Unlike last week’s column, when I talked about the importance of putting your energies into just one single horse, I’d like to mention a few points in favour of those who choose to manage more than one competitive horse at a time - there are lots of us out there who do so!

One very helpful fact is that the more horses you ride, the more you learn. Each horse will add skills to your bag of tricks, and each will contribute to your overall feel of horses. This is true both of your own horses as well as riding other people’s horses, especially if you can get coaching help with them (from the owner or a trainer).

It is also a huge sense of accomplishment when you leave an event, knowing that all of your horses showed well - one year I was showing four of them in various disciplines. Wow! That was tiring, but it felt so good to pull it off!

In any case though, whether you choose to keep and show one horse, keep several but only compete on one, or keep a bunch and compete on several of them in the same or different competition arenas, there are still some important concepts to remember.

It is always important to pick a horse that is suitable for your needs now and into the future. However, it is seldom that you will meet both your current and future needs with the same horse - you need to recognize which horses can meet your needs now with an eye to the future, but you need to be prepared to move on when the time is right.

For example, one friend of mine was riding a practice horse in the reining pen. She showed him with plans of learning from him while her young horse was in training. She had figured on getting a year, or maybe two, out of him while her youngster was maturing. Instead, she ran out of horse about 3/4 of the way through the first year. By choosing a horse that was suitable to her at the time, she progressed quickly beyond his range of skills.

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

This is also very true of pony clubbers or other children learning to jump. Many very good flat horses are not good over fences, but these riders need to learn those basics before ever venturing over a fence. However, once their basics are learned, they will need to move up to a horse with some jumping skills in order for them to progress.

It doesn’t stop there! That same child may need another horse by the end of the season as well! Depending on the amount of time spent training and in lessons, that child that was hopping cross rails in March and April may be ready for the 3’ hunter ring in October. If that low hunter packer is no longer suitable, it can be time for horse shopping again.

Where this can get difficult is in human emotions and also in misunderstandings. Many people will buy a young horse for their child with the assumption that they will grow and learn together. This seldom happens successfully, at least not without good instruction and lots of it. Often times, too, the child (and many of us adults!) becomes so attached to the horse that they don’t want to give him up.

At this point it is important to return to the original goals set by each rider. They need to remove themselves from their emotional attachments and clearly look at the path they want to take. Some riders may choose to keep a special horse and limit their education - that is a choice. Others choose to move onto new mounts, as often as is required to continue their training.

I think more people need to realize the importance of picking suitable mounts, and then recognizing that moving up is okay. After all, if we aren’t happy with our horse, they likely aren’t happy with us either! And an unhappy partnership is just not worth putting the time into.

Until next week, happy riding!
~ Kristi :)

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We start out Thursday with the Dressage classes. Dressage is very popular but also intense, it has evolved into taking a full day and then some. In order to beat some of the crowds (and such noisy equipment as the carnival and logger sports), we start the classes on Thursday and run a full day. On Friday, the dressage classes continue, and this year we are offering CEF points in the advanced dressage division. We are fortunate to have the experienced judge Jill Yonge from Saanichton to oversee these divisions.

Also happening on Friday is a full slate of western oriented classes. Starting at 8 am, the western pleasure division takes off. Followed by horsemanship, and then by reining, the western riders tend to dominate the main ring. After the reining, the gymkhana riders start up and the popularity of these fun speed events tend to have them running well into the early evening. Kerry Walton of Port Alberni will be taking up her judge’s clipboard for these classes.

Meanwhile, starting at noon, the english hack classes get underway - road hack, equitation, and show hack. These are held in the hunt field under a different judge so as not to interfere with the busy main ring schedule. We welcome Margaret Maltby from Surrey as our english judge. There are also specialty classes held at 6:30 pm in the Indoor ring - a Golden Rider classes geared for riders 50 years of age and over, two local rider Horsemanship classes, and the appealing Coloured Pleasure class, which is open only to Paints, Pintos and Appaloosas.

We jump into action at 8 am in the Main Ring with judge Kerry Walton again putting a variety of riders through their paces in the aptly named Lots-A-Classes section. From the tricky Western Riding and serious Western Pleasure Stake competitors move into some fun events like Pairs and Costume classes. The advanced Reining classes are all held in this section as well - lots of money up to be won in those! The Tiny Tot riders also come out in full force during the morning - these are the riders 6 years and under, being led around on trusty ponies and horses - for some of them, this is their first show ring appearance! The challenging class of Bareback Equitation leads to a lunch break.

During the lunch break, there will be an exciting Dressage Demo. Erin Rowsell will be performing a Costume Kur on the Trakehner stallion Tulpenprinz. Apparently this is quite the show (a costumed freestyle dressage test set to music), so plan to be at the Main arena during lunch break on Saturday, August 24!! Following the dressage demo, the reiners will take the spotlight to demonstrate the maneuvres that make up their patterns, which are geared towards all levels of riders.

Starting at 8:45 am, in the Driving ring, is the first four classes of the driving division. We have a few drivers from the Bulkley Valley, and usually also have a strong showing from the Fraser Lake, Fort Fraser and Vanderhoof areas as well. We welcome Peter Wilding-Davies from Langley to oversee these classes.

Jill Yonge, our dressage judge, moves into the Hunt Field at 9 am, to score the Jumping Division. The lower jumper classes tend to have lots of entries and should keep her busy until lunch break. Our course designer is Janis Netzel from Prince George.

So there you have it - three rings operating simultaneously all morning! And the fun continues!! More next week....

The Quick Community 4-H Horse Show 2002 went very smoothly due to the great organizing efforts of Dayna, Vicky, Kaitlyn and Teresa. Teresa says she wants to do it again it was so much fun, especially the tallying of scores and handing out ribbons, (hey, maybe a new up and coming show secretary!).

Debbie Ewald was great as my scribe at the B section of the show and Dayna was great as a ring steward at the A section of the show. I would recommend both these ladies for these jobs in the future. Dale Harris looked after the concession end of things with chili, hot dogs, pop and water, and candy on hand.

This year the prizes consisted of plaques and trophies instead of stuff which made for a nice change. The weather held out for us although a little rain fell in the mornings but cleared up during the day.

I had the great privilege of being their judge for both days, and to sit and watch these kids from that perspective was an eye opener for me, since in previous years I coached a lot of these kids as their 4-H horse leader. It was heartwarming to see how much they had accomplished.

Objectivity was not a problem, since it is something we as judges need to work hard on anyway, and having judged before and gone through the 4-H program it wasn't difficult no matter how cute and wonderful I felt everyone was.

Thank you to Houston 4-H for supporting this show like they do, it is a great place for the kids to practise their 4-H skills before achievement day and also a great place for parents to learn about the workings of a horse show. Besides all that it was a fun place to be!

Please check out the Photo Page to see some of the fun that was had!
Cindy

Northern BC Horse is sponsored by local businesses who support equine sports in our area including:

• Baerental Ranch
• Burns Lake Building Supplies
• Griffin Crick Ranch
• Hoskins Ford
• Northern Horse Supply
• Ridennoure Paint Horses
• The Tack Store

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