Had our first show of the season today. Entered Equitation,Handy Pony,Showjumping and Gymkhana Games.
Equitation - Was placed 1st! Really pleased as the highest i have ever been placed in an Equitation class before today was 3rd.Judge said well done and he was pleased that i checked my diagonals.He said out of the whole class and there was 10 or 11 in it,only me and one other person rode on the correct diagonal.That's always the first thing i check when i start trotting,especially in an equitation class.I bet the others feel very embarassed for themselves now.
Handy Pony - Course consisted of 6 obstacles...
1.Pick up flag out of cone,weave in and out row of cones and place flag in end cone
2.Pick up mallet.Hit ball with it and replace mallet.
3.Walk over tarpaulin.
4.Walk through farm (row of straw bales with streamers surrounding them and a huge wooden cow at the side)
5.Pick up haynet from hook,Carry it to another hook and hang it up.
6.Open gate,walk through and close gate.
Sam did all the things perfectly.Even gave the gate a shove with his nose to help me close it.We got 68 marks out a possible 70 (10 for each obstacle and 10 for turnout of horse and rider) and we were placed 1st again
Showjumping - I was v worried about as i'm not overly keen on jumping and Sam can be one of them all or nothing ponies.Some days he'd gladly jump the moon for you and other days if something is bigger than usual or looks a bit different he'll slam the anchors on.Today though,he worked in well over the practice fence and carried on his good mood into the ring.He went clear and that was us into the jump off.There were 8 clears and we were 4th to go in the jump off.Nearly had kittens when the jumps went up ready for it but when i went into the ring,i forced myself to rely on Sam's good mood and aimed for the shortest turns possible as he's better at them that long blasts.Got clear in the jump off with a time of 23.something seconds.That put us into 2nd place at that point.Watched the others and our time was only beaten by 1 other person,so we finished 3rd.A great result in my least favourite class.
Gymkhana Games - Did bending race,walk trot canter and beanbag race (a variation on the flag race). Sam got put in the heat with all the big fast horses but we managed to get a 3rd in bending and 2nd in the next 2 races to finish 4th overall eventually.
Best part of the day was that we finished with the highest points total in our age group after the 4 classes and got a nice Champion rosette and trophy to take home.
I love my pony.He's the best.
Here is some piccies of the day....
Equitation - Was placed 1st! Really pleased as the highest i have ever been placed in an Equitation class before today was 3rd.Judge said well done and he was pleased that i checked my diagonals.He said out of the whole class and there was 10 or 11 in it,only me and one other person rode on the correct diagonal.That's always the first thing i check when i start trotting,especially in an equitation class.I bet the others feel very embarassed for themselves now.
Handy Pony - Course consisted of 6 obstacles...
1.Pick up flag out of cone,weave in and out row of cones and place flag in end cone
2.Pick up mallet.Hit ball with it and replace mallet.
3.Walk over tarpaulin.
4.Walk through farm (row of straw bales with streamers surrounding them and a huge wooden cow at the side)
5.Pick up haynet from hook,Carry it to another hook and hang it up.
6.Open gate,walk through and close gate.
Sam did all the things perfectly.Even gave the gate a shove with his nose to help me close it.We got 68 marks out a possible 70 (10 for each obstacle and 10 for turnout of horse and rider) and we were placed 1st again
Showjumping - I was v worried about as i'm not overly keen on jumping and Sam can be one of them all or nothing ponies.Some days he'd gladly jump the moon for you and other days if something is bigger than usual or looks a bit different he'll slam the anchors on.Today though,he worked in well over the practice fence and carried on his good mood into the ring.He went clear and that was us into the jump off.There were 8 clears and we were 4th to go in the jump off.Nearly had kittens when the jumps went up ready for it but when i went into the ring,i forced myself to rely on Sam's good mood and aimed for the shortest turns possible as he's better at them that long blasts.Got clear in the jump off with a time of 23.something seconds.That put us into 2nd place at that point.Watched the others and our time was only beaten by 1 other person,so we finished 3rd.A great result in my least favourite class.
Gymkhana Games - Did bending race,walk trot canter and beanbag race (a variation on the flag race). Sam got put in the heat with all the big fast horses
but we managed to get a 3rd in bending and 2nd in the next 2 races to finish 4th overall eventually.Best part of the day was that we finished with the highest points total in our age group after the 4 classes and got a nice Champion rosette and trophy to take home.
I love my pony.He's the best.
Here is some piccies of the day....
