Pattern 21, Novice

Findings:

• Trot from cone 1 to cone 2 briskly, stopping with hip at cone 2.


• Pivot slightly, making sure that you do not over or under pivot, you may need to practice this, I found that it was about a 1 1/2 step pivot.


• Trot directly to cone 3, stopping with hip at judge and your horse's nose in line with the cone.


• Perform a nice 270, trot directly to the judge stopping 1 1/2 arms length away.


• Upon dismissal, back at least 5 steps, perform a 180 making sure that your horse pivots on the correct foot, you may have to pull your horse slightly forward to perform the pivot correctly.


• Trot briskly away and past cone 3.

Pattern 20, Intermediate

This is a simplified version of the Gordyville Shoot Out Pattern.

Findings:

• Trot crisply from cone 1 to cone 2, stop squarely with your hip even to cone 3, so that after you perform your 630 turn you will be able to back straight to cone 3.
• Stop with your tail at cone 3, trot briskly away.
• Look up and around your turn around cone 4, so that you don't over or understeer.
• Stop with enough room in front of the judge to complete your 180.
• Make sure you do not over or underspin as this will make your horse crooked in the setup to the judge.
• Watch the judge carefully during inspection, many exhibitors botched the crossovers because it's backwards than what everyone's use to.
• Trot off nicely, pouring the speed on from cone 4 to cone 3 and stop cleanly at cone 3. Make sure you don't have so much speed your horse starts loping.

Happy Practicing!

Pattern 19, Advanced Novice

Findings:

• Be READY at cone 1 when the judge acknowledges you, trot away crisply and with purpose.
• Have a nice stop at 2, landing your hip in line with the judge, so when you complete your 270, your horse can walk straight to the judge.
• Have a nice set up, watch your cross over inspection, remember to check your horse's feet with each cross over ending with a look back at the judge.
• Upon dismissal, back at least 5 steps.
• Watch your 180, you've just completed your back so your horse's natural motion is going to put all their weight on the LEFT (incorrect) hind foot, pull your horse slightly forward if it is an issue for you.
• Upon completing your 180, look back at the judge and then trot away, making sure you trot PAST cone 2.
  

Gordyville's Shootout Showmanship Pattern - Advanced

I have never attended a Gordyville Shootout and had a student qualify for this fun class. So I thought today I would put up the shootout pattern. It was set up similar to a trail pattern and while I don't think this is a new "trend", it was great to think outside (errr, inside) the box and was really fun to watch all the shootout qualifiers. I'm glad I didn't have to judge it, because it was one great pattern after another.

Findings:

• When trotting into the box, (it was about 20' by the way) make sure you give yourself plenty of room when you stop so that you can make that 1 3/4 turn.
• Upon finishing the 1 3/4 turn, let your horse settle a moment before performing the pull turn.
• Walk into L, stopping with your horse's nose at the end of the pole, back a smooth L (ie. don't pivot).
• Back until your horse's hip is even with cone 2, perform a pull turn, walk to cone 2, leaving yourself enough room to perform a 90 pivot.
• Trot off and make your circles even around each cone.
• Look up and around cone 3 as this is a blind turn.
  Stop with enough distance between you and the judge so that you may perform a 180 without coming close to hitting the judge with your body.
• Set your horse up for inspection and watch those crossovers carefully.
• Trot away, as you round cone 4, pour on the speed, however not so much that your horse starts loping.
• Stop with a nice even stop.

There really wasn't any "tricks" to this pattern, speed, accuracy and poise are what won...fantastic pattern and one I think we'll practice sometime this week with the broker horses. Enjoy!

Verbal Cues, Can the Judge Hear You Before They SEE You?

Most of us are guilty of it, verbally cuing our horses. It starts simply enough when you are training them to move, go forward, go backwards, spin, move their feet, a cluck here, a kiss there, here a cluck, there a cluck, everywhere a cluck, cluck. However, after they are trained, do you quit verbally cuing your horse? Or are you a chronic clucker? It's a hard habit to break, but most judges dislike overly done verbal cues. One cluck, ok, but the entire pattern...mmm...not.
This is a bad habit many exhibitors fall into the habit of and just don't fall out of, even AFTER their horse no longer needs it. So, practice with someone who will call you on your clucking and challenge yourself to discontinue your verbal cues. (and for more information about Judges opinons, see my link to the left on Judges opinions...that'll clue you in).
I'll be gone for almost a week at Gordyville's shoot out, hopefully I'll come back with some great new patterns!

Pattern 17, Novice

Findings:

• Trotting from cone 1 to cone 3, make sure you keep your horse with you going around cone 2, many tend to lag.
• Nice crisp stop at cone 3, and an easy back (make it look easy).
• Stop with your pivot foot at the judges LEFT shoulder, this insures that as you complete your pivot, your horse will be centered on the judge. Make sure also, that you glance at the judge before you complete your pivot so that you don't over or under turn.
• Look at the judge and walk to him/her, stopping 1 1/2 arms length away.
• Quick set up, smile and watch the judge.
• When dismissed, a nice 90 (no over or underturning) slight glance back at judge and trot briskly away.
  

Pattern 16, Intermediate

Findings:

• Make sure you are set up and ready for the judge's nod while waiting for the previous exhibitor to finish their pattern.
• Trot briskly and have a crisp stop at cone 2.
• Backing the arc proved to be more difficult and took several practice tries for all of my students to master. You will need to practice this over and over until you have mastered your horse's body, so that you don't over or under steer.
• Walk your horse straight to the judge, stopping an 1 1/2 arm lengths distance away so that you can perform your 360 without bumping into the judge.
• After your 360, set up for inspection (most of my students needed to practice this as the pivot foot will be still slightly turned inward, so that their horse would be square quickly).
• Perform a 90 (do not over or under spin) and trot briskly away.
  

Show it like you want it.

This was part of what I picked up at Brad Kearns clinic I attended a few weeks back.

Show your horse like you want to win. He said as a judge, he can generally tell which exhibitor WANTS to win. He knows by their smile, the way they walk and present themselves. They walk to the judge with confidence, they look up (not at the ground), and present themselves and their horse crisply, confidently.

Do you tend to look at the ground? Does looking AT the judge as you approach make you nervous?

TIP: Look at their forehead or the brim of their hat, they will not know the difference and it will make YOU LOOK CONFIDENT!

I tend to tell my shy students to do their best "cheerleader" impression and they go from looking like wall flowers to confident showmen...which is EXACTLY the look we want.

Hope this helps all the wall flowers out there! Until next time, keep the brim of your hat clean, and practice, practice, practice!

Pattern 15, Advanced

Findings:

• Start your pattern by being straight with the judge (if you don't start straight, the entire pattern will be off!).
• Back smoothly and straight.
• Perform your 630 push turn (that's 1 3/4 turn by the way), don't over spin!
• Perform your 90 pull turn, look up and at the judge approximately 2 steps before you finish your turn so you know when to stop (this is an error that happened lots!)
• Walk to judge briskly and remember to smile.
• Stop at 1 1/2 arms length away.
• Upon dismissal perform a smooth 90, again look up at the end so you don't over or under spin.
• Trot straight away, stopping with your horse's nose at cone 2.
• Look back for acknowledgement.

Stopping in front of the judge

I actually had a seasoned showmanshipper tell me the other day she never knew how close she should stop before the judge.

One and a half arm length's away.

You need that much space to do your inspection without bumping into the judge, and if you need to do a spin after inspection, that gives you plenty of room also!

TIP What happens if I midjudge it and accidentally get too close?
Easy enough, back into your setup, that'll give you the space you need later in your pattern, you may get a few points taken off for stopping too close, but if you're smart and back your horse into it's setup the judge my overlook that slight error.

And as always, remember to smile at the judge...make it look like you're having fun!

Pattern 13, Intermediate

Findings:

Much to my amazement, lots and lots of people botched their spins (which should be fairly easy), however not so. So let's go over this, step by step.

• Walk briskly halfway (most people were just under, so I told my group to take an extra step further than they thought). Stop and let your horse settle for 1/2 second, before you begin your spin, assess your horse's body position BEFORE you ask for the spin, is your horse bunched up where you will need to pull him slightly forward? Is your horse stretched out where you will need to push him slightly backward as you spin? Make your adjustments as needed during your spin.
• As you hit the 300 degree mark in your spin, look up to see where you want to STOP spinning...those that didn't, over spun by at least one step and it was VERY noticeable.
• Trot off briskly and keep your horse at your shoulder as you round cone 2 and make a nice stop next to cone 3.
• Again let your horse settle for 1/2 second, assess your situation and perform the 225 turn (how much is a 225? basically they wanted you to walk straight at the beginning of your arc, so look up BEFORE you finish your turn to make sure you know where to stop).
• Walk a nice brisk pace, making your arc large enough to give you a straight line to the judge upon finishing, but not so large that it takes you a long time to get there.
• Stop an arm and a 1/2 lengths away, upon dismissal peform your 180, look up for your stopping point at about 160 degrees and look for a point at the end of your arena to trot straight away to. Many people under turned and trotted off canted to the left...if they had looked up and finished their 180 and found a spot on the wall to trot to they could have avoided this error.

The most important piece of clothing on your outfit

What is the most important part of your outfit?

Your HAT!

Spend the most you can on a GOOD felt hat (the more X's the better the felt, a 20X hat is a better hat than an 8X and thus more expensive). Your hat sends a statement to the judge...you want that statement to be I'M A WINNER!

Here are some hat tips:

• Felt hats are "in season" year round, straw hats are "in season" from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
• Your hat should always been clean and shaped (no tortilla looking hat brims!)
• Always handle your hat by it's crown NEVER the delicate brim.
• Purchase a hat can for your felt and transfer your hat to a climate controlled area as much as possible to keep it looking it's best.
• NEVER store your hat in a plastic bag, the moisture of your sweat and the heat will warp your delicate brim...this is the same for plastic "hat savers" on the rainy days, the moisture and heat from your head will get trapped in the plastic hat saver, warping your hat...opt for your straw or your felt and then dry it out later.
• Look through magazines to find out what type of shape you want your hat to be and take that to the shaper.
• Bobby pin your hat to your head on windy days (nothing says unprepared like a cowboy hat bouncing across the arena on a windy day!)
• Your hat fits properly when you put it on and can not shake it off, even if you do a hand stand!
• Remember to keep a hat brush on hand for last minute touch ups before you enter the show pen.

Follow those tips and you'll look your best every time you enter the show pen!

Pattern 13, Intermediate

Findings:

1. Make sure you find that exact halfway point from cone 1 to cone 2 and that your trot off looks seemlessly easy.
2. Make an effortless circle around cone 2, you might have to encourage your horse slightly forward and you slow down slightly so that your horse does not lag behind your shoulder.
3. Continue on to cone 3 and have a nice stop.
4. This back can be tricky as you are stopping at an angle and must back an arc towards the judge.
5. You will need to practice this back arc for accuracy, many exhibitors over or under judged where they needed to be at the end of their arc. Many exhibitors did not end up straight either.
6. Those that backed into their setup as they approached the judge had the fastest set up times.
7. Watch closely as the judge walks around for inspection and make sure that you are in the correct quarter.
8. Trot straight away, many exhibitors leaned left (especially those that did not get their horse backed straight to the judge), look up, find a spot at the end of the arena and trot off in that direction, by keeping your head up and finding a spot straight in front of you, you are more likely to trot straight, making your pattern seem easy.
   

We've returned after 8 days at a horse show...

...and I've got some pretty good patterns that I will put up over the 4th of July holiday as I have time. The patterns ranged from easy to fairly difficult and I'll be sure to get them up and discuss them. I also attended a clinic given by Brad Kearns which I will discuss in length later. Until then, keep your eye on the judge and a smile on your face!