|
|
PG Ride 'N' Slide - the show is done
|
Another year gone by and another excellent show - the 7th Annual PG Ride 'N' Slide went off well and competitors from all over BC went home happy and tired.
Riders came from all over the Prince George area, and from as far west as Southbank, Topley and Houston and as far south as Quesnel, Williams Lake and 150 Mile House. This show attracts all stages of reiners, from beginners on horses still trotting patterns to professional trainers competing at full National Reining Horse Association levels.
The judge, Paige Stroud of Washington State, was fantastic. She was gracious and friendly, and her scoring was both fair and consistent. I know my friends and I enjoyed the chance to ride under her experienced eye. She was careful to adjust the scoring during the Beginner and Intermediate levels to reflect the lower level of horse and rider training, and then toughened up on the marks as she moved into the Advanced classes.
This year a total of 169 runs were judged, up 37 from last year's all time high of 132. This show just keeps getting bigger and better! The PGRHA Show Committee worked long and hard raising money and donations for this show, and the prize list was awesome. It was certainly inspiring to anyone who rode, to strive that little bit harder next year, to try for that beautiful belt buckle.
Another thing we noted was that the calibre of competition had increased, even in the beginner classes. These riders are working hard, year after year, to improve themselves and it showed.
Hats off to the PG Ride N Slide Show Committee - it was a great show and I'll certainly be back next year! For anyone interested in reining but who doesn't ride, all spectators are welcome - the more cheering the riders hear the better they seem to ride! The Silent Auction is also an excellent way to get involved if you are not riding, and the BBQ dinner on Saturday night was open to all as well.
Till next year's show, we'll keep ridin' and slidin'! |
| If you have tips or questions on equipment care, purchases, fit, or anything else to do with equestrian equipment, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
|
If you are new to Northern B.C. Horse, check out all the previous issues on the Archive page.
Kristi is building a great knowledge base about horses, with the emphasis on our area of the world.
|
|
Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse
|
|
Past articles are all available in the
|
|
|
|
Sacking out legs
Last week we went over the start of sacking out and how to read your colt's comfort zone. Picking up where we left off, it is time to sack out the lower part of the horse with the blanket or towel.
Be very careful when you start to reach the blanket under the horse and between his legs from front or back - a lightning fast kick can be deployed to protect himself and you might not even see it coming. Gently move the blanket, rub with it and flap it, against his legs, belly, flanks, etc. If at any time he becomes worried, just stay quietly doing what you are doing until he relaxes, or if necessary back off a little until he settles down again.
For more work on the legs, check with rope-smart column from June 19. Another training tool I was taught that helps get the legs more comfortable with ropes and such is to use a lunge whip. The lash of the whip makes a handy and light rope to rub against the horse and is easy to maneuvre with the handle. You can snake it around on the ground, next to the horse, under his belly, and up and down his legs without hurting him and he will become more relaxed with ropes around his legs (which can also be a saving grace if he should become tangled in fencing wire).
Correctly done, sacking out is a very useful took to accustom a young horse to the sights and feels of things that will happen during his career as a riding horse. Proper sacking out procedures will allow a rider to put on his slicker while riding, or to pick up a bag off a fence post, or hang a rope off the saddle and drag logs to the campfire.
|
| If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
|
|
| Northern B.C. Horse is brought to you courtesy of our advertisers including:
|
Thanks to our advertisers for making this all possible...
...for information about advertising, email. jim@hiway16.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shipping wraps or shipping boots?
A friend of mine recently asked me about wrapping her young horse for transport. She was taking him on a 5 hour trailer trip with other horses, and wanted to make sure he was protected. She had started wrapping practice on her gelding, but then was horrified to learn that a simple mistake can cause severe damage - like a bowed tendon. She turned to me in a panic to see if that news was indeed true, and we discussed it from there.
For starters, you should never wrap a horse unless you know how. Have someone experienced teach you (unless in case of emergency when anything goes and getting bleeding stopped is more important than anything else) because you can do more harm than good.
There are many different wraps available. You can use polo wraps or exercise bandages, or you can do stable wraps or shipping wraps. There are also specific wraps like spider bandages and figure eight bandages. Each has its own purpose and its own pitfalls.
Ideally, a wrap must be snug enough to stay up, but not so tight as to cut off the circulation. When you think of the fact that most of the horse's leg is a delicate structure of bone covered by tendons, ligaments, blood vessels and skin, you can see how easy it can be to damage something with a wrap that is too tight.
Shipping wraps are designed to help support the legs during the stress of transport, especially on a long trailer ride, as well as external protection. Shipping boots, on the other hand, will only provide some protection from inadvertent stomps and kicks from the other horses in the trailer, but will not support the leg structure itself.
Wrapping can also help reduce road concussion and vibration, which will help your horse to be less physically stressed than if he were standing bare legged in a trailer. Wrapped legs will be warm when you arrive (especially if hot out), so make sure you remove the wraps after you arrive and rub the legs well by hand to stimulate them. You may need to hose them off if sweaty, though I'd wait until they cooled first.
While I can't teach you how to wrap here in this column (you really need hands on practical experience, with someone telling you what to do as you do it), I will go over some of the set bandaging *rules* as I have been taught them in next week's column.
Shipping boots area good alternative if you are not worried about supporting the legs but just protecting them against bumps. They usually consist of a nylon shell lined with fleece and done up with two to four velcro straps. Some are contoured to the leg, some are just a straight tube. The fitted ones to tend to work better but are generally more expensive.
If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
|
|
When I sat down to finish this partially completed column, I reviewed what I had written so far and it made me think long and hard about the training problems I've been encountering along the way with both horses over the years. Instead of changing the way I train each ride when things don't work out, I need to let my horse think it through and try again to come up with the correct answer. Every time I change the rules on him, it takes longer to achieve the end goal. Hmmm... food for thought isn'it? Consistency...
