recreating a win. Others are just for fun.
1. Don’t change anything at a horse show
I’ll never swap out tack for something new at a horse show. If a bit works at home, I’m not going to swap to a new one I haven’t used before… even if it’s the same exact style. I rotate the same three or four saddle pads at shows, I won’t replace one until it’s just too dirty to use.
2. Lucky show clothes
People tell me they have lucky socks or something similar. Others won’t match their socks because it could be bad luck. Or, maybe it’s a certain pin on your jacket that you might never show without. It’s all in what you believe.
3. Matching browbands and stock ties
I’ve personally been brought over to the belief that if I do well wearing a stock tie and browband combo, that’s what I’ll show in the rest of the season. Don’t ask me to wash the stock tie until show season’s over either. I might wash the luck right out of it! This is frequent in dressage where blingy browbands and stock ties are common.
4. Special show awards
One barn I showed with gave out what they called the "Honey Badger Award". This award was given to the person who had the most challenging show season. It was considered good luck to receive this year-end award. The person who received it always had a great show season the next year.
5. A piñata for low scores
The same farm also had a piñata that was passed around after horse shows. The piñata went home with whomever had the lowest dressage score. At the end of the show season, we had a party that included destroying the piñata from that year. Now, I’ll admit that person ended up being me most of my first year. The benefit of that was picking the piñata for the next year. It would be bad luck to reuse the same piñata two years in a row.
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