First Horse Show of the Season

Today was our first horse show of the season. It went very well all things considered. First off, the weather here has been awful to ride in and because of no indoor - that means no riding, so this was Bogey's 3rd ride of the season. I'm almost ashamed to say it, our third ride and I take him to an open show. Yikes! Do I have a saint of a horse or what?!? Also, since Bogey is seven, he is required to ride in a "big boy bit" aka, a curb/shanked bit. No more two handing it for us anymore. Today was a milestone as it was our 2nd time riding in a shanked bit. Dear heavens, I'm I a crazy person!

All in all it went very very well considering the above! Bogey and I showed in showmanship, senior (18 - 34 years old) western pleasure, and senior horsemanship (without a pattern, since it was sprinkling and it's an outdoor ring). In regards to western pleasure and horsemanship, we had fairly clean rides we fair/moderately good power steering, but ultimately we did not cut anyone off or ruin anyone's rides! Yay us! We also did not have one ounce of silliness throughout the day, that would be justified of a only 3rd ride horse of the season. There were 3 people bucked off and a runaway horse with all the crazy weather, but we were not one of the aforementioned.

The best part of the show was SHOWMANSHIP! My favorite class ever! It was the classic pattern that our open show circuit likes to reproduce time and time again, so we came ready and prepared! Here's what it looked like:



In the above pattern you start at marker 1, trot all the way to the third marker, back to the second marker. Then conduct a 270 degree pivot all in line with the judge and finally walk to the judge and set up for inspection. The number one issue with the pattern in the cleanliness with the back and making sure that your horse's hip is in line with the judge as that will determine your lines. Fairly difficult pattern for a large horse, especially one that you can't see over his back - that is a problem. The best ways to tackle this pattern is make sure you have clean, straight lines in the trot offs, backs, and walk as well as spacing. Make sure you know your horse's stride length and that you are prepared to compensate for the size of your horse when you are spacing alongside the cones initially.

The number one thing I worried about with Bogey was the back, as Bogey tends to swing his hips out towards his right as we are backing. This I have tried to remedy with controlled backing, backing in circles (forcing the issue and creating strength) as well as finally backing along a fence line. It seems to have worked! We got second! My BHF (Best horse friend) got first, and she said that I should have won, also a local trainer said to her client that my pattern was the pattern to beat and that I did it perfectly! Yay for me and the Bogey horse!

We didn't place in horsemanship or western pleasure and had a few break downs in gait, what can I say we both are out of shape! Just wait until we are primed and ready for the next show, we'll be rocking!

Here's a couple win pictures my sister took of my BHF and I and one of me and the Bogey horse! First time wearing my new outfit, what do you think?!?





FYI The dates on the camera are one day off. Those were taken merely hours ago.