Pacific Rim All Arabian Horse Show - The Open Championship

Part 1

I vascillated all day about whether I was even going to ride in the open western pleasure championship. With it being the last class of the day and the hand gallop a required gaits, I wasn't sure that it was really worth it to stick around and show. The only thing that kept nagging at me to show was this horse having problems in the show ring.

I packed all of my stuff early except for my show clothes and show tack so I'd be ready to leave right after the class. The schedule seemed to be moving by quickly enough that by the time I was finished with my packing, the timing was right to tack up, get myself dressed and head off to show, so I decided what the heck, I'd go for it.

As I headed into the small warm-up ring, I found only one other western horse anywhere. It looked like it wasn't going to be much of a class. I was glad I hadn't talked myself out of showing because I'd be showing against a bunch of trainers because that sure wasn't the case.

Working around the warm-up it seemed like all was well with my horse. He was moving nice and slow and seemed to be confident. About the time I figured I'd take a break my horse jumped out from underneath me and tried to take off.

I have no idea what set him off. All I know is he clamped his tail, tucked his butt and then exploded. From that point on the horse was again high headed and distracted. He was sure that something was going to eat him.

The only other horse in the warm up was ridden by an newly appointed assistant trainer who'd worked many years as a groom. This was his first horse show and he was a wreck. I found myself assuring him that's it'd be OK but to stay away from my horse because he'd been naughty. I didn't want to be ruining this guy's ride if my horse exploded again.



About that time the paddock announcer called for us to enter the ring. I took my horse in again first knowing my trainer friend would be more comfortable bringing up the rear. I only hoped he'd heeded my warning and kept some distance between us.

Legs entered the arena jogging just a little faster than I would have wanted. We headed for the dreaded corner and I was still working on slowing the horse down. Once I got him into a groove he seemed to be ok and he loped off when asked with a nice transition.

Even loping down the rail into that corner, the horse stayed rated. Other than being a bit high headed and a little too fast, he was doing good. I made sure to put my legs on him before we ever reached that scary corner to push him through in case anything might catch his eye and everything seemed to be OK.

It was right about there that they called for the hand gallop. I had decided ahead of time that I wasn't going to do this gait but considering the way my horse was going, I thought I'd just bump his speed up a little and call it good. He started off a little hesitant not sure about the extra speed but he kept it even and I was pleased.

The horse came back easily to the lope when asked. Then he moved down into the walk as requested. When we reversed, they had us walk quite a ways but my horse seemed to be attentive and thoughtful even through that fateful corner. The class was half over and we were good.

Them the announcer called for a halt on the rail. Other than my horse raising up out of the bridle, he did pretty well with it. He stood there quietly looking around. I quietly asked him to drop his head a couple of times and he wasn't quite as compliant as I would have liked but not unreasonable either for something we hadn't been schooling.

Next they asked for the lope from the halt. I thought this was a little much for a two horse championship but what the heck. This maneuver is more than my horse is ready for at this point but we went ahead and gave it a try.

At first the horse backed up a step or two confused by my request for him to collect while standing still. But he made a respectable attempt at moving into the lope when I asked him. Something he doesn't always do, I might add so I was pleased with his effort.

Legs continued on down the rail in a decent enough lope. Then we were asked for the hand gallop again. By this time the horse had figured out my request for more speed. He picked it up much easier than the other direction and seemed to be staying pretty soft with it. We were doing good.



Then we hit the corner..........not the usual corner........the one at the other end of the arena right underneath the show office. Someone overhead dropped something just as we got square underneath them and that was all it took. My horse exploded from the hand gallop.

It's hard to see in the video because the vantage point of the camera is on top of the rail where my horse got frightened. However, my SIL, Ray, was at a different vantage point with my digital camera and hegot a picture of the horse at the height of his jump in the air.

You can see the panic on the horse's face. Also from the blur you can tell how much power was involved in the horse's reaction. I pulled the horse down as quickly as I could get my reins gathered up. I got him back into frame and we continued on down the rail trying to just get through the rest of the class.

I was relieved when they called for the jog. I guess I was thinking we were out of the woods but nothing could have been farther from the truth. I reversed my horse when they called for the line-up and it back fired. The horse erupted again and I had to correct him. I don't know what got him this time but he didn't want to settle. I had to pick him up a second time and really push him forward into the bridle. However, this time the judge was right there and she scolded me saying "That'll be enough!"

It was enough for me all right. I had had it. I'm not normally one to talk back to judges but her telling me to stop correcting my horse's dangerous behavior was the final straw. I didn't feel that my correction was inappropriate and I told her so.

I had released the horse to give him a chance and he welled up like he was going to take off again so I'd corrected him again when she'd interrupted. Thankfully my horse responded to that second correction or I don't know what I would have done. Getting into my horse when a judge told me to stop wouldn't be good.

I have no idea what that judge was thinking. I don't know what she expected. It wasn't just me I was trying to protect, it was anyone in the vicinity.......which included her and the future safety of anyone in the ring with us.....and I told her that too.

She said she was trying to make sure she could give me a prize. A prize was the last think I wanted. It's more important to have this horse fixed than any prize. I still don't get her thinking........but at least I finally kept my mouth shut.

So you can see the horse show did not end on a good note for me. I guess I'm lucky that the judge didn't file a complaint against me for disrespect or lack of sportsmanship. I was really hoping the video would show what happened in case I found myself defending my behavior to USEF. This was a first for me............and it really sucked!

So take a look, what do you think? How would you have handled this horse in this situation?




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