National Standardbred Show 2012

This past Sunday was my favorite show of the year, the National Standardbred Show! You may find it odd that a Standardbred show would be my favorite show since I own a Quarter Horse. If you are a follower of this blog, you know that while Quarter Horses are my all time favorite, I am a HUGE fan and supporter of the Standardbred. They are an extremely talented, versatile, and underestimated breed. Anyone who attended Sunday's show saw just that. The show is a lot of fun, has something for everyone, and the SPHO-NJ does a phenomenal job planning and running it. The other thing I love about this show is the people. Everyone there is very nice and friendly and extremely supportive. There is none of the catty attitude typical at most horse shows. Everyone cheers each other and on and congratulates and compliments each other regardless of the outcome. Every one who attends the show is there to support and further the success, versatility, and progress of the breed as a show horse. As you all know, I have been working with my friend Helene's Standardbred JB (aka MR. Versatility) on western pleasure for the past year and half. Last year we were unable to show in the western division at the National show because it conflicted with Helene's driving division. This year, however, the schedule changed and we were able to compete. Unfortunately, the Western division was immediately following the Model division (in which we took 5th in Showmanship and 5th in Model Geldings) so we only had a few minutes to warm up before entering the show ring. Our first class was Western Pleasure (walk/jog). JB had a nice jog, but he did not have his usual low head set. This was a combination of distraction from riders coming into the park from a judged trail ride, lack of warm up, and a bit of rider error (which is usually always the case when we can't get our horse to do what we want at least in part). We received 2nd in the class and the judge commented that we had a nice jog, but inconsistent head set, which I knew right away. Our second class was a walk/jog Horsemanship class with a pattern. We executed what I thought was a nice pattern followed by some good rail work. The head was still an issue in this class, but horsemanship is judged on the rider so it did not matter. We won this class! Our third class was a walk/jog/lope class and this was our first time attempting the lope. We had only practiced the lope riding one handed twice at home in the week before the show, since we decided last minute to enter these classes. He was awesome! He picked up the lope right away (it was more of a collected canter, but very good with our limited practice). His head set was a bit higher than I would like, but it had been at the lope at home too, so I just gave him his head and let him go along. We won this class too and judge commented that we had the a nice and very consistent lope. Our final class was a walk/jog/lope Horsemanship class. We won this class too executing a pattern that tested your transitions and included some tight circles for loping, quite nicely. We ended up being champion for the division! Helene and JB also picked up many blue and red ribbons and championships of their own in Equitation, Jumping, and Driving classes. As always, a big thank you to Helene for lending me her rockstar horse and supporting and helping us every step of the way.

JB and I with our ribbons from the western division! (We later received a champion sash that unfortunately we did not have in time for this photo)

National Standardbred Show

Yesterday was one of my favorite shows of the year, the National Standardbred Show. Even though I do not have a Standardbred I am very involved with the breed and have many close friends that own Standardbreds. As you all know, JB, who I have been showing and often write about is a Standardbred. They are an extremely versatile, talented, and quite underestimated breed. The National show really brings the Standardbred community together and shows what the breed can do.

They have every discipline covered from hunters and western to driving and dressage. Horses and riders from all aspects of the Standardbred world came out, including hall of fame racehorse Gallo Blue Chip. There were several horses still racing that competed, as well as, several big money winners pursuing second careers.

I showed the ever handsome JB in Showmanship, where we placed 5th, as well as, Geldings In Hand, where we placed 2nd to a very good looking gelding from Ohio who went on to win the National In Hand Championship. We had several members of SPHO Ohio join us this year for the National and they were a very nice group of people with some very talented horses. The girl who showed the winning gelding in hand came over to me after both of our classes to congratulate me on my placings and comment on JB's good looks (and she was not the only one to do so). I look forward to competing against them again next year. JB and I also managed to sneak into the command class where we took 5th.

I spent the rest of the day fulfilling my other horse show role: show mommy / photographer. My show mom duties usually pertain to JB's owner H, but at this show I have so many friends showing I have to stretch myself out a bit. H and JB are still my main focus, but I try to lend a hand to whoever else needs it, like my good friend L, who is my lesson partner.

Anyway, H and JB had a fabulous show. They competed in driving, equitation, and english pleasure. They won every class they entered except one, in which they received third. They were also supposed to compete in jumpers, which unfortunately was canceled due to a storm. The National tends to end every year with a storm, but at least we got the entire show in, except jumpers, before then.

JB also carried two other riders at the National. He carried a young girl in leadline. He also was the mount of Alex Brown, author of the book about the famous Barbaro, in the ride-a-buck class. It was Alex's first ride on a STB and they brought home the blue ribbon.

The other great thing about the National is getting to see old friends that you don't get to see regularly. Friends from Maine and Vermont traveled to the Horse Park for the National. We did miss our Kentucky friends though!

Everyone had a great show day and it was nice to see such a nicely turned out group of Standardbreds.