Welcome to Showmanship-Patterns

The blog with patterns to practice showmanship with! These patterns may not be used for publishing or resale, however feel free to copy them for your own personal use!
I'll post my findings on these as we practice them ourselves! Happy practicing and we'll see you in the show pen!

Friday, May 30, 2008

Keep On Showing

Great showmanship exhibitors have that attitude, confident, smiling and a sense of purpose. If something goes wrong, they fix it and go on, they don't let that mistake rain on their parade, they keep showing!
Have you ever noticed that there's always that ONE person at every show that can do no wrong under the judge? They may not have the best pattern, but they win an awful lot. The one thing I've noticed with that ONE person is their ability to SHOW! Doesn't matter what goes wrong, they just keep on showing!
I'll give you a little true to life story that happened to me, many years ago. I was a greener than grass novice, but had practiced and watched quite a bit. The showmanship pattern started with a walk, had a stop to a trot off, so I had been drilling my horse in practice the stop to trot off (everyone knows how to walk right?). So when it was my turn to go, guess what? My horse trotted right off and we should have been WALKING! Now I could have quit showing right there and then, finished my pattern with my head hung low, but at that point I figured, oh well, I'll just do the best I can for my own self worth. So instead of FREAKING OUT, I slowed my pace, and my horse walked and we completed the rest of the pattern with precision. Now this was a fairly large class for me at the time (around 15 with all the people I had been admiring for a long, long time)...and I finished 2nd! If I had given up, I wouldn't have placed at all and I came out 2nd...that was a HUGE win for me at that time! I kept showing through my mistake.
Keep on showing no matter the mistake you make, you never know when someone else will make a mistake bigger than you!

Pattern 5, Varying Difficulty


Directions:
  1. Trot from cone 1 to cone 2
  2. Stop at cone 2, perform a 270
  3. Trot 1/2 way to judge, break to a walk
  4. Stop and set up for inspection

My Findings:

First let me preface in saying that this pattern can be really easy or really hard depending on how close the judge is standing to cone 2, the closer the judge stands, the more difficult it will be.

  1. Begin at cone 1 standing far enough away so that when you stop at cone 2, you can easily do your 270 and not run over/into cone 2.
  2. You must also be aware of your hip when you stop, your hip needs to be in line with the judge, so that when you complete your 270 turn your horse is straight in line with the judge.
  3. Reminder: make sure you do not over or under turn and thus lose your straightness.
  4. Now depending on how close the judge is standing, is how hard or easy the trot off to walk is going to be. If the judge is close, this part will be more difficult because your horse will have to immediately trot off and come back down to a walk in a short distance. This is something you may have to practice several times to get down pat.
  5. Remember to stop in front of the judge an arm and a 1/2's length away.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

It's Hip To Be Square

Tonight, instead of putting up a pattern, I thought I'd talk about set ups. Snoring, snoozeville, yes, I know, BUT if you have a lousy set up, the rest of that "perfect" pattern means squat! Ok, so widely known, you should have the "perfect" setup in under 3 seconds, so we know quickness counts, but so does squareness. The front feet should be a mirror of the back feet, as well as the horse should not be too stretched out or bunched up, all under 3 seconds...sounds like an almost impossible task, doesn't it? However, consistant practice helps. I will say, when I'm "serious" with my showmanship, I practice over 50 set ups a day until it is automatic with my horse (read that to be about an hours practice each day). It will take anywhere from 3 to 6 months of consistant practice to get there. Now, with all this practice, take a moment after a set up and walk around your horse like you were a judge. Do all your feet LOOK square from ALL SIDES of your horse? What may look square to YOU the EXHIBITOR, many not look square to the JUDGE. Get that horse square to the JUDGE and then go back to the exhibitor set up stance and see how it SHOULD look to you.
Practice setting up from all facets of manuevers; backing, walking, spinning, pull turn, trotting, etc.. You will find your horse will easily set up with one manuever, but maybe not all, concentrate on the more difficult manuevers for your horse, so that they become easy and automatic. Be sure to practice doing different things while your practicing setting up...trot off, stop, set up, spin, set up, walk, stop, back, setup. This will not only keep you from getting bored, but your horse as well.
Who knew, it really IS hip to be square?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Pattern 4, Novice

Directions:

  1. Walk from cone 1 to cone 2
  2. Pick up at trot at cone 2 and trot a serpentine to cone 3
  3. At cone 3 break to a walk
  4. Walk to cone 4 and stop
  5. Perform a 270 turn and trot to judge
  6. Set up for inspection
  7. Upon dismissal, back 4 steps and exit at a walk
My findings:

  1. Make a mental note where cone 2 is, as it becomes a blind spot.
  2. Be sure to make your trot brisk, because you will be doing more running than your horse around cone 2.
  3. Your break down to a walk needs to be smooth, practice it exclusively until you get a smooth transition.
  4. Pay attention to where your horse's hip lands with the judge, you want to be square on with the judge after your 270.
  5. This pattern can be made more difficult the closer the judge stands to the cones.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Pattern 3, Advanced Novice

Directions
  1. Walk from cone 1 to cone 2
  2. Stop at cone 2 and back 4 steps
  3. Perform a 90 and trot to cone 3
  4. At cone 3 break to a walk and stop at cone 4
  5. Perform a 270
  6. Trot to Judge and set up for inspection

My Findings

  1. Make sure you stop with your horse's nose at cone 2 to allow yourself enough room after you back your 4 steps for your 90 degree turn
  2. Practice your trot to walk transition so that is goes smoothly and looks effortless. You DO NOT WANT a trot, stop and then walk.
  3. When you get to cone 4, make sure you stop with your horse's hip even with the judge, so that when you perform your 270, your horse is dead on with the judge.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Pattern 2, Moderate Difficulty

Directions:
  1. Walk from cone 1 to cone 2.
  2. Stop at 2, perform a 180 turn.
  3. Trot a serpentine to cone 4, stop.
  4. Perform a 180 turn.
  5. Back 6 steps, set up for inspection.

My Findings:

  1. Make sure you are far enough away when you begin at cone 1 for the 180 at cone 2.
  2. Be sure to start looking around cone 2 immediately as cone 3 can sneak up on those that aren't looking.
  3. Keep a nice pace to make the inside turn around cone 3 (you will be the one doing most of the running here)
  4. Make a sharp turn around cone 4, so that your horse's pivot foot is in line with the judge's right shoulder. You do this so that after you perform your 180, your tail will be centered on the judge.
  5. Back a STRAIGHT line and use the sixth step to begin your setup for quickness.

Pattern 1, Difficult



Pattern Instructions

  1. Trot from cone 1 to cone 2
  2. Stop at cone 2 and back a serpentine to cone 4
  3. Perform a 180 turn
  4. Walk to judge and set up for inspection

Here's my findings for this pattern

  1. Starting with my horse's front feet at cone 1, I trotted until my horse's hip was even with cone 2. This allowed me enough room to make a smooth first arc.
  2. As you begin your back at cone 2, make a mental note of cone 3, because it becomes a blind spot. Do the same thing with the next cone.
  3. At cone 4 (and this is the hard part) you need to make sure that your PIVOT FOOT is in-line with the JUDGES LEFT SHOULDER, because when you do your 180 pivot you want to be right in front of him/her.
  4. Also note at cone 4, that you MAY have to urge your horse slightly forward for his/her spin because the horse might spin on the incorrect foot after all of the backing.