Horse Show!

I saw the show bill at the feed store. The show was on a Saturday. It had what I like to call the "old lady/young horse" classes (also known as Walk/Trot Open) that are all the more I'm really ready for. The only obstacle: a saddle I could use.

Most horse shows are on Sundays. This presents a problem. Since I sing with my church choir and play in one of the bell choirs, it's a little tough to find shows that I can do. So a Saturday show is a wonderful thing.

I decided to try the dressage saddle on Hoss. If it fit, I would collect up show clothes for me on a shoestring, and we'd go. I already had plenty of leather bridles; finding one to fit wasn't much of a challenge! So I put the dressage saddle on Hoss, and was not surprised to find it fit! I rode him in it the week before the ride to be sure it fit well enough and to accustom myself to the different feel.

I went to the used tack store to find show clothing. I found a very nice show coat for $25. It fit me perfectly. I also found a nice pair of tan breeches. There were no show shirts, but I figured I could make do with something from my closet with one of the ratcatchers from my daughter's showing days. I also couldn't find a pair of tall boots in my size at any price, so I would make do with my riding boots and half chaps.

Kinda clean up nice, don't I?

On Friday I did my best to get Hoss nice and clean after our trail ride. I trimmed up his mane, and clipped his whiskers and legs. Admittedly I did this while he was still a little damp, and he wound up looking a little odd, but by the time I saw this, it was too late to do anything about it. I loaded Hoss up in the trailer and off we went to get to the horse show!

It's early, but, hey, he's ready!

I entered three classes. We did Halter, English Equitation Walk/Trot Open, and English Pleasure Walk/Trot Open.

The Halter class went well. There were twelve horses in the class. Aside from constantly wanting to look back, Hoss stood quietly. I corrected him each time he moved. I was more interested in teaching him to do it right than placing well! In the end, we placed sixth. Can't complain about that.

Entering the ring for Halter

Posing with our Halter ribbon

English Equitation was a big class. I was dismayed to see some of the young kids who were also doing the Walk/Trot/Canter classes – and doing well in them – were also entered in the Walk/Trot. Well, there were no restrictions, so that was just the way it was! We didn't place in this class, and I wasn't terribly surprised. I couldn't remember what diagonal to post on. Hoss's head was in the stratosphere. These things, however, I expected. I went in with no expectation of winning anything!

Can't quite keep his attention, but he sure is pretty!

English Pleasure was smaller, with only six horses. I commented that I'd get a ribbon in this class! We did, sixth place! Of course, Hoss wasn't being much of a pleasure to ride. One of the first things he did was try to bolt. I managed to keep him from getting out of hand, but he was clearly misbehaving. But it's okay. We got a ribbon anyway.

Only my horse manages to blink when the picture is taken

All in all, it was a fun day. I will most certainly be doing this again! Unfortunately I will miss next month's show. My surgery has finally been scheduled. I will be getting my rotator cuff repaired on March 3!