Post by sbutter on Sept 30, 2010 1:02:49 GMT -5
Finally found some time to wander onto here, but will have to post pictures later (I didn't get as many as I wanted since I was riding Calista). These past months have been so hectic and I didn't get nearly enough time to work with Calista to the point that I wanted, but we went to have fun and gain some show experience. Both of us have never been in a show, so we didn't exactly know what to expect. I did go and watch a local show to see how everything was done and what was worn, since fads come and go. The first day was western and I was surprised at the turnout of kigers! I was not expecting a lot, since I didn't know of many in the area. From what I can count, I think there were 15 the first day and I was expecting half that. It was an open show, so other horses were there too, but I didn't get an accurate count, since I only had eyes for the kigers 
. It really was a lot of fun and it was run very smoothly. Even the gate crew was awesome and kept encouraging all of the competitors. I found out right before the show that I couldn't ride Calista in a snaffle since she was over the age limit. So, the day before I through a curb bit on and worked with her for about 40 minutes. I have never tried to ride a horse with one hand other than on a trail ride, so I was a little nervous. Thankfully, Calista is so good about her leg cues that I hardly had to touch the bit at all. I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with the bit and understood what I was asking, since I hate seeing horses gape their mouth when there is pressure. She acted like everything was normal and she had done it her whole life. When we arrived at the show, she was a little nervous and wanted to keep moving. I walked her around for a bit and took her up to some sacry orange plastic fence that was around a tree stump and got her mind focused on the task at hand. Once she was focused on me, I took her where the action was. When I first got her, she was very horse shy of other horses she didn't know and would even try to shy off the trail if other horses were approaching. She had no problems with that at the show and didn't even mind if they came up fast from behind and passed close to her. Even when we were exiting from one of the classes, we got bumped HARD by another horse and rider and she didn't even bat an ear. So it was great to see how much her confidence has improved since the time I have started working with her. She had the nice slow trot that we had been working on for the past month and listened perfectly for my leg cues. I practically could have just set the reins down and let her work off of my leg in the classes. So that was a very pleasant surprise. I knew that she could get herself worked up in new places, but she stayed nice and relaxed in the arena with all of the other horses. The second day was english and I haven't ridden english since my junior high days in pony club! Calista had never been worked in english either. We called up a friend and borrowed all of her english gear to use. The saddle ended up being too small for my legs, which made it really hard for me to post and boy did I get cramps! Calista did fine as usual and picked up all her correct leads. Two interesting things occurred and both of those include a very smart horse. Even though this was her first show, she started picking up what the loud speaker was saying. At first she ignored it like a good girl and did everything just fine. After a while, I noticed a slight hesitation whenever the announcer told us what to do. It was only noticeable because I was riding her. I soon figured out what it was when the announcer said "please halt your horses" and she put on the breaks before I asked her. Figures that would be the first thing a horse would learn. I realized that she was using the announcer as her verbal cues, since I have used verbal cues when she is confused about something. Thankfully the announcer didn't use the ones I use but the "H" in halt starts out just like a "HO," at least that was the only connection I could think of later. The second event was when we did our line up. In a couple of the classes the judge would have us line up in front of her and then she asked us to back up individually. By the third time Calista knew the routine and she thought she was doing me a favor and started backing up when the horse next to her backed up. I grinned and walked her forward and waited for the judge to ask me officially. So, that maybe something I have to work with her on Overall, I would say we placed in the middle of the whole pack but I did come away with 4 second place ribbons, 4 third place and 3 fourth place. I went in a couple open classes and that was where the fourths came in. I didn't go in the bigger open classes, since I wanted to make sure there was some competition in the smaller classes and I only had so much money. I think it was an awesome first show and it gave me a good gauge of where Calista is and what we need to work on. My biggest thing has been to work on her confidence and getting her to relax, but now it looks like I get to work on collecting her and all of the other fine tuning that takes place to make a horse always place in the ribbons I may have gotten the show bug, so I will have to keep working on her so I can go into some of the big open shows around here. More stories about the show later...
. It really was a lot of fun and it was run very smoothly. Even the gate crew was awesome and kept encouraging all of the competitors. I found out right before the show that I couldn't ride Calista in a snaffle since she was over the age limit. So, the day before I through a curb bit on and worked with her for about 40 minutes. I have never tried to ride a horse with one hand other than on a trail ride, so I was a little nervous. Thankfully, Calista is so good about her leg cues that I hardly had to touch the bit at all. I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with the bit and understood what I was asking, since I hate seeing horses gape their mouth when there is pressure. She acted like everything was normal and she had done it her whole life. When we arrived at the show, she was a little nervous and wanted to keep moving. I walked her around for a bit and took her up to some sacry orange plastic fence that was around a tree stump and got her mind focused on the task at hand. Once she was focused on me, I took her where the action was. When I first got her, she was very horse shy of other horses she didn't know and would even try to shy off the trail if other horses were approaching. She had no problems with that at the show and didn't even mind if they came up fast from behind and passed close to her. Even when we were exiting from one of the classes, we got bumped HARD by another horse and rider and she didn't even bat an ear. So it was great to see how much her confidence has improved since the time I have started working with her. She had the nice slow trot that we had been working on for the past month and listened perfectly for my leg cues. I practically could have just set the reins down and let her work off of my leg in the classes. So that was a very pleasant surprise. I knew that she could get herself worked up in new places, but she stayed nice and relaxed in the arena with all of the other horses. The second day was english and I haven't ridden english since my junior high days in pony club! Calista had never been worked in english either. We called up a friend and borrowed all of her english gear to use. The saddle ended up being too small for my legs, which made it really hard for me to post and boy did I get cramps! Calista did fine as usual and picked up all her correct leads. Two interesting things occurred and both of those include a very smart horse. Even though this was her first show, she started picking up what the loud speaker was saying. At first she ignored it like a good girl and did everything just fine. After a while, I noticed a slight hesitation whenever the announcer told us what to do. It was only noticeable because I was riding her. I soon figured out what it was when the announcer said "please halt your horses" and she put on the breaks before I asked her. Figures that would be the first thing a horse would learn. I realized that she was using the announcer as her verbal cues, since I have used verbal cues when she is confused about something. Thankfully the announcer didn't use the ones I use but the "H" in halt starts out just like a "HO," at least that was the only connection I could think of later. The second event was when we did our line up. In a couple of the classes the judge would have us line up in front of her and then she asked us to back up individually. By the third time Calista knew the routine and she thought she was doing me a favor and started backing up when the horse next to her backed up. I grinned and walked her forward and waited for the judge to ask me officially. So, that maybe something I have to work with her on Overall, I would say we placed in the middle of the whole pack but I did come away with 4 second place ribbons, 4 third place and 3 fourth place. I went in a couple open classes and that was where the fourths came in. I didn't go in the bigger open classes, since I wanted to make sure there was some competition in the smaller classes and I only had so much money. I think it was an awesome first show and it gave me a good gauge of where Calista is and what we need to work on. My biggest thing has been to work on her confidence and getting her to relax, but now it looks like I get to work on collecting her and all of the other fine tuning that takes place to make a horse always place in the ribbons I may have gotten the show bug, so I will have to keep working on her so I can go into some of the big open shows around here. More stories about the show later...
