I will be showing her in halter classes only. She is a yearling with a lot of "show" attitude. I have been working on setting her up. She is doing "okay" but she doesn't like to stand for long? I guess this is due to her young age? Am I allowed to reach down and set her legs in the halter classes? Is it normal for the yearlings to "act up" a little? I don't want to look too bad!
I got to show 4 yearlings last year that had NEVER been to the show pen! 1 colt, 1 gelding and 2 fillies. The one filly has LOTS of gas & attitude! Your lucky your filly will let you set her feet! My filly as a 2yr.old still won't let me set her feet. She did VERY good anyways in the show pen. It's to your advantage if she will let you set her feet. Just work on lots of "Whoa"...... and praise when she's good. I use LOTS of baiting as reward for good be havior and also in getting to stretch that neck and for "whoa".......
But from my experience...... yearlings do NOT have many patiences....... it's like asking a 5 year old child to sit threw sunday service at church! loL! Some have more paitience that others! loL!
This year I have 2 yearling filles, I don't know if I can afford to show both, but BOTH need to be in the show pen..... The one has more gas to her than she knows what to do with! IT would NOT matter if this filly was worked every day for a 1/2 hour......she just naturally is not laid back and has LOTS of presence...... she is extremly sensitive, especially to the clippers........ She is one you will not get near her feet in the show pen, at least her first year out.......
The other yearling filly has hardly ever been touched and just with the few times being messed with she acts like she's been clipped a million times and is SO laid back and you can set her feet. She's a gorgeous girl also..... They both would be a toss up over who would place better...... but I would not expect them to be perfect, especially at the first show. And you will probally see others in your class to not behave real great either at the first couple of shows........
You can set the feet by hand but only do it BEFORE the judge comes. Once the judge is there let it go and just show your horse. Biggest newbie mistake is overly fussing with the legs while the judge is watching (yep I made that mistake too when i first showed LOL)
I do think its much better to train them to set up themselves verses hand setting the legs
To get her to learn to be patient you should start making her stand tied quietly. this really teaches them to stand still and quietly. Start with 10 mins and work up. Never untie when shes fussing or you will teach her to be bad tied.
Yearlings can be a challenge and some judges will give you a little leeway but if the horse wont stay still enough for the judge to judge them then it can be a problem. I have had judges offer to come back and look again but I hate doing that.
If she is already jumpy and impatient then hand setting her legs is not going to work i bet, because as soon as you reach down she is going to either move sideways, rear or back away. Its much easier to teach them to set there own feet.
I showed a yearling colt that yea and he "acted up" at his first show but there after he was fine. I've found on most horses their first few times in the show ring they can be a handful but they should settle down.
