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We began our Congress showing experience (for the second time!) in showmanship. 8am in Cooper Arena can be a veeeery cold time. Mid-October in Ohio can sometimes be rather unkind. We kept Taylor wrapped in blankets until we entered the arena. |
| Our pattern was one we had done a million times before: Trot cone A to cone B.... |
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...Then walk cone B to cone C (Taylor was right on the money!) |
| Back up....(nice, straight backup for us...something we always have to work on) |
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Do a 270 degree pivot...(careful to line up Taylor's hip with the judge so that we will end up straight...and we hit our mark!) |
| Then trot to the judge. This is where our problem occurred. Unfortunately, the trap in this pattern was the spacings of the cones and the judge - very close together. I always know going into the class that having a big huntseater as a showmanship horse is a disadvantage, and here's the biggest example why! By the time I got her long body around on the pivot, we just had not enough room to get her long legs into a full trot before stopping at the judge. She kind of took a trot step, but there just wasn't enough room for her to truely trot. |
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Our set up was SO fast! This has been a major item we have worked on all year - setting up quickly and neatly. It was nice to have an element we made a priority to work on all year come through at the Congress. |
| Pull turn and walk out. Our pull turn was right on the money, neat and straight. Another element we have been working on successfully completed! |
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It was a successful class - we nailed all of the elements we had worked so hard on all year. Too bad about that second trot! Oh well, them's the breaks when you have a big horse. This winter's project will be working patterns in smaller spaces!!! |
