On Friday Amanda and I ventured out to a local open horse show to add some experiences to both Amanda and JJ’s repertoire. Amanda is taking JJ to the Big E 4-H horse show in September and we needed to go see how JJ would behave in large classes of other horses. As far as we know, JJ has never been to an open horse show. JJ turns 17 this year. While the atmosphere is not very different from a large endurance ride, the announcers and hoards of horses in close quarters and large classes bring an element that JJ is certainly not used to. She was a little on edge stepping off the trailer, but never once misbehaved.
The show was at Falls Creek Farm, which is only a 30 minute drive from the farm. It was run by the Tri-state Horseman’s Association, which is a local group that puts on two show series and organized trail rides. We arrived good and early to have time for JJ to settle in. Amanda took her in the indoor arena and rode her around in the warm up ring. She was very well behaved for both.
The first class Amanda had chosen was a trail class. She was totally winging it, since we don’t really have trail obstacles at our farm. JJ politely refused the bridge, did not want to step over the pole to side pass and thought the rope gate was completely evil. She did walk over poles, back around a cone, trot through an L and perform the 180 and 360 turns fairly well. The judge commended Amanda on staying calm and positive, and we agreed she should practice those things if she wants to do well at obstacles.
The next class was junior showmanship. It had a simple pattern and was well within Amanda and JJ’s scope. They did well and won the class.
After the showmanship class we had a break in our schedule which was great for letting JJ just chill in the busy environment. We had not chosen to get a stall, because you had to pay for the entire weekend and it was more than all our entry fees for the day. The barn was hot and dark with no air flow, so JJ would have hated it anyway. She was happy just standing at the trailer. We had brought some stress free forage and replenimash, and she ate both along with her hay. She even drank twice, which was great. We walked her around for grass a few times and she was great.
The last 3 classes were all in the beginner walk trot canter division. It’s for riders in the first two years of showing at the canter. Pleasure, equitation and discipline rail. There were 13 horses in the class. Mostly lesson horses from various local barns and a few privately owned horses. The classes went well, Amanda had to learn to manage riding JJ among some much slower moving horses and pay attention to finding space and the commands at the same time. In the pleasure class JJ broke out of her left lead canter and picked up the wrong lead, so they didn’t place. They managed a 5th place in equitation and a 6th place in discipline rail. We will take that for the win.
So what was the take away? I still don’t like open shows. It’s hot and a very long day and I see some horsemanship I don’t agree with. It is however, good cross-training, and a good way to expose your horses to new things. Amanda, on the other hand, had fun. She visited with friends, who were riding at the show. JJ was a rock star. The pair learned things and have homework. We agreed she should take Fiona and ride her in the green walk-trot classes next time. Which is probably next year, because Amanda is fully booked this summer. Stay tuned for more Sawyer adventures!
