casa3311
21st May 2007, 06:25 PM
Saturday, Beamer, Indy, and I competed in or first schoolling show.
Beamer was the 2nd horse to go. He is pretty non-spooky, except for tents with flapping plastic. So, what was the judges stand??? A portable tent with plastic down the legs that was rustling with the light breeze that we had all day long. Also, the show as at our facility so, that tent wasn't supposed to be there. Beamer wasn't the only home horse to freak at the tent. He was disqualified before he even started, but being a schooling show, the judge let me do my test anyway and made comments just as if we hadn't been eliminated. We did Amoeba which means Intro Test A and 12"-18" jumping. It took him a good 2-3 minutes to make it to X, then another few minutes to make it to A. This including several rears and many side passes. The judge even came out and took several steps into the arena, making cooing talk to calm him down, so he could see it wasn't so scary. After we "walked" to A and made the right hand turn, he settled down a little bit, but every time we headed back to that end, he started up again. In the end, he settled down a bit and the judge saw that he could be very pretty. She even commented at the end, "Very pretty horse. Not his best day". Rider error on the jumping. We missed jumps 5 & 6. I guess I was so rattled by the day and all that I didn't study the course well enough, but I also knew that we were already eliminated, so it didn't really matter. HOWEVER, he jumped very well, he didn't rub anything and didn't over jump anything except a slight over jump on the flower box. I was just glad to get through the whole thing without hitting the ground. ;) I had several people come up to me afterwards and tell me know well I did staying on and getting through the test and/or how their horse did the same thing at his first show.
Next came Indy. We only did Intro tests A & B with no jumping. I tacked her up about an hour before my ride time and we walked around behind the tent for a while. She didn't like it, but I kept talking to her and stroking her neck, so she wouldn't freak out like Beamer did. Besides, with her size, I don't know if I could have stayed on if she'd given the same show. Once we entered, I could tell she wasn't happy about that strange structure down just beyond A, but she was mostly obedient and listened. I had spent 2 weeks trying to collect her and slow her down and boy did she slow. In fact, she went too slow in the test. Many comments like more impulsion needed. She made it through both tests very well (trotting, turning, and walking in the right places and right direction) and in fact placed 3rd in Intro A and 6th in Intro B. We had more competition in B, but Indy and I had a better score. Just so you know, they were both over 100, :o but that's ok. We're learning and have plenty of room to improve. :D.
Video's should arrive late this week and I will post if I can figure out how.
Beamer was the 2nd horse to go. He is pretty non-spooky, except for tents with flapping plastic. So, what was the judges stand??? A portable tent with plastic down the legs that was rustling with the light breeze that we had all day long. Also, the show as at our facility so, that tent wasn't supposed to be there. Beamer wasn't the only home horse to freak at the tent. He was disqualified before he even started, but being a schooling show, the judge let me do my test anyway and made comments just as if we hadn't been eliminated. We did Amoeba which means Intro Test A and 12"-18" jumping. It took him a good 2-3 minutes to make it to X, then another few minutes to make it to A. This including several rears and many side passes. The judge even came out and took several steps into the arena, making cooing talk to calm him down, so he could see it wasn't so scary. After we "walked" to A and made the right hand turn, he settled down a little bit, but every time we headed back to that end, he started up again. In the end, he settled down a bit and the judge saw that he could be very pretty. She even commented at the end, "Very pretty horse. Not his best day". Rider error on the jumping. We missed jumps 5 & 6. I guess I was so rattled by the day and all that I didn't study the course well enough, but I also knew that we were already eliminated, so it didn't really matter. HOWEVER, he jumped very well, he didn't rub anything and didn't over jump anything except a slight over jump on the flower box. I was just glad to get through the whole thing without hitting the ground. ;) I had several people come up to me afterwards and tell me know well I did staying on and getting through the test and/or how their horse did the same thing at his first show.
Next came Indy. We only did Intro tests A & B with no jumping. I tacked her up about an hour before my ride time and we walked around behind the tent for a while. She didn't like it, but I kept talking to her and stroking her neck, so she wouldn't freak out like Beamer did. Besides, with her size, I don't know if I could have stayed on if she'd given the same show. Once we entered, I could tell she wasn't happy about that strange structure down just beyond A, but she was mostly obedient and listened. I had spent 2 weeks trying to collect her and slow her down and boy did she slow. In fact, she went too slow in the test. Many comments like more impulsion needed. She made it through both tests very well (trotting, turning, and walking in the right places and right direction) and in fact placed 3rd in Intro A and 6th in Intro B. We had more competition in B, but Indy and I had a better score. Just so you know, they were both over 100, :o but that's ok. We're learning and have plenty of room to improve. :D.
Video's should arrive late this week and I will post if I can figure out how.