halter or perfomance?

[ponyluva97]

I have this miniature horse, but im not an expert on what to look for so i am not sure if it is worth showing him in halter or just keep him in performance. he is 2 years old palomino miniature horse. Please tell me if you think he is good enough to keep showing in halter (honest opinions please)

many thanks

http://tinypic.com/r/2ch4bpc/6

http://tinypic.com/r/28gqs88/6

http://tinypic.com/r/244big1/6

 

[Jill]

I'm trying to pop his pictures in here for you

 

[Jill]

If I wanted to show him, and since he is 2yo now, I'd try to work with him on showmanship and halter obstacle. Plus, he might do very well in color class

When he's 3yo and older, he might do well in the jumping and driving classes

 

[ponyluva97]

thanks for that, i have shown him in colour classes but he has placed last everytime because the judges think he is 'too washed out'

Also, if i wanted to keep showing him in halter, does he have the correct conformation?

thanks again

 

[Jill]

Where do you plan to show him in halter?

I don't feel he's place high in registry shows in halter, however, at open shows, he may. His conformation, as far as I can tell from the pictures, is not full of faults, but his "type" is not what is winning at registry shows. His body doesn't have a smooth flow to it (looks "choppy") and mostly, his neck is not physically made so that it sits high enough on his chest. His head is a little bit long as well. The horses that are placing well in registry shows all have high set, thin and archy necks as well as short heads. But, OPEN shows may be different and he might do very well in halter there against other miniatures and full size horses.

For his color, you can add a tablepoon or so of ground flax seed to his diet. That is a great coat conditioner (as good as any commercially made product imo) and it really brings out the gold tones in a horse. You can also use color enhancing shampoos. THey do make them in gold tone. It takes awhile fo the flax to work... I'd suggest if you're using it, to start it in maybe March or even February next year. He could be much more golden for the 2013 show season

 

[ponyluva97]

thanks again for that

i live in Australia and he is registered with the mhaa an mh&pe, he mostly does local shows and has done one state show and won a reserve grand champion for his height class. He is my first mini so i just started out with something not too expensive incase i didn't like showing them. Is there anything i can do to make it look like his body is not so choppy?

his diet consists of:

lucerne chaff

oaten chaff

steam rolled barley

rice bran

e pro topline

e pro total performance

e pro glo oil

 

[wingnut]

Have you ever shown before? Miniature or otherwise? Did you enjoy doing the halter classes? Sometimes just having some better training for yourself can help you show your horse better. I only show at our club shows at this point and we do fairly well. This year we had much stiffer competition. I think if I had prepared myself as well as my horses better, we might have done better, placed even higher. That's my goal for next year (our season is over) as well as do some performance classes with at least one horse.

The end goal should be enjoying the process and having fun. The ribbons I get are icing on the cake

 

[ponyluva97]

i have never shown before i got this horse

but i really enjoy it! I like doing the halter classes because i have only done performance one and i still dont know exactly what is envolved in them.

 

[Sandee]

Good advice so far. I've shown for a lot of years and personally, I enjoy performance. So you need to just "get out there" and see what you enjoy. Since your horse is still young you might try obstacle until he's old enough for other classes. Also obstacle teaches a lot of ground manners and gets the two of you used to communicating.

Good luck!

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Just go out there and do it. Right now I'll say no he's not a halter horse, but he's only 2 he may mature nicer. My one gelding on the left looked awesome as a yearling and placed Top 5 in his halter class at Nationals but he fell apart as a 2 year old, he was nicer at 3 but still not great, this year being 4 he's looking really nice and I showed him in halter again and now he's winning in the All-Star's in his height division. So you just never know. He is also an all-around performance horse so they can for sure do it all.

 

[susanne]

Just go ahead and have fun. While he's not a "halter horse" per sé, so long as you both enjoy it, you'll learn a lot about how to best present a horse to a judge and you'll both gain confidence in the show ring, which will serve you well in performance.

 

[ponyluva97]

thanks for all the help