My first show :S

[ImaLittleBoston]

Hello! First of all, I'm VERY greatful to those of you who will give me advice.

I will be entering a 24 year old, reg. Appy into a show in about a month or less, there are many classes, Both Western and English, If anybody knows what any of these classes are, could you please explain them to me?
Western
-Pleasure ( I have a vague Idea what this is, I've just never watch it before)
-Stock Horse Pattern
-Trail
-Showmanship
-Equitation
-Bareback dollar ( I just somebody to explain good technique, I know what it is)
English
-Showmanship
-pleasure
-Equitation
-Road Hack
-Scurry race
-Command Class

(P.s Im not a moron, lol, I've just NEVER showed before. Or watched to many classes. PLEASE help me :S :S

[tabaskoa]

Hi! Not sure I'll be much help but here goes.....

Western
-Pleasure - This is judged on the horse. They'll be looking at his paces, headset, etc. You follow commands that are read over an intercom, like "All Trot, please, all trot".
-Stock Horse Pattern - no idea
-Trail - You follow a set pattern that you will get before the class. (Kinda like a dressage test.) You trot where it says to trot, canter where it says to canter. Things you might do: walk or trot over poles, walk over bridges, tarps, open gates, circles, and there maybe "scary" things like fake deer set about.
-Showmanship - This is an in-hand class. You walk in and set your horse up square. Then each person in the class walks their horse to the judge (one at a time) and again squares up the horse while the judge walks around and checks it out. You're judged on your presentation of the horse, turnout of both you and the horse, if you get your horse in the correct positions, things like that.
-Equitation - Same idea as pleasure, except they are juding the rider not the horse. It's all about your position, how you handle the horse, and your riding ability in general.
-Bareback dollar - Point is just to keep the dollar under your leg while they call out things to do..."all canter, please, all canter".

English
-Showmanship - Same as showmanship for western but it's in english dress. criteria might be slightly different but not sure.
-pleasure - Same as above, but English - they judge the horse.
-Equitation - Same as above, but English - they judge the rider.
-Road Hack - not sure
-Scurry race - not sure
-Command Class - this is kind of like simon says. They call out commands like "halt" and you halt. The point is to get the required action within a couple strides or quickly as possible. Not 10 strides later or when you're ready.

Hope that helps a little! Pleasure and Equitation are pretty standard, trail is a lot of fun if you don't have a spooky horse. If you want to do showmanship you should probably have someone show you how to walk the horse, set him up etc. Not very easy to explain online!