Family horse/pony class….

JoBo

JoBo

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I’m thinking of taking Bodey into this tomorrow. Am I going to get laughed out of the ring? I haven’t done a family pony class since I was about 10 (I'm 30). Will I be expected to climb under his belly and do around the world?

We can do side saddle….
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Also going to do Cob and Coloured, think we have a better chance in those.
 
If I was the judge he would definitely win! Unless Badger was in too, then it'd be tough :)

I used to take my old boy in this class lots, I was late twenties, early thirties. Never had to do anything too 'scary', mostly they just wanted to see if the pony was thoroughly safe. You can do party tricks in your show if you want but not all judges will like it, some see it as taking too many risks. My dear old boy often won, I think it was down to his ability to calmly canter round and round on a long rein for as long as you wanted and then stand stock still for hours during the judging!
 
It is so long ago that we did this with one of our ponies, I cant really remember what was involved! I think the rider had to get off, someone else had to get on and ride a circuit, possibly riding past some scary things, pop a cross pole ....

It all ended in a flying dismount, when the pony did an emergency stop in canter to itch its nose, and the rider sailed over its head! :rolleyes:

Hope you get on well in all your classes - looking forward to seeing your pics. :D
 
Umm, that could be interesting as I don’t have another rider, wonder if I could grab a random kid to pretend to be a relative, he, he. Oh well I will see tomorrow what’s involved and go from there, it’s only a local fun show.

Your pony sounds like they were full of character! :D
 
AFAIA a family horse/pony is one that is suitable for more than one member of the family and the family classes I have done (not recently though) the horse/pony had to be ridden by two different riders. We just had to walk trot and canter on both reins - no jumps or scary things. In the last one I did, the other rider was my little cousin on the lead rein.
 
At the shows I've been to family horse/pony has required the horse to be ridden by two different riders - one over 21 and one under 15 or something to that effect. They both do an individual show but there's no jumping or anything.

Bodey is the ideal type for family horse but you might need to find yourself another rider!
 
Thanks guys, I don’t know any little ones that ride. Oh well I will see what the class is all about tomorrow. If not, I will just have to stick with ‘The horse the judge would most like to take home’! :D
 
I have done quite a few family horse classes at our local show and they have all been judged differently. Did one on my old pony - she cantered on the wrong leg throughout and still came second! The following year she was foot perfect and the judge (different judge) pulled her in last and said she was too 'hot' for a family horse! Usually its just been judged like a showing class - walk trot canter on both reins and an individual show. The last time I did it (on my current horse who was then 6) , they had us dismount and remount from the ground and do a rein back!
So go prepared to expect anything! Good luck.
 
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