Show Horses

Ever since I was born I’ve been around horses. When I was around the age of 2, my parents bought a miniature pony (named Jack), as a pet that would follow us around the house and would let me sit on him. They then ended up selling him when one of my brothers was born, as we didn’t have enough time with everything going on; but that didn’t stop my love for horses. Both my Mum and my Dad had also been around horses for a lot of their lives. Coincidentally, my mum was the only person in her family who had ridden horses and my dad was the only one who hadn't (although he did get dragged around to all of his sister’s competitions).

At the age of 7, I had my first lessons on another lady’s horse to teach me how to ride. Pretty quickly, after I started, my parents saw how much I loved riding, so they then bought me my first pony called Tiny Teddy. Since then I have had a go at lots of different disciplines but quickly decided that show horse was my favourite.

Show Horse (also known as Showing), is a horse show/competition where both the horses and their riders (depending on what class they are in) are judged and compared to their competitors. They are then placed by the judge from first to last. In showing, there are lots of different classes that you can enter into, for example: rider classes, show horse, show hunter, leading rein, lead show horses, lead hunter horses, best presented, smartest on parade, working hunter, owner rider, newcomers, novice, prelim, open, and off the track. There are then age groups and heights to split up these classes. All the classes have certain rules and depending on eligibility and the horse, will determine which ones you can go in, you then have to pay for each class you want to go in if you're eligible. When you go in to compete in your class, you usually start off on the circle. The judge asks all competitors to walk, trot, lengthen trot, sit trot, canter, gallop etc depending on the class. The judge then tries to nail it down to “the top 10”. These competitors then go and line up while the ones who weren’t picked exit the ring. Once this is done, the judge creates a workout for the top 10 competitors to complete individually. They are then placed from first to last. Once all classes are done, there are then championships for each two age groups and heights in each of the classes. Then at the end of the day, the champions all compete against each other to find out the champion of the champions. For horse classes, the judges judge them on their workout, movement, looks, confirmation, behaviour etc. For rider classes, the class is judged on what rider rides the nicest and neatest along with many other more difficult things. There are thousands of things you are judged on for all different classes. It is a very difficult discipline that requires lots of training and lessons.

Out of all the equestrian disciplines, show horse probably requires the most preparation to look the nicest. In preparation for a show, I always ride my horses, wash them, clip their legs, bridle path and chin and my Mum plaits their mane into Rosettes the night before. I completely clean out and wash the float, oil my saddle, girth, stirrup leathers, bridles (which sometimes adds up to four per horse), make sure all of my other gear is clean. I then pack everything (there are way more things needed than you think).

If the show is a one day show and only an hour away, our morning starts at 4am or earlier, depending on how many horses we are taking. Horses are fed and loaded with everything packed the night before. Once we arrive at the venue, lots of things are needed to be done. The horses need to be warmed up and familiarised in the arena, then brushed, plaits fixed up, forelock plaited (the long hair between their ears), false tail plaited in, top of the tail either plaited or lightly shaved, black paint like stuff painted on the hooves, legs blackened or whitened with paste or make up, horse make up put around their eyes and nose and lots of other things.

On the morning of the shows, I am usually very nervous, normally not being able to eat because it makes me sick, until the show is over.

We will soon have 3 horses that will be in work (being ridden and trained often). When we are in show/competition season, I pretty much ride my horses every day. Each of my horses normally has 2 days off a week, so I swap around the days that each one of them are worked or not. In the lead up to a big qualifier or championship, they will then be sometimes worked twice a day, before and after school. I normally receive weekly to fortnightly lessons from my two current instructors, one for show horse and one for dressage.

We currently own two horses, Ticket and Waffles, but are on the lookout for the third one to join the team. I currently compete with Ticket, a medium sized horse, in high/national level show horse competitions. In fact, in March-April next year, I will be going up to Sydney to compete in the biggest and hardest competition in Australia and New Zealand in all of our classes. Luckily. we have already qualified for each class in this tough competition. We are also hoping to do another big competition a couple of days before the Grand Nationals as well as competing in the Sydney Royal a week after.

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