showing & training my shire - where to start?

[Jojog123]

Advice or thoughts welcomed.

I have a 3 1/2 yr old shire, lightly backed and started this year and has taken it all in her stride but I need a plan moving forward as it's all gone a bit flat and I'm frustrated with myself. Shire horse shows appear to all be HUGE and intimidating, and for the professionals or breeders that have years of experience. I would like something to work towards but don' know where to start and would feel very out of place at one of the big shows, a small local to Cambridgeshire show where we can get out and build some confidence together would be a perfect start.

so any advice on


* local showing dates and places
* training ideas for young horses

Thanks everybody.

Jo

 

[humblepie]

Have a look at the Showing Register which is an organisation that does a lot of training clinics and the brains behind it all Sarah Chapman judges ridden shires.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Go to a stud that shows. Breeders of these rare breeds are usually more than welcoming to newbies and will give lots of help and advice. Same with professionals. Go along to some clinics - with or without said horse.

Showing really isn't that scary or intimidating at the bigger shows! It is usually the smaller, local shows that are the worst! The pro's will always help if they have time, even if it is just a 2min conversation with some useful tips. It's the jumped up people at local shows that win there but aren't good enough to play with the big boys that look down their nose at you so avoid them!

 

[scrat]

For the future have a look at this http://www.thebritishriddenheavyhorsesociety.co.uk/BRHHS/Home.html. This year they have just had the first ridden heavy horse qualifiers and final at HOYS. In the meantime if you want to show in hand then contact your local heavy horse society http://mhha.org.uk/wp/ or maybe contact http://www.shire-horse.org.uk/ and they can tell you your local group. Don't be intimidated by those that have done it for a hundred years, IME the heavy horse community are quite welcoming of newcomers and if you ask will help with turnout (plaiting with flights etc) and training. Agricultural shows with heavy horse classes can be found here http://www.asao.co.uk/. An increased interest is encouraging more shows to include ridden classes for heavies. Most of the heavy horse societies run events / shows. Hope that helps, have fun with her.