HorseMom
Well-Known Member
I've been working with Jay for months so that I could finally take him to a show. My trainer was taking her Quarter Horse clients to a local 2-day show to start the season and get everyone (people and horses) in the mindset, so we decided to take him along. The show had several mini classes, but I decided to enter Jay in only Halter and Hunter. I didn't want to overwhelm the boy his first time off the farm in 7 years. Friday evening we brought the horses to the show to get them settled in to their stalls. Jay screamed the entire time that we were there on Friday and we joked the we hoped that he would have a sore throat the next day. Friday night when everyone went to bed, Jay was pretty quiet. I was a nervous wreck the next day.
I didn't know what I was doing, all Crystal's QH riders know what they are doing and helped me out with all the little details. Our first class of the day was Halter. Jay looked great and I was pretty confident until I entered that arena. Jay troted nicely to his spot on the rail and started to stand nicely when the stud chain on my show halter just fell apart in my hands. He didn't even yank on it. The halter popped off and I grabbed Jay around his neck. I kept looking around for Crystal to go get me my spare. She had already taken off to the barn to grab our barn halter so that we could just finish the class. Before we get the barn halter on the Judge comes around and starts asking me age and sex. I'm still hugging my horse, and thankfully he hadn't realized that there was no halter. I'm overwhelmed and kind of snap at the judge a little letting her know that my horse is a stallion. We get the barn halter on and that's when Jay realizes that he had no halter on and started to throw a fit. We were the last horse in so I was able to get him away from the other horses so that I could get him under control again. We still pinned in the class though, we got a 5th. One of the gentlemen with Tricetta Miniatures came over and said that his mare was in heat and the wind just so happened to be sending that scent right to Jay. He recommended that I use Vicks to help out with that. We ran out that day and grabbed some.
Jay loves Hunter. I wanted to have a class that he really enjoyed so that he could see that shows can be fun. The jumps had flower boxes with most of them and Jay had never seen one of those. When he saw that first fence his eyes went wide and I was sure that he would refuse the jump. He didn't, just jumped it a heck of a lot bigger then he should have. The rest of the course he jumped wonderfully. We ended up with a 1st in Hunter.
Sunday started out a lot better. I had a better idea as to what I had to do, I was better organized, and relaxed. Jay was so quiet that I had to keep checking to see if he was still alive. We had a different judge that day who had a huge smile on his face the whole day and was just plain having a good time. I really liked him, made you feel relaxed and helped you have a good time as well. We put vicks in Jay's nose on Sunday so we didn't have any repeats from the day before. I also got my extra stud chain that is certainly stronger then the last one. Not as pretty, but I'll take safety over pretty. Jay did wonderfully trotting past the judge and into the line up. I get him all set up and Crystal whispers from the fence that Jay's little friend was coming down. I'm trying everything to get him to bring it back up but nothing works. The Judge gets to me with a huge smile on his face and says " I don't even have to ask what sex he is, he's been showing me the whole class". So we joke for a little bit about Jay wanting to show his "best asset". This halter class was twice the size of the Saturday class. I'm thinking that we blew it, but our number gets called for second place. I was shocked. We qualified for the Supreme Halter Championship at the last show for the series. I'm so excited.
Hunter was our next class again and we did very well, getting second place in that as well. Over all I am very please with my horse. He did a great job being off the farm for the first time in his life. I'm very proud of him and can't wait for our next show at the end of the month. We are going to do more classes next show now that we know what to do.
I didn't know what I was doing, all Crystal's QH riders know what they are doing and helped me out with all the little details. Our first class of the day was Halter. Jay looked great and I was pretty confident until I entered that arena. Jay troted nicely to his spot on the rail and started to stand nicely when the stud chain on my show halter just fell apart in my hands. He didn't even yank on it. The halter popped off and I grabbed Jay around his neck. I kept looking around for Crystal to go get me my spare. She had already taken off to the barn to grab our barn halter so that we could just finish the class. Before we get the barn halter on the Judge comes around and starts asking me age and sex. I'm still hugging my horse, and thankfully he hadn't realized that there was no halter. I'm overwhelmed and kind of snap at the judge a little letting her know that my horse is a stallion. We get the barn halter on and that's when Jay realizes that he had no halter on and started to throw a fit. We were the last horse in so I was able to get him away from the other horses so that I could get him under control again. We still pinned in the class though, we got a 5th. One of the gentlemen with Tricetta Miniatures came over and said that his mare was in heat and the wind just so happened to be sending that scent right to Jay. He recommended that I use Vicks to help out with that. We ran out that day and grabbed some.
Jay loves Hunter. I wanted to have a class that he really enjoyed so that he could see that shows can be fun. The jumps had flower boxes with most of them and Jay had never seen one of those. When he saw that first fence his eyes went wide and I was sure that he would refuse the jump. He didn't, just jumped it a heck of a lot bigger then he should have. The rest of the course he jumped wonderfully. We ended up with a 1st in Hunter.
Sunday started out a lot better. I had a better idea as to what I had to do, I was better organized, and relaxed. Jay was so quiet that I had to keep checking to see if he was still alive. We had a different judge that day who had a huge smile on his face the whole day and was just plain having a good time. I really liked him, made you feel relaxed and helped you have a good time as well. We put vicks in Jay's nose on Sunday so we didn't have any repeats from the day before. I also got my extra stud chain that is certainly stronger then the last one. Not as pretty, but I'll take safety over pretty. Jay did wonderfully trotting past the judge and into the line up. I get him all set up and Crystal whispers from the fence that Jay's little friend was coming down. I'm trying everything to get him to bring it back up but nothing works. The Judge gets to me with a huge smile on his face and says " I don't even have to ask what sex he is, he's been showing me the whole class". So we joke for a little bit about Jay wanting to show his "best asset". This halter class was twice the size of the Saturday class. I'm thinking that we blew it, but our number gets called for second place. I was shocked. We qualified for the Supreme Halter Championship at the last show for the series. I'm so excited.
Hunter was our next class again and we did very well, getting second place in that as well. Over all I am very please with my horse. He did a great job being off the farm for the first time in his life. I'm very proud of him and can't wait for our next show at the end of the month. We are going to do more classes next show now that we know what to do.
