Horse Show Recap

Yesterday I had my western pleasure show I had mentioned in my last post. So I spent most of my week preparing. Wednesday I went on a 2 hour trail ride with my friend K for her birthday and we had so much fun. We up on this grassy circle that goes behind this development. We like to go there and canter around and always wanted to go through into the development just for fun. Well this time we finally did it! We saw people watching us ride through their back door and asked if they would mind us walking through. We walked up and down the sidewalks and along the streets. It was a lot of fun and people were running to the doors to see us. It's not everyday horses walk through their development Haha.

Anyway back to the show. Turns out crazy 2 hour trail rides work wonders for our western pleasure. She was slow and perfect in our lesson the next day. At the show she schooled like a dream. Great jog. Beautiful lope. The only thing was she was a bit slow on picking up her canter. I worked her through our horsemanship pattern and worked on the transitions and she did well.

Then I went into my first class which was horsemanship pattern and rail work. She is always a bit of a doofus in this class. She gets very antsy and rushes the pattern, but I thought she would be better since she has schooled so nicely. Unfortunately I was wrong. We started our jog and she was prancing all over. She was slow in picking up the lope so by the time she did we were at the cone where we had to circle. Our circle was to small and uneven and she was quick. Our rail work was so, so. We had only 3 people when we usually have 6-8 in the class and it was extremely muddy. I ended up pinning 2nd in that class. We had a great judge "Buttons" Fairfax. I really liked him and he gave helpful comments. The horsemanship class wasn't entirely her fault. I didnt really hold up my end all that well either. My eq was sloppy in trying to fix her and my usual show nerves. I get in the class and stop being able to think about everything I am supposed to be doing. Anyway the judge said I needed to sit up straighter and look up (which my trainer R says all the time and I had been getting much better about in lessons).

Then we had the pleasure class which started well. She was jogging nicely and her lope started our well but got strung out and quick in parts. Her upward transitions were also slow. We ended up third due to our inconsistent lope. The judge said she had parts where she was collected and using her butt and she looked gorgeous, but then I would let her get strung out. I was so used to my old trainer saying to check or correct when the judge wasn't looking and he was always looking so I didn't correct as often. Like my friend said though it is better to let the judge see you correct then to let her keep going around looking sloppy. He also said when I do check her to lift up not back or down which is just what my trainer said as well.

The command class which is my favorite was very quick. His second command was lope and me and another girl both picked up the wrong lead so the 3rd girl won. I took second. Usually that is our best class. I can't believe we go the wrong lead. She never gets the wrong lead. Ugh so frustrating.

Our last class was the trail class which is also one of our strong points. Our pattern was alright. We had to back through cones which went well, but had some close calls. Our transition to the jog was slow and we only had a few strides to do it to begin with. We had to pick up a jacket and put it on another pole she was shifting around when I went to place it down which I am sure made it look to the judge like she was afraid of it, which she wasn't. She was just being antsy as usual. Her transition to the lope was very slow again. She only got 2 strides then broke 2 strides before she was supposed to. Her 360 was a bit sloppier than it could have been. We had to jog over a fan of poles and she hit some which is points off. She sidepassed nicely once she started doing it. When I halted her at first she was antsy and swinging around. She walked fine over the bridge and got her right lead canter at the end which I was very happy about. She counter canters beautifully at home, but I always have trouble getting it in trail classes which drives me nuts. We took 2nd in that class and were reserve champion.

All in all we did okay, but could have done better. It just makes me nuts that she schooled so beautifully and did so well in our lesson and then doesn't go half as nicely in the class. Though that is not entirely her fault so I should not make it seem that way. I let my nerves get the best of me and don't even realize it. I get into the class and just forget everything I should be doing to fix or help her and get mad instead, which is no good for either of us. I think she has a bit of show nerves of her own, but mine don't help much. We have our last of this show series on October 4th so we are going to work hard towards redeeming ourselves in that one. Ribbons are not important to me I just want to go out there and do the best we can do.