Friday, October 17, 2008

Pacific Rim All Arabian Horse Show - Saturday Walk Trot



Part 1

The schedule at the Pacific Rim Arabian Horse Show lists a slew of classes starting Saturday morning with the lunch break to be announced. That means you never know for sure exactly where in that schedule the lunch break will come. Fortunately for us, the lunch break came earlier than they had originally thought and the walk trot class was going to be after the lunch break. That gave us time for our walk trot rider to have a chance to school in the arena before her class.

I wish I had video of the schooling session. It was a zoo in that arena a lunch time. Good old Dandy packed his charge around the ring carefully despite how much he hates traffic. His only concern was Nana.

Now who is Nana, you ask? Well, Nana is the daughter of one of the clients, Chris, in Angie and Richard's barn. I'm not sure of Nana's age but I do know her birthday present was supposed to be getting to show in walk trot at the Pacific Rim All Arabian Horse Show. Then right before the horse show something happened and she lost access to the horse she was supposed to show. (Mom's horse is not broke enough for a young child)

That meant that Nana wasn't going to get to show. When I heard about this I offered up Dandy as a replacement. So one week before the horse show, Dandy got a career change from a western horse (we've been schooling exclusively western for over a year) to a hunter horse, with a new higher head set.

The only problem with this scenario was I'd also been working on freeing up Dandy's right shoulder. That shoulder has been a problem for years. I finally got it free, really free, a couple of weeks ago with something I learned from Richard.

However, using the shoulder correctly made the horse sore. Then moving him out into hunter pleasure made him use that shoulder even more so the soreness had flared up. We were really having to work trying to find a balance between giving the kids, Nana and Rachel, schooling time without making the horse too sore to show. That meant that Nana had only gotten 2 rides on Dandy before the horse show and Rachel hadn't gotten any until move in might.

Rachel didn't have any problem getting Dandy to move out at the trot but Nana did. Dandy just wasn't convinced that his little charge really should be going that fast around the arena. However, Nana was undaunted by the horse's unwillingness to move out. She just kept working at him until he finally gave her what she wanted.........but it only happened in degrees. He'd speed up just a bit, find out she could handle it and then speed up a little more. By the end of her lesson the horse was moving out.

So back to the horse show. Here's the video but unfortunately the first half of the class is not on Nana and Dandy. You won't see them until about half way through so you'll miss seeing the part where the judge reversed the kids at the trot (what judge reverses walk trot kids at the trot??) and Nana turned Dandy smack dab into the wall. That got his attention and he actually trotted off a bit better.

So let me know what you think of Dandy and Nana's debut in walk trot!

To be continued...........

More Saturday

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9 comments:

  1. I'm checking this from work and the video is blocked, so I can't wait to get home and see ther video!

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  2. Awww what a shame, the videographer obviously had the wrong horse in the lens for the first half. I have also never heard of a judge changing directions at a trot in a walk trot class. Sometimes at the Pinto shows we will actually have parents and spotters standing scattered around in the ring in case any of the kids have problems especially when it is a big class.

    Dandy was clearly out of his comfort zone but he took care of his little passenger beautifully, considering she was giving him all the wrong signals LOL. Geez her feet barely cleared the saddle to let her use her legs on his sides! I think they did really well and with practice they could be awesome together. Pity about his sore shoulder. I am always blown away by the horses that people can entrust their little ones to, they are wonderful and deserve a medal just for that.

    I am going to tell you what I noticed, am using this as a learning thing from what I have seen before because I tend to just look at the "pretty horses" no matter what they look like and not concentrate on what the judges look for while I am shooting.

    His head was too high, his nose was pointing outwards, i.e. he wasnt bent nicely at the poll for that round look and the vertical on his face, he was a bit fast and didnt look collected at all. She wasnt letting him soften by using legs and hands together to move him forward (heck her feet were barely clearing the skirt of the saddle) and round him up which is also why he was fighting her in the lineup and not standing still because of the constant pressure from the hands BUT I loved the way she praised him repeatedly by giving him a pat and seemed to really enjoy herself.

    If that was her first walk trot class and considering the length of time she has had to get used to Dandy I think she did great.

    Well done Nana and Dandy, better things will come with practice!! You are braver than me, I still havent had the courage to enter my first walk trot and I am 40 something LOL.

    Okay how did I do with my observations not aimed at this particular pair personally but at what I am starting to see in general.

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  3. Also meant to add, that I think that the trot was not as smooth as it could have been which would have made her more comfortable and balanced because it was too fast.

    I'm done LOL.

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  4. callie, I hope you get to see it. It is pretty cute.

    lori, first off, the height of the horse's head is perfect. That's where they're riding them these days. The horse is definitely not in the bridle like he should be however a hunter horse does not have to be vertical. It is ok for a hunter horse to be nosed out just a little. He also is not going forward like he should be.

    His gait is definitely a bit uneven because she had his head cocked to one side with more pressure that direction throwing him off balance. Had she used her legs enough to push him into the bit, he would have been able to even out his stride despite her lopsided aids.

    As for his speed, the horse is actually too slow not too fast. I think maybe the angle of the video cam distorted the speed however. But even at that it looks about the right speed this horse should be moving only he needs to be under himself and more round. He was the biggest horse in the class with the longest legs. He should have been passing all the others instead of in line behind them. LOL

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  5. Sheesh, just goes to show how much I know LOL. Maybe you should delete that comment entirely someone may get the wrong idea!!!!

    Ihave cancelled my application to the board of judges LOL.
    Seriously, thanks for the explanation it all helps with my photography.

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  6. Awwwww...sweet!! They did GREAT together considering they only had a few rides before the show! I've seen kids school on their horses all summer for an end of summer show and not look THAT good! I can only imagine what a pair they'd be if they spent more time schooling!! And Dandy...wow...he did a WONDERFUL job taking care of little Nana! Good boy Dandy! And way to go Nana!!

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  7. She's adorable on Dandy in this class! Dandy makes a really good hunter, IMO. Well done!

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  8. Did anyone else besides me SEE the girl on the Gray Arab, sawing her horses face with the bit and reins? please watch the girl and the Gray Arab when the lineup is setup. She is clearly sawing the horses mouth. Poor horse... and if she was taught that, or even if she was not taught that, how awful and terrible that she is treating such a gorgeous Arab horse that way. I really really like the Gray Arab. And I am sorry to see what is being done to the horse. She may not be doing it as hard as I have seen it be done (probably because she's just a child) but I fear she might grow up and do it worse, but hopefully she learns that sawing horses faces is wrong..

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  9. From what I could see Nana and Dandy did a pretty good job together.

    I did see that little girl sawing the face of that beautiful grey arab. Why would she do such a thing? To collect the horse's head? I don't get it. She just doesn't stop sawing. I wonder who taught her that. How awful :(

    ~Lisa

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