What ARE they looking for?

Can't figure out what the judge's are looking for in showmanship? Here's a fantastic judges guide (complete with photos) on what the AQHA judges are looking for . I ran across this little gem of information when downloading some score sheets. Be sure to look it over...very informative.

Hair Buns, really the only way to go.

Ok, so we've discussed hats, let's discuss hair. You want to make a good first impression on the judge, make sure your hair is neat and tucked underneath your hat. No fly aways, no pony tails, no snoods (those hairnet things you put over your pony tail and attaches with a barrette. If your hair is shoulder length, it MUST be in a bun. A bun is appropriate for every age and looks the most professional with your showmanship clothing. You can dress it up a little with a small pretty bow (age appropriate of course), we purchase the thin ribbon rolls at Wal-Mart for under $1/roll to match outfits. You don't need a hair dresser to put one in yourself, I've done it a million times to myself and they are easy to do (and trust me when I say they are easy...I'm a hair MORON!). If you are a visual person here is a link on how to put a bun in . Just remember you still need to put your hat on your head, so put the bun in at the base of your neck. Also remember to bobby pin your hat to your head so it stays on, on those windy days. Here's a great article from the Equine Chronicle talking about hair and the judge's comments on them!

Pattern 47: Breed Show Novice

Findings
Don't be fooled by first glances, this pattern is challenging. Straight lines are VERY difficult! Our judge made it extra challenging by placing cone 2 VERY close to the pivot line, you had to be almost on top of the cone to make your hip inline with the judge.

• Be ready at cone 1, walk briskly to cone 2
• Stop with your horse's hip at cone 2 (this is something to really practice ... this is a make/break part of your pattern). TIP, count how many steps YOU take when you pass the judge until you need to stop...this will help in the showpen
• Stop and perform your 90, do not over or under pivot
• Trot to cone 2, stop at your horse's nose. Be mindful of your stop, you do NOT want a kicked out hip because when you back it needs to be PER.FECTLY straight...
• Back at LEAST 4 steps
• Walk to judge and stop with 1 1/2 arms length away
• Set up for inspection
• Upon dismissal perform a 90 and walk away
  

Chain Length - How long should it REALLY be?

Chain length - the mystery question...is really pretty simple. Now you KNOW you can't TOUCH the chain, however you can touch the leather lead all you want... I tell my clients that they need to have 3 or 4 links showing from their halter to their leather lead, you can move your hand up and down the leather lead, but you CAN'T move your hand up and down the chain...right?

How MUCH lead should you use? Depends on your individual situation. You need to have it loose enough so that you're not pulling your horse's head towards your body as you walk or trot (your horse will then start stopping with it's hip kicked out and/or walk/trot next to you canted). However, not so loose that your horse will wander away (and this is not necessarily true for those "broke" showmanship horses).

By having only 3 or 4 links, you have great control IF YOU NEED it...BUT if you have more than 4 links, if you need control, you may not HAVE it.... You can move your hand up and down the leather lead to give yourself and your horse more or less control and tension.

For those that watch the showmanship videos with the extremely loose lead, I'm not going to fault you in the showpen as long as everything goes PER.FECTLY.... kind of like a flying change in horsemanship...it better be PERFECT or you'll get counted down big time!

So chain length, 3 or 4 links...leather lead length...depends...how's that for a "clear as mud" answer....

IDEALLY your horse should move off of your body language and you SHOULD be able to show shankless...IDEALLY.... but we all live in the real world and MOST horses and exhibitors don't have that kind of control...

I'll try and get some photos of my clients in the near future showing correct and incorrect lead length for those of you that are visual...until then...practice, practice, practice!

Pivot Problems: Dropped Shoulder

Ok, so you've determined it's NOT you, it's your horse (see previous blog post to make sure YOU'RE not the reason your horse is dropping it's shoulder)... and how do you KNOW your horse is dropping it's shoulder? If your horse bends it's neck in the direction of your pivot (see OBVIOUS below), then your horse is dropping it's shoulder. Typically this is your horse escaping from work. Below is Riley (the horse) and he IS a notorious shoulder dropper, our exhibitor below is also demonstrating incorrect body positioning, which needed to be done so I could get our photo... look how far Riley (the horse) has his shoulder dropped, his head is far beyond his pivot foot. ICK!
To correct this you'll need a dressage whip...it's just the right length for correction behind your back.
Below is Charlotte (exhibitor) with Riley (horse) demonstrating while standing still, the correct method to correct her horse. I have her correct behind her back so that Riley doesn't see it coming and she doesn't change her body position.
You can ALSO have the whip in front of you, but it eleminates that element of surprise. Please note, you're not going to BEAT your horse, you are merely tapping your horse on the shoulder, that should be plenty of surprise.
When Charlotte (our exhibitor) notices that Riley is bending his neck, she taps him on the shoulder with the dressage whip, this brings his attention back to her and helps straighten out his neck. He'll still be pivoting while she's correcting, do NOT stop and correct, keep that pivot momentum!

Photo below. Here we are in motion. Riley came to us dropping his shoulder...we've been working on this about a year, at first he dropped his shoulder immediately into the pivot, currently we've got him worked through a 270. So it's coming, it's just not an overnight fix. See how straight he is now? She's tapped him and got his attention back to her. When using this method, I would start in small increments, do a 90, when you've mastered that, do a 180, etc...
Please note, while this method has helped several horses I have trained, however it may not work for you and your horse, you'll need to be the one to determine if this method will work for your situation.

*My sincere thanks to Charlotte and Lord Whata Bonanza (Riley) for their demostration!*

Pivot Problems...could it be YOU?

So you've got pivot problems...your horse will hold the pivot "most" of the time, but not "all" of the time, could the problem be....YOU?

I have asked one of my clients with her green showmanship horse to demonstrate a little for us (and you'll have to excuse my novice photography). In this first photo please examine our exhibitor and her horse...they are riddled with problems...

• The exhibitor's shoulder has dropped back
• The horse's neck is bent and thus dropping it's shoulder
• The exhibitor's hand is leading towards the nose instead of the cheek

This exhibitor can help herself by aligning her shoulders so that they are parallel to her horse's head. What she is doing is encouraging too MUCH forward momentum, so her horse is not actually pivoting and she's encouraging the horse to bend it's neck.

In the photo below, the exhibitor has aligned her shoulders so her shoulders and body are parallel to the horse and see what happened with the horse's neck? It straightened, no more dropped shoulder! Her hands are now in the correct position. The only thing I would correct here is that her horse is just a touch too far away (the horse is pivoting faster than the exhibitor can keep up with), however we're still playing with chain length, so we're aware of this...

Other things to consider:

• Speed of your pivot, pivot too slow and it's difficult to keep one foot on the ground (try it...hold ONE of your feet on the ground and spin sl.ow.ly...now spin a little faster...which is easier? the moderately faster, now spin faster...takes more balance doesn't it...keep that in mind when you ask your horse to pivot).
• Make sure YOUR circle is even...a horse can't hold it's pivot if YOU are making an oval... Think of your horse's pivot foot as the stable point of a compass and you're the pencil.

Horse STILL dropping it's shoulder even if your body position is correct? In the next few days I'll have another tutorial with a "fix"...be but aware, it's not a quick fix, it'll take quite some practicing.

*My sincere thanks to Elaine and Certain Fortune for being our examples!*

Amy's Question...

Amy left me a nice comment from yesterdays post (pattern 34) and had the following questions:

• With the look back portion: you would look over your left shoulder, correct?

To answer your first question Amy, YES you would look over your left shoulder...you want to make it EASY for yourself to see the judge without having to twist your body around...you basically just want to move your head...

• Would you ever have to look over your right shoulder/across the horse ever? Or is that a big no-no?

To answer your second question, it really depends on the Judge and your pattern. Some judges don't care if you look back and others really do...so I always tell my clients to err on the side of caution...and here are a few manuevers where you would look over your RIGHT shoulder to the Judge:

1. In this first manuever, you complete your 180, look back at Judge hesitate 1/2 a breath and then walk away...
2. In the second manuever, you will look over your right shoulder AFTER your done walking AROUND the judge and think you are back in line with him/her (usually this is more a courtesy look than actual help for YOU...LOL).
3. In the third manuever you have complete your 270, look over your right shoulder at the judge (over the horse's back) and then continue on with the rest of the pattern.

Now remember this is what I'd tell MY clients and there are other trainers/judges that MIGHT tell you differently... so keep that in the back of your head...

Amy, I will try to address the rest of your questions in another post at another time...this is going to take some drawing and/or picture taking on my part...

Happy Practicing!