Monday, June 8, 2009

Yesterday's Horse Show

Here are a couple of pics from yesterday's show:











So as I said in my previous posts I had a horse show yesterday and it went pretty well. It was a beautiful day, but it was hot especially in show clothes. It is technically a schooling show, but it is pretty tough for an unrated, non-breed show. Anyway she warmed up nicely, a little quick at the lope, but still pretty good. Plus, I lost a day of schooling Friday after my session with my trainer because it rained the whole day, but I did what she told me to on Saturday and Sunday.

The first class of the afternoon for us was horsemanship pattern and rail work. The pattern wasn't bad and definitely doable, but unfortunately it did not work out that way. She was very quick and antsy, and she flew through the pattern. The jog from A to B was okay, but she picked up the wrong lead with the lope around and stop equal to C then would not halt at C. She was fidgeting and flying sideways. I stopped and tried to calm her before moving to the next part of the pattern. That part required a lope which was equally quick, but on the correct lead at least, but again she was flying around at that halt and just would not settle so I excused myself without doing the last part of the pattern. Her rail work in that class was much better, but we took 6th due to our poor pattern performance.

The second class was western pleasure which went much better than the first. She was still quicker at both the jog and lope than I would like, but much better than before. Her jog to lope transitions need work. We were right in front of the judge when we were asked for it and she shot into the lope and by the time she settled we were being asked to walk, but again a much better performance than the first class though not her best. We ended up taking a 4th though, which was good especially since pleasure isn't her best class. She is much better in trail and command and usually pattern.

The command class was our next class and my favorite because it doesnt matter how pretty it looks or how slow, you just have to do it. This is one of Satin's best classes because of her reining past. The class started out alright, but when asked to go from the lope to the halt (again right in front of the judge) she was super antsy and just would not stand still so we were called in, but we again took home a 4th.

Our last class was trail which is my 2nd favorite class and one of Satin's best events. The pattern wasn't too difficult and started out great. It started with knocking down the pole and then sidepassing and working the mailbox, which went beautifully. Then we had to jog a set of cavalettis, which she did a little quick but they were tight so you kind of had to. Then we had to pick a bucket up off a barrel and jog it to the next barrel. She was a little late picking up her jog and wouldn't stop straight next to the 2nd barrel. She got ansty and spun around it, but I was able to put it down. The next part was to jog a serpentine around a set of cones, which went fine. Then we had to lope to the bridge, which again she did pretty quickly and then got antsy and would not go over the bridge nicely, so I had to stop, turn her around and get her straight, and then ask her to walk over, which she did nicely. The last part of the pattern was to back a serpentine through a set of 3 cones, which also went well. She got a little crooked and almost knocked one of the cones, but I was able to fix her in time and we took 2nd in that class, which I was very happy about!

So overall we had a pretty good day and have some things to work on before the next show, but that isn't until August so we have plenty of time. The rest of my friends did good as well. My friend whose has the STBD mare I wrote about in my last post, lets call her L (she is also the one I take lessons with) was grand champion in her division with three 1sts and two 2nds. The other girls from the barn all got in between 1st-4th. I have a lesson Thursday so I can talk to my trainer about the show and work on some things. They are calling for bad weather this week, but hopefully they are wrong (knock on wood).

Oh also last Friday I was able to go into the paddock at the local STBD track since my friend is a groom in a race barn. It was a pretty cool experience and the horse ended up winning so I got to be in the winner's circle picture. My friend's boss also said he may have me paddock for him in the future when he has several horses running the same day especially if they are at different tracks so that would be cool too.










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