December 26, 2009; Introduction

Sarah has been learning a new event this winter, and it is called "Trail class".  We have been working on it twice a week, adding it in to our pleasure and halter/showmanship routine.  Trail class entails the rider maneuvering the horse through various obstacles.  The horse is judged on accuracy and efficiency.   In a show, each horse and rider gets a chance to perform the pattern individually, as opposed to pleasure, where several horses/riders compete simultaneously.  The obstacles include a rope gate, a bridge, and many variations of poles on the ground.  These poles can be elevated or not, and can be set up in an infinite variety of ways to challenge the horse and rider.  Some common ones are walkovers (three or more in a row, 2 feet apart), trot-overs (three feet apart), lope-overs (6 feet apart); also, back-through obstacles, side-pass obstacles, boxes, etc.  Given all three gaits of the horse plus stopping and backing makes for an interesting and varied class for both horse and rider, never are two courses the same!   (Sort of like crossfit for horses...).  Earlier this fall, I purchased approximately two dozen 4X4X8 poles for practice obstacles.  We painted them white, kept some of them the 8 foot length, turned some of them into 6-footers and some into 4-footers.  So, we have an assortment of lengths to choose from.  I have been using the trail class patterns that I had picked up at shows throughout the years for ideas to build the practice courses.  Like any athletic endeavor, it helps to break each obstacle down into its simplest parts first, teach it one step at a time, then combine the skills in the end to master each obstacle, then put several obstacles together to construct a course.  This is keeping Sarah mentally fresh through the winter.  She is a smart mare, and too much of the same routine over and over causes boredom for her, so she finds other ways to make it interesting, sometimes not to the desire of her rider!   She finds these trail class obstacles intriguing, sometimes she starts trying to figure them out while I have her on the lunge line for her pre-ride workout!  She is lots of fun.  The nice part about this trail class work is that it incorporates the pleasure work on the sly, so that the horse does not get "sour" practicing gaits over and over.
Yesterday I did a quick showmanship practice with her.  It is all about how well the handler can present the horse in a halter class, in hand.  This class has become so competitive that it has evolved into handler and horse being able to execute different maneuvers precisely and efficiently, almost like a horsemanship class only from the ground instead of riding.  The pattern is posted at the show, the handler memorizes the pattern, then handler and horse perform the pattern individually in the class.  The horse must be able to "set up", or "pose" in a position with all four feet evenly spaced and square beneath them, and must also be able to trot, stop, back up, and perform turns in a precise way.  Now, the legs of the horse and handler are even expected to be in sync for the most competitive teams.
Horsemanship is another class that we have been working toward.  Like showmanship, there is a pattern, but this time, the handler is riding the horse.  The rider is being judged in this class, again, for precision and efficiency.  There are often "cones" or markers designating where maneuvers are to be performed. The horse must be able to execute on command walk, "jog" (slow trot), trot, lope (slow canter) on either lead, stop, back, turns in either direction on both the forehand and hindquarters, and lead changes.  Patterns can be put together incorporating all of these skills in an infinite number of ways.
All of these classes are providing us with a great variety of skills to work on over the winter months!
I can now keep you posted on Sarah's progress as we work on these skills.
Thanks for being interested!  If you come to visit her, she would have me remind you that she likes apples, carrots and peppermints...


Kirsten