Thursday, September 13, 2012

First Actual Show!

Sunday, September 9th I had my first show! It was the Zia Paint Club (a small  horse club I'm apart of) Made in the Shade show. I only did two classes just to get a feel of showing and I think it was a great experience.

However, I was very nervous. Star, my friend's paint mare, was VERY ancy. She was understandably nervous and I had a hell of a time getting her to just chill and stand still. She had to keep moving her feet. I was very worried about this since I was doing a halter class and a walk/trot Western Pleasure class, both of which require to horse to stand at one point or another. My nerves were not helping the situation at all.

Yet somehow, the two times we went into the ring we somehow pulled off not making a fool of ourselves. In halter she was responsive and stood without doing weird things with her legs. She wasn't square, but it was acceptable I felt for both of us. We placed 2nd out of 3rd in that class.

When our Western Pleasure class was about to roll around, the arena opened for schooling. She spooked a little, did some sidestepping, and was a little nervous. It was right before our class too... yikes! Soon they called all the riders who were not in the class out and it started.
Again, somehow she cut out her nervousness and was very responsive. Still a little nervous, but manageable. Nice slow trot, good walk, nice turn around. We could have been sharper in our transitions (I think we waited too long to transition down from a trot once and broke gait once) but I was more than satisfied. We placed 3rd out of 4th.

We didn't do too hot, yet I was VERY happy given the situation. Nervous horse with a more or less inexperienced rider (that would be me!). I'd like to think I handled it great and had success in not placing last. I was honestly expecting the worst, which is why I was quite please.

I hope to show more if possible! Getting through the day without embarrassing myself and looking like a horrible rider was a great confidence boost for me.

Tobiano Halter Class - Photo taken by a friend

No comments:

Post a Comment