I finally ventured into the show pen with Tori, entering her in a couple of classes at the Northern Saddle Club Spring Show in Smithers, on June 9. I had to know if I could take her in the show pen without pressuring both of us up, and was quite interested with my response.

For starters, Tori was really good. She was very quiet and relaxed, which was great! Christine Hassell, my old coach, was there, and together we mapped out a plan for my classes (I had entered three). Instead of using the first two as warm ups and possibly completing the third pattern, we decided instead to attempt the first pattern.

Tori was great! Although she got a little worried in spots, most of her maneuvres were done quietly, much the same as at home. I also discovered that she knows how to rollback far better than Raime ever did - I almost fell off on the first one!! Good for a giggle anyway...

The plan then for the second pattern was to go in and repeat the previous class - but only IF Tori’s nerves would let her. She was still good walking to center, so I decided to walk the first 1/8 of both circles, something I practice at home to prevent anxiety exactly at center. I knew I would get marked down for it, but was more worried about the schooling than the score. She still loped well, but her spins and stops were poor so I did some work on those (do you know, I think she can count to four? She actually stopped her spins right on four without me asking her! So I had to fix that anticipation by asking her to spin again until I said “whoa”).

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

.I was surprised at how much my nerves were fluttering though going in there for both classes! I was so sure that I wouldn’t be nervous because my reason for being there had nothing to do with competition, but those butterflies struck anyway. Overall, I was less nervous on the second pattern simply because I had decided to school, but I still felt the nerves - it was surprising to me!

I also had to laugh at the reactions of most of the other competitors when I showed up on my “fancy” reining horse - many of them didn’t understand that I went to that show for a lack of pressure rather than a place to win a ribbon! The kids in particular were all asking what classes I was going in so they didn’t have to ride against me, it was cute.

All in all the show was a good experience for Tori and I, and also for Karisma who I took along and led through two trail patterns. We weren’t graceful but we managed to get though most of the obstacles!

Thanks to Holly for putting on a great schooling show!

Till next week, happy riding - and if you are showing, have FUN!! It’s the main reason we do this stuff, remember?
~ Kristi :)

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If you have ever watched or shown at a stock breed show (Quarter Horse, Paint, Appaloosa), you may have noticed the current trend to “band” manes. Unlike english horses, whose manes are braided into neat little plaits to keep them tidy, the western equestrian competitor uses bands to keep their horse’s manes in orderly fashion and to help show off their necks.

In the breed shows, horses of all ages are banded for nearly all of the classes. The only exemptions are speed events, reining, and cattle events. Those classes allow freedom of choice for their horses’ manes, and many opt for as long and flowing as they can - all the more to flash about and look exciting as they perform!

If you have ever showed stock breeds, or have considered following that trend of banding manes, you will know how difficult it is to actually make the horse come out looking great at the end! This Tip of the Week comes from Michelle Desjarlais, of www.doublecquarterhorses.com.

Before you get started, you may need to shorten your horse’s mane. Your choices for shortening a mane are to cut it, pull it, or to use thinning shears.

Cutting manes with straight scissors is probably the easiest to do, though if you plan on showing your horse with his mane un-banded you probably won’t want to use this method - a cut mane looks awful when loose! Michelle’s suggestion is to take regular scissors and cut as straight as possible to about a 3 to 4 inch length, and then shorten it again once it is banded (next week’s column). The first cut is so you don’t have to pull all that hair through the elastics.

Pulling manes is uncomfortable for both horse and owner, and it also a very time consuming job. Michelle prefers not to work on manes that have been pulled. She puts this into perspective here:
“A. Your horse hates you!! (In simpler terms - they do not want you anywhere near their neck....what a joy to try to band).
B. Where do you think this hair goes to? It simply regrows and three weeks from now when you have your next show you have all these little bristles of hair poking up thru your bands.
C. Six weeks after you pull, the bristles have become an absolute nuisance to try to band through or around. They are too short to put into the band, too long not to show thru the band and too short to repull!!
D. Scissors are painless.... I know the old "it’s a thick mane" story.... I have one stallion that had 96 bands at the Nationals!”

Thinning shears work very well as they combine the ease of cutting with scissors with the thinning effect of pulling a thicker mane. There are two types of thinning shears that I have worked with, one is like a scissor that cuts at intervals due to the teeth, the other is a razor blade hidden behind metal teeth. Both work well with practice - in fact, properly done, most people will think you actually pulled the mane.

Next week, we’ll take a look at the steps involved in actually banding the mane!

We’ve all heard of the reasons to geld a stallion - to prevent breeding inferior horses, to eliminate the hormones that can make stallions exhibit dangerous behaviour, to calm a stallion down into a suitable riding horse for the average person, and so on. If you own geldings, you probably quite like your “neutral’ horse.

But what about mares? In dogs and cats it is common to spay or neuter both the males and the females of the species. However, in horses, it is most common to leave mares intact. Why is this? Is it even possible to “spay” a mare?

Yes, as a matter of fact, mares can be spayed. A procedure called an ovariectomy can be performed, removing the ovaries which effectively removes the opportunity to reproduce.

There is also the ability to remove only one ovary, for medical reasons, which will leave the mare still able to be impregnated and carry a foal. The main reason for doing this would be to remove a tumour or cyst along with the ovary. In some cases, a mare with a tumour or cyst on her ovary can experience extreme hormonal imbalances which can cause her to act very much like a stallion - aggressive with other horses and even humans.

The primary reasons that mares are not routinely spayed are costs and risks. Any time you cut into the abdominal cavity, you compromise the health of the horse. An ovariectomy should be done in a clinic, in an operating room, rather than out in the field, to help prevent this infection from setting in. Because the surgery should be performed in an sterile operating clinic, your costs will be far higher than with a “field surgery” such as a castration.

Due to those costs and risks, most ovariectomies are performed for either extreme medical reasons (hormonal imbalance creating dangerous behaviour) or if the mare in question is a well liked performance horse whose heat cycles tend to interfere with her performance.

Basically, as it was explained to me, the surgery is completed in one of two ways. Either a flank incision is made, or the surgery is done vaginally. The veterinarian then enters via the incision and blindly feels for the ovaries, one at a time. The ovary is removed in a similar method to the testicles on a male horse, crimping off the blood vessels to eliminate bleeding, etc.

The end result? A mare with no mare-ishness! Spaying can turn an aggressive mare into a tractable saddle horse much the same way gelding a stallion would.

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