When we got to the show grounds and unloaded she was dripping with sweat. The temps were high, the humidity was heavy and apparently the air flow in the trailer wasn't that great. Once unloaded she looked around a bit but wasn't too worried about her surroundings. I only had a half an hour to ride prior to the show starting so I opted to skip my gw and went straight into the arena.
She felt great! She had a little pep in her step but nothing I wouldn't anticipate from her first time out. She wanted to be with Sis so I made sure I kept her on the opposite side of the arena. When it came time for the show to start I decided she was calm enough so I went ahead and entered her in a few classes.
Our first class was walk/trot. I knew going in she would be too fast and would have too high of a headset but figured at least I didn't have to worry about other horses blowing past me. She was a bit nervous going in but it didn't take her long to relax. At the end she even "almost" started to get a headset. We ended up placing 5th.
Areas I need to work on:
- going clockwise she wanted to move with her hips off of the rail. I'm fairly certain I created this problem by trying to get her hips in to get her right lead departure.
- speed control
Our second class was Ranch Horse Pleasure. This was a pattern class so I figured it didn't matter how bad we messed up the pattern, we were getting exposure to the ring.
Below is the pattern:
Walking over the poles was no big deal although Cat did give them the once over as if to say "hey you weren't here earlier". I was dreading the side pass to the right as I have just recently (last week) started to teach Cat to side pass on the fence. I had yet to side pass her off of the fence and going to the right is her not so good direction. With a little bit of practice before our class I was thrilled with her side pass!
After the side pass was the 360. This is also something we just started working on and I hadn't worked on it from a standstill. Again, she did awesome! She took her left lead like a champ (no surprise there for me). When it came time to switch leads it wasn't happening! lol This again came as no surprise as I have been having issues getting her to pick up her right lead. Her stop was dead on however her back was a bit crooked. We placed 5th in this class.
Areas I need to work on:
- Lead departures
- Backing straight
Our next class was Horsemanship. She wasn't sure what to do standing in line while the other horses walked off one at a time but she wasn't bad. Her stop was not as good as it could have been and her pivot fell short of her pivot in the ranch horse class. I wasn't horribly upset as again, we've just started working on the pivots. Her lead departure (a left lead) was spot on! Her stop was sub par but her back was straighter. We placed 5th in this class however there were only 5 entries.
Areas I need to work on:
- My own performance since this class is based on the rider not the horse
After the "performance" classes I "ran" her in barrels and poles for shits and giggles. No, we didn't place in these classes, but I was very happy with her steering. She didn't get all worked up and moved well through the poles.
Between classes she stood on the outside of the rail and watched the horses go by. In the beginning it was pretty exciting and she'd get nervous when Sis would leave to go into her classes. It didn't take her long for her lazy side to kick in and for her to take it as an opportunity to snooze even when Sis left.
 |
| Ready to head home for the night. |
 |
| Looking over at Sis. Wondering if she's ready to go home too. |
 |
| She doesn't look all that bad in a short mane. |
2 comments:
Good post. In the horsemanship class was someone just telling you what to do or were you just following the person in front?
Does the CA saddle have enough bling to show?
Cat looks great!
There was a pattern we had to follow for horsemanship.
I don't care if the CA saddle has enough "bling". ;) Heck I forgot to take my hobbles off the saddle before I went in. :) I told you it wasn't planned.
I figure the CA saddle is either going to help me (a judge who likes CA's style), hinder me (a judge who dislikes CA) or make no difference at all (a judge who places off of the horses performance and not on the tack). The last judge is the judge I'm looking for.
Post a Comment