Sport Horse Under Saddle ATR -and- 14.2 and Under

These classes happened almost back to back.
It had already been a really long day.
The Fancy Pony was tired.
I was tired.
It was already after 9:00 pm...

Finally they called us in for Sport Horse Under Saddle ATR!
We charged into the ring with our fanciest trot!
We all (all 12 of us) finally got into the ring and we trotted round and round and round and tried not to run into each other.

That Fancy Pony seemed to notice the dressage ring boundaries and got SUPER consistent in the bridle, seeking my contact and following my lead!  How long were we going to trot??
Ah, now we can canter!  Take our time...  Set up the bend with my inside leg and make sure she feels soft all the way through...  Pick her up with my inside leg, and what a soft, quiet transition!!
Now, the challenge of the day...  Don't break at the canter...
BUT!
I was not thinking "don't break".  Instead, I was thinking, "Just like this!  Keep this going!"
I put more energy into the canter at every corner.  It felt so wonderful, I was grinning from ear to ear!
After a few laps, I felt Whisper waning.  She was really getting tired already.  I lifted my pelvis and tried to support her with my core.  Non-interference was my goal.  She continued to play along.  How are we still cantering?

HAND-GALLOP!
I insisted on our best cross-country canter.  Whisper obliged, but she kept asking me, "Where are the jumps?"
Sorry no jumps.
A horse explodes next to us!!
She maintains as if nothing happened.
Another horse explodes right in front of us!
We leave that one behind us as she pushed up into my hands, lifting her back to dance with me...
Yet another horse is acting up, and we don't have a hole to go though!
Outside leg to push the shoulders over, and we leg-yield to the inside of the dressage boundaries, where I decide we're going to park it for the rest of the class.
We're still hand-galloping??  What has it been - half an hour???

Now, I'm no longer smiling.  I have my gane face on.  I'm power-breathing in order to keep my core engaged and help this Fancy Pony show off everything she's got!

Finally, we walk and reverse.  Then, we're trotting again!  For D.A.Y.S.......
More canter.  I've caught my breath, but now I have to breathe my legs with every stride just to help Whisper maintain.
Hand-gallop one last time, and I push that mare for everything she's got!  THIS is the class I came here for!
I get up into half-seat and continue to breathe my legs.  Anything to help her out.  Talk about a marathon class!!!
Back to the canter!
I sit, but I don't ask for the distinct transition.  I bring her back slowly to avoid any break in gait.
Another lap or 2 and they finally have us trot into the line up.  We were both ready...

1st Place...
2nd Place...
3rd Place...
All I need is to be in the ribbons, and I'll have my qualifications for this class.  I'll be thrilled with 6th place.

4th Place is number 416 - RSA Talk ofthe Street...
OMG!  Did they really just call my number?

I didn't hear anything else!  I walked over to get my ribbon in a daze.
I exit the ring and Heather is at the out gate to meet me and she screams!!  "You did it!!"

I suddenly found myself fanning my face with my white ribbon.  I was going to cry.
I just walked out of the class with the points I wanted.
I JUST QUALIFIED FOR ARABIAN SPORT HORSE NATIONALS!!!!!

Heather brought me back to reality quickly.
"Get off your horse! She needs to rest!"
Oh, yes.
Yes, she does.
Because we still have one more class!

And I walked the steaming beast around while we both caught our breath for round 2...

Allow me to break up this talk sandwich...

Thank goodness the Sport Horse Under Saddle 14.2 and Under class was not nearly the marathon of our previous class!!
It was the same game by another name with just a few less players.
Whisper was *just* as consistent in this class and gave me the loveliest transitions we had all day!  I was as proud as could be as we lined up and waited for the placings.

This time, when they announced 2nd place, I was looking around to see who that was (I really like to get a mental image of the first 2 placing horses) before I realized they had called our number again!
I think I was ready to faint.  I walked out of there, hopped of my pony, and immediately loosened everything I could lay hands on.
What a showing!
The rest of the weekend was just for fun and games at this point!

THIS HORSE ROCKS!!

Day 1 satin - couldn't be happier!

Hunter Pleasure - Main Ring Adventures

Arabian shows now seem to be 'divided' into 2 camps:
Main Ring (western, hunter, english, park, costume, halter, etc)
Sport Horse (sport horse in hand/under saddle, working hunter, jumper, dressage, etc)

Since the Fancy Pont and I have been training in the world of Sport, we had mainly focused on preparing for the sport horse classes.  However, THIS show offered BOTH classes!

So, we ventured into the main ring hunter pleasre classes and rode like an open hunter horse:
Hunter Pleasure ATR
Hunter Pleasure AATR

I'm lumping both classes rogether because both rides went about the same, and we were competing against mostly the same horses.

Fancy Pony was feeling stiff to the left.  She was having a difficult time maintaining her left lead canter, and she was struggling to carry herself.
These were our first 2 classes of the show on Friday...

You're not *really* going to make me get up, are you?

We made a reasonable presentation at the trot, but our canter was nothing special and was somewhat inconsistent.  Then, they asked for the hand-gallop....
Oh, hand-gallop, how fun you are!  And how satisfying when the transition is distinct!

My strategy for the hand-gallop was to find my cross-country attack mode, and Whisper was game to play along!

The first direction, they called the walk from the hand gallop, but I took my time to downward transition through the canter and a few steps of trot.
Reverse.
Trot.
Canter.
Hand-gallop.
Back to the canter.  Oh, yeah?
Heck, yeah!  Pony came back to the canter and rebalanced herself quite amiably.

Back to the trot, and line up!
We walked out of there with a 4th place in both classes!
That means we have enough point now to go to Regional Championships in Hunter Pleasure ATR!
What a GREAT feeling!!

Arabian Mounted Native Costume

We show in this class just for fun!

Are you ready to try to pass your horse off as an Arabian?
I wasn't real happy with the way the blanket on my dad's costume stretched and slid down over her butt.  I was planning modifications and strategic safety-pinning.

However, Kindred-spirit and Partner-in-crime let me borrow her costume, instead...
I have to admit, I was a little worried about hurting my dad's feelings over the last-minute change...

fitting session

This class is judged at the walk, canter, and hand-gallop. No trotting.
The judges seem to really like the upright necks and high knee action of english pleasure type horses.
Again, we took last place (likely due to head-tossing from the tasseled brow band), but we had a blast charging around the ring in splendid regalia!  Helmet included, of course...

This is when she wore it on her 16.2hh gelding!

We took home a 6th place ribbon, and we did't mind one bit!

After the class, my dad came to me and said, "I'm glad you decided to go with the other costume.  That was an excellent choice!"
Thanks, Dad!!

Man, I Feel Like A Woman - or - Arabian Liberty Class with the Fancy Pony

The game goes like this:
You lead your Arabian horse into the arena to a predetermined marker.
Time and music starts when you remove the halter.
Your Arabian acts like an Arabian, running loose around the arena for 2 minutes.
At the end of the 2 minutes, the music stops, and you have 2 minutes to catch your Arabian.
If you do not catch your Arabian within 2 minutes, you are disqualified.
This class in not placed.  Only a winner is chosen.
Two handlers are allowed in the ring.

First, I had to pick some music.
After lots of listening (and comparing to video), I played the finalists while actually practicing Liberty with the Fancy Pony.

Ultimately, it was determined that she "feels like a woman" (Shania Twain), but that if she ever *didn't* feel like a woman, she was ready to "Wipeout" (Beach Boys).
When Shania was singing, that mare rocked around the arena in a trot so lofty that I thought she must be almost 16hh!  Her tail went straight up so you could see the silver banner created by that white spot on the tip of her dock...  She looked exquisite!
That was in practice...

The actual performance went like this:
My Liberty parter-in-crime and I decided to play on the music a little.  This is how we dressed:

feelin' like a woman

I turned the Fancy Pont loose in the ring, where she promptly turned into... a fancy hunter??
There was no more upright neck and tail curled over the back.  No.
She was all about long and low stretchy trot and looooong canter strides!

When the music stopped, the mare took one more canter circle, then stopped and looked around as if she was confused.  When she saw me, I stood still and raised my hand with a quiet "whoa" and she turned to look at me head on and didn't move except for a few steps toward me to be haltered.  She was so beautifully easy to catch!

We took 7th place (they don't usually place the liberty class beyond 1st), and brought home a purple ribbon!  Well, if we can't have blue, we do love purple!
This class was a ton of fun and became a great opportunity for the pony to stretch out in the middle of the show!
Video to come...  as soon as I lay hands on it!

Dress Rehersal! ...always a good idea...

In preparation for our first show of the season, (and a breed show, at that), I decided a dress rehersal was in order for the Mounted Arabian Native Costume class...


Step 1: dress the horse...

Does it get any more fun than this??

Step 2: dress yourself...

Step 3: figure out a way to disguise your helmet when you do it for real...

I'm thinking pseudo-turban?

First Competition of 2015

I'm dreaming big, folks!

Sometimes, it scares the hell out of me...

My first show of the year is an Arabian show where I will debut with the Fancy Pony is some Sport Horse classes along with some "main ring" classes...

On the docket for next weekend are the following classes:
Arabian Hunter Pleasure
Liberty (oh, the fun - I can't wait!!)
Hunter Hack (whatexactly are they judging in Hunter Hack, anyway?)
Sport Horse Under Saddle

We're hoping to gather some of our first points on the road to Arabian Sport Horse Nationals 2015!
Wish us luck, and if you're in the St Louis area, stop by the National Equestrian Center and say HI!

In the meantime...  we have some extra-intense catching-training to do.....

A different kind of dream...

I had a dream last night that I was competing with the Fancy Pony at a breed show.  But, we were entering the Arabian English Pleasure class!  I had borrowed a cut-back saddle and had a double bridle all put together...  We were rock stars in the warm up ring...

I woke up before we made it to the show ring, so I have no idea how it went.  I have no idea why I would think that she was capable of being an English Pleasure horse, anyway.  Her neck isn't put on that high, and her knees don't come level unless she is jumping...

But, it was fun, nonetheless.

I'm thinking it just means I'm ready to push out etablished parameters!!