Western showmanship clinic

While I was on my blog break this winter, I went to a couple of short clinics at my former barn.

It was fun to get out and do something at a place with the nice indoor arena! I do miss having an arena, but I love riding out on the trails/roads much more, so I think I made the right decision to move.  I like that I can still take lessons from my old trainer and get to ride and work with some different horses.

So, when the opportunity came up to try the showmanship clinic, I thought why not?  Showmanship isn't that hard, right?...and I did some showmanship when I was younger.  I went along with those thoughts until the day of the clinic. On the drive over to the barn, I did some shaky math and realized that the last time I did anything even resembling showmanship was when I was 12.  *Gulp*

That was 24 years ago!!!  *double gulp*

I then put my thinking cap on and remembered that we didn't even do showmanship, it was just halter!  So no pivots or patterns.   I was starting to regret getting myself into this situation, but I knew everyone participating would be friendly and patient with me.  I was assigned a show experienced QH mare named Stormy and we were off.  I did better at remembering the patterns than I expected - I sometimes get nervous and forget what to do.

Image from Google images

The lady doing the clinic was a well know local APHA/AQHA breeder and judge. She was funny and was a surprisingly good speaker.  She explained things well and gave everyone lots of tricks and tips on what the judges are looking for.  She even gave us a few pages of handouts afterwards so we would have notes to refer to later.  I was really impressed by my friend's hubby, who did the clinic with their yearling! This yearling was better behaved than some horses that were much older and experienced. My friend and her hubby have been doing alot of ground work with this little guy and he could set up and pivot like an experienced show horse!  (I have some pictures of them from another clinic that I'll post about next week.)

photo credit: Cappy Jackson - from equisearch.com

I had a bit of a tough time - I would be concentrating on setting up the horse or trying to do a pivot and I would forget about my hand/arm position - or vice versa.  There are a surprising number of things to remember about hand/body position as well as trying to remember the patterns!  I had fun though and learned alot.  I could see myself trying some showmanship classes at a fun show some day. I also went through old issues of Horse and Rider magazine and found a ton of great articles on showmanship with things to practice.

I'm going to try and do a bit of showmanship practice with Rusty on days where I don't feel like riding. I think it is good to work on other things once in a while - it keeps the brain sharp!  Although, Rusty has a heck of a time with pivots/turn on the haunches... I'm not sure if he is just stubborn, or if he has a bit of arthritis in his hocks and it makes turning more difficult. We have some difficulty doing a turn on the haunches under saddle as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was the problem as well!  :-)