SEIB search for a star

Will never do it again. Terrible rider rode Rafi and said he needed more schooling because he had problems getting him to canter......He regularly get 70% plus in dressage, qualified for the BD summer champs and was placed in 4 classes at the BD winter champs. I think it was the rider that needed more schooling,lol.
NOt for us but I am sure lots like it , classes were very big and expensive but if you get to HOYS it would be worth it.
Good luck
 
siennamum said:
Did it years ago. Got to HOYS, it was just amazing. Deffo go for it, just be extremely well prepared.
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Any tips please?? its my first time at it and ive never really done showing/workers. In fact, im the friend who always gets WHYY are you covered in *hit?? Why is your hair stiicking out?? etc...

Im actually quite scared ha ha
 
The classes tend to be huge! Try and get a variety of different riders up on your horse so he/she doesnt freak out with a stranger on board. The compere also revs the spectators up to clap & cheer to see how the horses react to a big atmosphere so be prepared for that.
Good luck!
 
I did it & won at HOYS.
My tips are -
manners, horse must stand still for judge & in line up.
way of going, horse should be supple & in self carriage, well schooled, responsive & give a calm obedient ride. The ride judge isn't there to school your horse.
turnout, immaculate! not flashy, correct for class so read the guidelines, they don't like 'dressage length' tails (& neither do I now not even for dressage)
tack, supple, comfortable & fit well, stirrups large enough for a man, discreet numnah.
if you win your qualifier go to the training day - it's worth every penny.
look as if you & the horse are enjoying yourselves & PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE at home. I arranged to take my horse to loads of different things eg village fete, school sports day, pony club games practice, & more & hired an indoor & got 'rent a crowd' friends on foot & horseback to come with loud music, flags, noisy children, etc we had a pretend HOYS with 'judges' & pretend sashes etc. Go anywhere that will have an electric atmosphere. Good luck. The judges are super.
 
It was at Addington and there were two judges riding and one could ride and one was like a sack of potatoes and just kept rising and kicking with long reins. The other judge rode beautifully but you only got one rider and we drew the short straw, he couldn't ride any of the horses.
 
I watched the search for a star qualifier last weekend at Osbaldeston. Am hoping to do the Racehorse2Ridinghorse qualifiers with my ex racer later in the season, so went to watch that, and as is usual, the show was running behind schedule, so got to watch some of the search for a star classes first. The classes were huge, but after watching them, i would say before entering ensure your horse can cope with a big, buzzy atmospheare and been in a ring with a lot of other horses, as well as standing still in the line up. Get your horse used to been ridden by other people, ready for when the ride judge gets on. Make sure your horse will stand still as the judge gets on, and moves away when the judge asks as well as coming back to the rider after the gallop. There is a conformation section, so make sure your horse will stand still for the judge, and trot out when asked. Most of all just go and enjoy it :D
Hope this helps xxx
 
Im going to HOYS! We came 2nd at Osbaldeston last weekend in Riding Club Horse. Luckily my judge was a lovely rider and rode my horse beautifully. Ive sent my cheque of for training day and have booked in for lots of lessons to get my head round double reins and only rde in them twice before sunday! I cant wait, never been to HOYS before. If anyones going let me know x
 
carthorse said:
It was at Addington and there were two judges riding and one could ride and one was like a sack of potatoes and just kept rising and kicking with long reins. The other judge rode beautifully but you only got one rider and we drew the short straw, he couldn't ride any of the horses.
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I had the same experience, same judge, same day - he had the horses head pulled to the outside, rising higher and faster and flapping legs in an attempt into canter, then brought it back to tell me it was unschooled ...

Oh and like yours, horse will do an elem test in a snaffle and is the easiest thing in the world to ride on the flat - but he is not a forgiving riding school dobbin!

That experience was enough to make me give up "proper" showing that involved ride judges etc - if the judge they pick for a HOYS qualifier can't ride one end of a donkey, its not likely to improve elsewhere!!!
 
I did the working hunter last year, and came 4th at hoys. If anyone wants more info, pm me. Dollface has already had indepth pm's, hope they helped!!
 
We did the RC show horse and after qualifying we travelled to as many shows as possible where there was a ride judge. Sienna had every Tom, Dick & Harry in the County on board & by the end could do the entire show on Auto pilot.
She behaved impeccably (I was accused only half jokingly of having drugged her!!!) and after a lovely ride by Claire Oliver, moved from 9th to 5th in the final.
Can't think of any major tips apart from getting out and getting as much ringcraft as possible.

I think show horses do go differently to dressage horses which is why people perhaps fall foul of ride judges. Sienna was in a frame at the time where you could walk trot & canter with virtually no input from the rider, on the bit, correct leg, light in the hand & with a big smile on her face.
 
Intrestingly, this is why dressage is such a different discipline to showing. A show horse HAS to go for ANY rider no matter how bad or differently they may ride. So the skill in making a dressage horse go sideways and do all the "tricks" is one thing. The ability to train a horse to go in an outline and give a ride to any Tom, Dick or Harry is totally different. Some horses can do both, but there are more sucessful show horses doing dressage than there are dressage horses doing showing!

SFAS is a fantastic opportunity to get to HOYS and be part of the end of season showing celebrations! Definitely worth giving it a go, and, if you succeed, definitely attend the training session and if possible, find a showing pro to give you a few lessons as well - just so you feel comfortable about what is expected from you.

Good luck to everyone taking part this year!
 
There are some lovely ride judges out there (in showing generally) and some absolutely terrible ones. What I cannot understand is why societies allow these judges to continue to ride the horses? They should be confirmation judges or not allowed to judges the HOYS and RIHS qualifiers. There are a couple that ride so badly that people will not take their horses to the show if they know they are judging. One almost got dumped by a stallion in a coloured qualifier a few years back, luckily she didn't, could you imagine the damage if a stallion got loose at a big show???

Sending you lots of good luck vibes though. There is only a small minority of bad judges but there are some lovely ones and they always find something nice to say about your horse even if its not going to win.
 
Point taken FMM, but a horse "working in an outline" in showing is just that, its posing with the head in a certain place - its not a horse "working to a contact", through from behind, etc - no horse can do that with poor riding!

I have absolutely no wish to pay good money to put poor riders on my horse - no rosette is worth that much to me!
 
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Thanks evri1 for the positive messages and the ones that tell me what to look out for! Sounds like my poor 6yr old is gonna get frightened half to death in the next few weeks while I play handy pony to get him desensitised to the crowds! Haha, i cant wait!! :D xxx Im VERY excited!! xxx
 
Hey, i was thinking about doing the SEIB search for a star in July!

I was thinking of entering the Show Hunter class - but my horse is 15.2/15.1, is he to small for this class, or am i best off going in the Show Ponies and Hunter Ponies - what do you think ?

Also when i do dressage i normally ride in a happy mouth Snaffle, am i ok in this bit? Or do i need to go for a pelham and split reins ?

Thanks :)
 
Yhyh thats what i thought too, but on the search for a star website, the show ponies says not exceeding 153 cm, where as the Show Hunter says exceeding 153cm?
Would you class 15.2 as 153cm ?
 
I'm not really sure of the conversion factor - if you try googling it I am sure a coversion factor will come up - I think 15.2 is probably bigger than 153 though, as (I think) my 16.3 is classes as about 167cm.
 
15.2 is just under 158 cms. 15.3 is 160 cms. In affiliated showing there are intermediate classes for riders under 25 where a large show hunter intermediate is up to 158 cms. In adult classes there is a class for small hunters which is I think up to 15.2/158 cms. The judges are experienced show judges and know which category a horse will fall into so when they are judging the hunters they will classify it as small hunter, lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight and so size should not go against you providing the horse is otherwise to type.
 
carthorse said:
It was at Addington and there were two judges riding and one could ride and one was like a sack of potatoes and just kept rising and kicking with long reins. The other judge rode beautifully but you only got one rider and we drew the short straw, he couldn't ride any of the horses.
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My experience was the same as carthorses - the judge who rode Bloss rode like a sack of spuds with long reins and flapping at the horse. Bloss at the time was competing and winning at elementary BD, had won at the Nationals and was schooled at medium level yet he made her look like a beach donkey.....
 
Ive done it before and my horse has been a swine, but the classes never used to be as big as they are now for the workers, going to give it another go this year as weve put more hard work in and been jumping rounf at the county shows
 
It should not matter whether the judge is a good bad or indifferent rider-a true show horse gives a good ride to any standard of judge ;)
 
Re the double, I can't remember what the rules say but ideally yes but if he goes better in a pelham or a snaffle (and if the rules say a snaffle okay) go with what he goes best in. A lot of top show horses are shown in pelhams rather than doubles, it all depends on what suits the horse the best. Good luck and report back.
 
Thankyou for all your help :) And yes will do !!
I will try him in a pelham, with double reins
- if it doesn't go to plan then i will stick with the snaffle :)

Sorry for all the questions, but are you a loud your horse to have little feathers on the back of his feet ? or do you have to be all trimmed up ?

Thankyou :)
 
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