First show report and help needed with showing ?!

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littlen

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(also in comp riders but I am almost off the page already. New forum grrr!)


First show did not exactly go well.

First up was tack and turnout and I was placed last (6th). I am not a sore looser by any means and I am all for criticism but I spent forever getting him clean (no mean feat with a white horse) and trying my best to be correct but obviously made mistakes.
I did feel very embarrased compared to others though, most people had spotless show ponies and I felt very out of place.

Now onto the second round and this was novice ridden showing. Horse was not the best behaved at all. He managed to canter following the others but he was so busy screaming for his friend he was not concentrating at all and I got really frustrated at him. He refused to canter on both reins in the individual (expected as he is stiff and was not listening) and I withdrew from the individual section and returned to the line up. Obviously I came last.
I felt awful as all the other ponies in the line up stood beautifully and here is mine dancing, spinning, pawing the ground and yanking his head about. He also screamed for the duration.

It is his first show but is there any preperation you can do at home for a show environmemt?
I will work on his schooling to try and get him more responsive but as soon as we went into the ring all manners went out of the window and he behaved appaulingly. He was panicking so much for his friend he would not do as I asked. People were actually tutting at him which was mortifying and I am suprised we didnt get asked to leave the ring!
How on earth do you stop them behaving like this, he does not do it at home?

Its also very frustrating as I have put in so many hours at home getting him working on the bit and as soon as we get to a show head comes up and he is not working properly at all. He went around like a giraffe fighting the bit constantly! He does not do this at home :(

Maybe showing is not for me after all

I asked the judge for criticism and she most of it was wrong so I have a million questions for you showing experts if someone could point me in the right direction I would be very grateful:
- She said my boots were incorrect and I needed short jod boots. I always was under the impression that as I am older (19) I needed long boots. My boots were also too chunky. Would I be better off with jod boots and gaitors? Should I really have jod boots at my age!
- My shirt is white, is this very incorrect? I could not find cream anywhere!
- Horse was unplaited and unpulled as he is a purebred arab, she said this was incorrect, should I really be pulling and plaiting a purebred arab?
- I noticed many finer horses had velvet browbands and on researching arabs are often shown in them too. I had plain leather but shall I go for velvet next time and if so what colour would suit a grey? Possibly navy? I really didnt know whether velvet browbands should be for ponies only!
- Everyone else had bright yellow jods, mine were cream coloured is this less correct?
- I had plaited reins, shall I use plain instead?
- Lastly, I used safety stirrups as I always ride in them as I was dragged.

Do your horses behave badly away at shows compared to home? He schools nicely at home and I cant understand why its all gone to pot!?
 
Don't knock yourself out about it. It was your first show together, he found it very exciting and no doubt you probably had a few nerves too. Try and get out to a few more shows just to soak up the atmosphere and have a ride around. You could also try booking some lessons away from home.

I thought it was children that should wear short boots and adults long boots, perhaps the judge thought you looked younger, not much of a compliment at 19 i know but when you are in your 30's and 40's you will be chuffed :)

As someone who has a horse who wants to go around the show ring like the clappers with his head held high, i tend to think that the idea of 'novice horse' should be just that and not the well tuned perfect ones. Maybe we should campaign for a 'schooling has gone out the window' class :)
 
Bless you, sorry you had such a bad day! As a couple of us said on your last thread, you really can't expect a horse to perform well at a show if it isn't schooling well at home. Canter transistions need to be well established and a good balanced canter is essential in a small ring. As it was his first show, he was bound to be a little overawed by the atmosphere. In an ideal world, I like to do some in hand classes first to get them used to it although I know this is difficult for you. Rest assured, they do get better with regular trips out.

Was your class novice ridden or novice riding horse? A riding horse is generally a part bred TB or arab and is shown pulled and plaited, usually with a velvet browband. I wouldn't have thought this would be important in a novice ridden class, which is usually open to all 'types'. Obviously, a pure bred arab being shown in an arab class should be natural. I would have thought you need long boots, maybe she got your age wrong?? White shirt and cream jods should be fine at local level and neither stopped my PBA being ridden coloured champion at my local riding club. It sounds like this may have been one of the more competitive local shows?

Try not to let this experience put you off too much, but take it as a lesson in being better prepared for next time!
 
I have every sympathy with you in T&T. Grass kept grey ponies can never compete on the same level as stable kept show ponies no matter how much they're bathed with Cowboy Magic, nor can every day (but taken apart and throughly cleaned regularly) tack compete with only used for a show brand new tack.

In my experience - daughter had a little trouble in the ring with her new pony this weekend at our local unaf show (his 2nd show) - next time we're going to arrive over an hour in advance and she'll ride him round till he's bored/used to the atmosphere before his first class. He was simply far too excited, so much so when she tried to school him a bit between classes he just bolted off, so she decided not to try jumping him either (it was very wet and she was worried he'd go soo fast he'd slip). We're also not going to take his field mate next time, they spent the whole time calling to each other and not concentrating on what they were supposed to be doing.
It rained but I had at least spent some time flapping umbrellas at him - wasn't phased by them one bit, but when he had to walk by a line of traffic cones that was a bit too much for him (yet there are two or three he walks past in our back garden regularly!) . I also think he picks up on daughter's mood - in hind sight she was stressing , also very cold due to the rain, and hungry (which affects her riding big time) all of which communicated to him. Might sneak in some rescue remedy!

I've got a book on Showing, which I can't find to give you the title, but for each horse/pony breed it describes the do's and don'ts and also tells you what to wear, as well as being full of tips to prepare your pony. We're not really a horsey family /people so all I know comes from books and here!
 
Lindsay thanks for your reply. I did take your advice and didnt enter the class originally. However the organisor came up and asked me to enter as there was only 1 other entry 5mins before the show started. I decided to take him in with just the 2 of us but suddenly 4 more entries came from nowhere and joined the ring.
I tried to withdraw but the organisor said I might as well just try it as I had paid my entry fee and would get a rosette as there was only 6 in the class :)

Suprisingly he managed to canter fine with the others, apart from being a little fast. It was on his own where he struggled as he just was not listening and was preoccupied with finding out where his companion was. I didnt actually dare take him more than a metre away from him as he had a fit :(

The class was novice ridden and was open to all breeds. The judge was most definatley a welsh/native lover and said he wasnt working properly at all. I know this has he had his head like a giraffe and was skipping along everywhere but the outside of the ring. Its so frustrating as he is always well behaved at home, he does find things difficult but he never dances about or shouts or refuses to listen. He just tries but cant :)
The fact he managed to canter fine with others but not in the individual made me think he is just being rude and bad mannered. The ring was grass and was plenty big enough for a balanced canter.

It was definatley a competitive show, I felt like the scruff who didnt make an effort (I did, or at least I thought I did!)


I am looking into buying gaitors instead of my long boots, as well as updating my tack. Hopefully we will do better next time! I wish I could do some lead rein or little classes but all the shows here are pretty competitive. Maybe the odd prettiest pony but thats it and I was certainly thrown in at the deep end. :)

ETA:
Dubsie, mines out 24/7 and is as white as they come. I think all of the ponies there are wrapped in cotton wool as there is no way mine would scrub up as well! lol!
 
I would suggest doing some in-hand classes to get him used to the exciting atmosphere at a show. If possible try to enter classes like 'best mane & tail' at local shows, where there is no right or wrong, only the judges opinion on the day. This will help you to feel less nervous, so that you will then be able to concentrate on helping your horse to behave well. When he is good in classes such as these, then it will be time to progress to ridden classes.
 
I am so sorry your fiirst experience was a bad one - please don't let it put you off, everyone has to start somewhere. Local level judges are VERY hit and miss, they can be very very good but also very very bad!

Boots - as an adult you should be wearing long boots. Do you look very youthful?? Maybe that's why jod boots were suggested. If so you are not alone, I took my daughter for a lesson with a showing trainer last week who thought she was too young to do ex-racer classes - the lower age limit is 15 and she's actually 17, she was a little miffed!!

White shirts are a bit wrong - try washing it with cheap yellow dusters on a hot wash - suggested on here many times and it does give you the correct shade of yellow for showing.

If your arab is purebred he should be shown unplaited, a decent judge would know this. In a tack and turnout if 2 ponies are both immaculate and one is plaited then the plaited will often get the nod as the judge may feel more work has gone into it.

Can't say I know much about arab turnout but if you are going to get a coloured browband then pretty much anything goes for a grey. Personally I like to avoid blue as am superstitious it leads to 'seconditis' :)

The brightly coloured jods would be 'canary' jods and are more correct for children than adults.

Plaited leather reins are fine.

You shouldn't be marked down for safety stirrups though bent irons probably look more pleasing than peacocks.

Have you any piccies of your turnout on the day?

As far as his behaviour goes can you get to a local equestrian centre and maybe fit in a group lesson so that he gets used to being in company away from home? (Haven't seen any of your other posts so sorry if you have tried this already)

Anyway, good luck and don't give up - even those of us who have been showing for years can sometimes be found propping the bottom of the line up for one reason or another.

There's always another show and another judge!!:)
 
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