Spring NC All Arab Horse Show

Hey all,

Thought I'd give everybody the same rundown of the horse show so I won't have to repeat myself a bunch of times. :-)

It went well for the first show of the season.  We all are a little rusty, and we are training new grooms and new riders.  Ahh, the joys and pleasures of horse shows.  Good thing I'm in this for enjoyment and not for the money and awards. ;-)

We took three horses from our barn and met up w/ a friend, April, from another barn who used to train w/us.  So there were a total of four horses and 11 riders/handlers in our string.  Three of our grooms are new this season, so we were training them as we went.  (Show grooming is much more complicated than grooming a horse at home.)

At any rate. We did fairly well.  The young colt, Tango, that one of our Jr. riders was handling in the halter classes did place.  He got a fifth and a sixth.   This is a very respectable placing as he is only a yearling and was competing against mature horses.  The rest of us did well.  My partner, Jenny, got a blue and a reserve in show hack on her stallion AA Manhattan, another of our Jr. riders got a third on Manhattan in Hunter Hack. Our other Jr. Rider who placed got a fourth on Manhattan in a large class of equitation riders. April, the person who brought her own horse, Izod, place second in Hunter Hack and got a fifth in hunter pleasure novice horse. This team has
greatly improved from last year. Izod is only 4 yrs old, and still very green, but they both improve every ride in the ring.  I think that in time they will be unbeatable. 

The rest of us did not place, though we did achieve most of our goals.  We were all riding the same horse, Piedmont.  He's still a little green to the show ring, so taking him in the ring is always an adventure.  One never really knows what one is going to get out of him.  We have learned the hard way that he really has to go in the show ring at least once w/ an astride rider on him before I take him in a sidesaddle class.  He just doesn't do well, and it sets a bad tone for 
the rest of the show.  We thought we'd try having me ride first one time this year, thinking that he'd had a year to mature and get over his nonsense, but to no avail.  He just didn't want to listen in his first class in the ring.  To complicate things, my saddle slipped which dug the tree into his left shoulder, and he refused to take the right lead. I had to take a time out in the class to have my grooms push the saddle back in place.  Major bummer.  So, we placed last. 

Then the rest of his riders spent the rest of the show trying to get him to listen.  He finally got his act together Sat. night w/ Jenny up on him, but he still didn't place.  Too many national contenders in the ring and a judge who seemed to be playing power politics and/or wanted  something very different from what we had.  (Odd judge, he did foolish things like ask for a canter from an extended trot... a major training no no for horses.) 

We are hoping for a better judge at the next show, and are thankful that there are several astride class that Jenny can take Piedmont into before I get on him aside.  We are also going to teach our grooms how to put on the sidesaddle correctly so that it wont slip while I'm riding him and braid manes and tails, so I don't have to do it while I'm trying to get dressed for my class.    :-)

On the lighter side, I have to admit, though, that the highlight of the show for me was taking my two eldest nieces into the lead line class. This class is for young riders who are not mature enough yet to handle the horse on their own in the show ring. So, an adult leads the horse around the ring while the rider practices equitating (proper riding posture) on the back of the horse.  The riders and the adults leading them have on the appropriate gear. The riders look like miniature versions of the adult riders.  My eldest niece was dressed in a Native Arabian Costume and was up on Izod (His portion of the costume was finished ten min. before the class) and my second niece was up on Piedmont riding Western Sidesaddle.  All of the young riders look really good, which meant the judge just couldn't pick one winner, so there was a tie.  Everyone got a blue ribbon.  My nieces were soo excited.  My sister-in-law said I made my nieces year.  Too cool.   As soon as I get the pictures back from my mother and grandmother, I'll post them up on my web page. :-) (Can you tell I love my nieces? )


At any rate, The show was a good one, and we are going to review the video tapes this week and make plans for the next one.  We have three weeks to fix the problems.   Our next horse show will be in Williamston, NC on May 13-14.  Wish us luck and come and watch if you've time! 

Mel

Back to Home Page

Back to Horse Show Adventures