Sport horse in hand? Help? Conformation?

[Evil_Cookie]

I'm planning on taking my 3 year old to her first show in june. Going in the 'other breeds' class and the sport horse class. I have a few questions as I haven't shown in hand at a big show since the welshies and they are turned out differently...

What bridle does she need? I was planning on using a normal bridle, but what style hunter or raised? Or would a specialist in hand bridle be better?

She is going to be plaited mane and tail, but does she need quarter marks?

What do I need to wear... I was thinking beige cords, brown boots, hat and tweed jacket with shirt and tie...

Also I know she will be a handful on the day, even though were putting a lot of practice in, she's just young and prone to panicing in new situations before she settles. The other breeds class will be a warm up almost. Because she is going to be silly i don't want full control just to be from the bit, as I don't want to be pulling at her mouyth at such a young age, is there anything i can do to limit the amount of pressure on her mouth? A three way coupling or something else? If she's really bad I will just put her halter over her bridle for the first class... I'd rather be marked down than ruin her mouth.

And last but not least... a quick conformation critique... how do ou think she looks... and how can i help disguise any weaknesses? Plus what breed do you think she is?

And just one to show how far she's come...

This was her when she came to us over christmas... She's taken a long time to get looking healthy, her coat just wasn't coming right... over the weekend I was so excited... she's now got dapples

hopefully by the show... she'll be looking even better...

Cookies for getting so far... didn't realise i'd written so much

 

[Evil_Cookie]

Any ideas?

 

[LEC]

She looks really late in her coat?
A rubber snaffle is what most of them use and frankly that will not ruin her mouth. Ideally she should be trained to bridle before going. Normally you would have a youngstock rope which is longer than a normal leadrope so if she does rear up or start mucking about you can get some space. This would be normally attached to the bridle. You will also need to teach her to walk and trot up properly as it does need teaching.
It looks like an inch needs to come off her tail.

The smartest atire is usually a tweed jacket, white/cream trousers with sensible boots, shirt, tie and velvet hat/beagler and gloves.

Not sure why she has the bandages?(no lining and personally hate them going over the joints like that) I personally think boots are a far better choice for youngsters.

 

[Evil_Cookie]

The bandages are for no protection purpose, just to get her used to having boots/bandages placed on her legs... as you can see she has brushing boots in the second pic, we use these in situations where she needs protection. She is late in her coat... as i said she came in poor condition and is slowly coming right, her summer coat is nearly through now and will be completely by the time june comes along. I am planning on using a rubber bit, but still feel this has the chance to ruin her mouth as any excessive pressure could cause bad association, she's very clever and i don't want to cause any issues. She leads, trots and stands fine. Bridling will be taught before hand, just need to figure out what we're going to use.

Thanks for your advice