Chain Length Photos

Ok, here's the photos I promised for chain length...below shows 3 links...we could probably go one more link easily with this horse if we wanted...
Sorry about the grainy picture...grey day and my student was a ways off...anyway... see the slack she has left in her lead? She can run her hand up and down her lead if she needs control...you can't do that with too much chain...

Below she is walking towards us, again see the slack she has in her lead? For this particular horse, she can go no tighter...why? At some point in this horse's career someone has done the "smack behind" as they trotted (and psst, yes, we know she has a whip in hand, it's not used for his forward motion of walking/trotting), so he learned how to trot sideways with his handler, this is something we battle continuously...if you need your horse to go quicker, you should do the pull/release method of tugging your lead FORWARD and releasing when your horse is trotting/walking next to you. If you SMACK them behind yourself as your walking/trotting your horse will try and get away from your smack and travel crooked... This exhibitor has to be very conscientious about how she even holds her hands, pull him too close, he travels crooked, too much slack and he wanders... he's a work in progress :) Anyway, I digress.... Her slack and chain length are appropriate for HER situation. She can move her hand up and down the lead as she does her crossovers. I would say her lead from hand to hand is a touch long, but this was a quick practice and we were concentrating on chain length and slack...

Thank you Janet and Jack for being my examples!

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!

The Nipper

I continually get the question "How do you cure a Nipper/Biter?". Unfortunately my answer is always the same...there IS no cure...you can calm it down, but once a horse figures out what a "game" nipping is, they are hard to deter. Here's some things we've tried with limited success.

FIRST and FOREMOST - the best CURE IS PREVENTION, you can prevent nipping/biting by NEVER EVER feeding your horse by hand! Let me repeat that, NEVER EVER feeding your horse by hand! If you feel the need to give your horse a little snack/treat/dinner, stick it in his feed pan/bucket, this way your horse is not associating your HAND with FOOD!

Now for those horses that weren't that fortunate (I find this especially true with horses that had a halter career prior to their showmanship career) you can do some things to minimize it:

First have someone watch you, is your chain to long? Are you inadvertantly running/walking etc. with your hands or chain to close to your horse's mouth, making you or your hands a convenient target? When you do your crossovers is your chain hanging so that your horse enjoys playing with it? ONCE you've established that YOU're NOT the problem, here's some ideas to help you calm the nipping/biting down. Now remember these are things I've TRIED and have had SOME success, only you know your horse and YOUR SITUATION and this might not work for YOUR circumstances...with that said...

IS your horse young? Young horses are busy minded (typically), so if you've got a young one, change up your routine a little and be sure if there is any nipping, etc.. starting that you move their head away from you immediately. They need to know this is NOT a game.

Is your horse nervous? If you have a nervous horse, biting/nipping could be a sign of frustration, try lunging your horse prior to showing, also try showing it in halter first for a couple of trial runs...the more your horse sees the inside of a showpen, the more comfortable it will be in it.

Does your horse have to pee? Make sure your horse has a little "quiet" time in it's stall/trailer before show time.

SOME horses know the difference between warm up and show pen (we have one in the barn). After my client's horse chewed on her through two showmanship classes, I sent her back in for 2 halter classes, with the instruction that any nipping/biting/chewing needs to receive a well placed smack on the nose...and make it count. She didn't make it two steps to the walk to the judges in halter and she got her horse good...the judges giggled (they saw the alligator (her horse) had it coming from the previous showmanship classes), she made it to the trot phase and had to smack her horse again... basically she schooled in the class... she went back for the 2nd halter class and he was a gentleman...NOW we search out halter class before showmanship if we feel we need to schooling for him. You may also need to school in your showmanship class to get your point across. MOST judges understand what you are doing, but it's nice if you school and then apologize to the judge...so keep that in mind if your needing to do some schooling.

As far as nails/pins/cigarettes held in your hand and you "getting" back at your horse...it's a quick, temporary solution that doesn't yield long term results and typically it's stemming for the exhibitor's too long chain or inability to run without teasing the horse with the chain.

I'm not saying that a nipper/biter is a lost cause. I showed one to the Top Ten spot at the All American Quarter Horse Congress and most recently my client (above) was the Circuit Champ with her nipper...so yes they can be shown, you just have to be very thoughtful about the horse's mouth area and train YOURSELF as well as to minimize YOUR situation.

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!*

Congress Conquered

We have returned from the Congress...and I'm tired..as I'm sure my showmanshippers are. We did have a finalist in the Novice Am Showmanship who got just a touch nervous at the end of her pattern on the 2nd go.
None of the patterns this year were "out there" with outlandish things like squares last year...that was ODD... the patterns were challenging w/o being outlandish...in the next few days (as I DIG the patterns out), I'll go over the weak spots I watched many exhibitors make in the two patterns that we did (novice and select)...
Until then...keep practicing!

Prepping for your BIG day

Back in "my" day we didn't get patterns weeks before to practice...as luck would have it, we had them the night before...and well, we practiced, but we didn't practice our horses into the ground. We didn't drill the pattern over and over again, we ran the pattern once and figured out our weak spots. Then we practiced that part of the pattern until it became 2nd nature...then we'd put the pattern back together again to see if we "really" had it, and usually there was another part that needed some polishing, so we'd practice JUST THAT part. And after we had it "perfected" and ran a perfect pattern, we'd mix up the pattern a little bit so our horses didn't anticipate that pattern. This way they were fresh for the next day.

Then we went and TRIED to get a good night's sleep...nerves always seemed to get the better of me the night before. Counting sheep never worked, so I put my insomnia to work. I thought about my perfect pattern, over and over and over and over again. I visualized myself walking into the arena, totally dressed, everything perfect and I ran that perfect pattern step by step in my mind, over and over and over again.

Ya know it worked...I've got the buckles to prove it (wink!)

Go Show

I have heard lots of excuses for not showing a horse. He/she's not ready, I'm not ready, the weather is too hot/cold/rainy/whatever, it's too expensive, but why am I not placing when I do?
The fact is, the more you show your horse the better you will BOTH get. You will learn a lot about each other and that's what makes good teams...knowing each other through all the little problems and how to correct those little problems before they become HUGE problems.
When you do show, take mental notes of those competitors that do very well, how do they prepare before they walk through the in gate? You can learn a lot in the warm up pen.
Watch those that are the next step up for you...are you novice? Watch the youth or amateur group, see what it takes to do the next step up. Observe other exhibitors practicing with their trainers, you'll be certain to catch a handy tip here and there.
The point is, the more you show, the better you will get faster. You'll learn how to deal with your nervousness (if you are) and possibly your horse's nervousness (if they are).
Do you have a green horse? Take them in the class with small goals, ie. 3 second set up, nailing the spin, etc... and be proud of that accomplishment and make a mental note of the next goal to set for yourself and your horse.
Are you green? Make yourself a small goal, ie. looking up and smiling at the judge during your approach, nailing your crossovers, feining confidence.
Basically, get your rear in gear and go show, you'll get better, your horse will get better and before you know you'll start placing higher and higher!
Until next time, see you in the arena!

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!

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!

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!

Crossover for Inspection

As I watched from the sidelines this weekend at a local, open show, I was amazed at how many exhibitors in the open class did not know where to stand as the judge walked around to inspect their horse. Now I know that several were nervous or had set up problems and their attention was on their horse and not the judge, but there were several that just had NO CLUE!

The walk around inspection is such a basic...like setting your horse up square. I have put together a diagram to help those that are confused on WHERE to stand when the judge walks around you.

A quick run down is that your horse is divided into quarters, imaginary lines are drawn from nose to tail and shoulder to shoulder (see diagram). You should always be ONE QUARTER AWAY from the judge. An easy way to remember this is, if you can't see or have to STRAIN to see the judge, you're probably in the WRONG POSITION! As the judge crosses the imaginary line, cross over to the next position, however don't be too anxious (judges, for example MAY stop at the middle of your horse's tail...now what? Stay put until they actually pass that imaginary line.) Same as when the judge is in the middle of your horse's head, either wait for them to make your move or acknowledge you (for dimissal or completion of pattern), THEN crossover (if necessary). Confused? Feel free to put a comment here and I'll do my best to answer them! Here's the diagram, enjoy!

Pattern 9, Advanced Novice

Findings

1. Trotting around cone 2, you must make sure you don't cut to close to it otherwise when you stop, you will not have enough room to perform your 360.


2. Stop at your horse's should between the 2 cones.


3. Walking around the curve, make sure you are looking up and around so that as you make that turn, you come straight to the judge (you may have to practice this several times as this was an unexpected difficulty in this pattern).


4. Back, perform your 180, right before you trot off, give a courtesy look over your right shoulder and trot straight away.

Show Nerves

Let's face facts, showmanship is a very up close and personal class where ONE PERSON is staring at you, you can't HIDE like you can in a rail class, you are under scrunity and up close, so yes, it's natural to be a little nervous! Here are a few pointers that might help you get those butterflies under control:

The more you show, the easier it get's (really!)

Practice your pattern until you feel comfortable with it

Quit worrying about WHO's your competitor and concentrate at the job at hand, even world show level competitors can have bad days, being a world show competitor does not equal invinciblity, they are human and can make mistakes also. I know from first hand experience when I quit worrying about so and so showing against me and put my energies into my performance, my placings starting getting better.

Envision your perfect pattern over and over again

Do mom/dad/husband/trainer/helper make you nervous right before you go in? Nicely tell them you need some time/space to concentrate on the job at hand before you go in and you'll see them at the gate AFTER the class.

If you are able to, watch a few go's to get a feel for the pattern, are the cones tight? How close is the judge? How is the judge walking around for inspection?

Give yourself plenty of time to get to the warm up area before your class, don't rush yourself

Watch what you eat/drink that morning, it probably is not a good idea to order that extra spicy breakfast burrito from the snack shack, you don't want anything that will upset your stomach.

Watch the liquid drinking, have some, but don't overdo it, you want your attention on your pattern/judge and not wondering when the next potty break is!

And remember WHY you are doing this...it's all in fun...right?

The "Confident" Look

From my general observations on the rail during a showmanship class, many exhibitors get all the elements of their showmanship pattern correct, but don't have the look of a confident showman.
You are trying to sell yourself and your horse to that judge on that day. Think about it this way, if you were purchasing a used car, would you buy from someone that wasn't confident in their product? Me either...and neither will the judge, so here are some tips that will help you look confident (whether you actually are or not)

1. Smile (seems like a small thing), but really, it works, it needs to be natural and not glued on, but remember to smile at the judge, make it look like you are having fun! Isn't that why you are showing in the first place? Because it's fun....
2. Stand up, no slouching!
3. Look up, look where you are going, quit looking at the ground...I once had a trainer tell me that if I stared at the ground long enough I was going to end up there!
4. Know where you are going, look around your corners, find your straight lines.
5. Look AT the judge when you approach him/her. A little too nervous about looking in their eyes? Look at their forehead or the brim of their hat.
6. Walk/run confidentally and naturally. Run as though your jogging after your wayward dog, walk as though your going to your mailbox to get the mail. Neither is slow, or overly hurried.
7. Make a mistake? Don't beat yourself up, keep showing. There's another class later or tomorrow or next weekend, it is NOT THE END OF THE WORLD! You also don't know who will make a mistake bigger than yours...and who knows, the judge could have been looking at their clipboard instead of you!
8. When setting your horse up, keep YOUR feet together.
9. Cross over with confidence.
10. Be ready at the first cone (start point) when the judge looks at you to start your pattern, nothing will annoy a judge faster than waiting on YOU! So when it's your turn, be ready to go!

Now you know some of the insider secrets to LOOKING confident...even if you don't FEEL confident. Next article I'll discuss what to do with your show nerves.

Pattern 6, Moderately Difficult

This is a pattern my MIL did at a horse show today and then came home and showed me, so if this is your pattern, please email me and I'll be more than happy to credit you for this wonderful pattern!

Directions:

1. Walk from cone 1 to between cone 2 and cone 3 and stop.
2. Perform a 270 turn.
3. Trot a serpentine around cones 2 and 4, to judge
4. Stop at judge and set up for inspection.
5. After inspection, back 6 steps, perform a 90 turn and walk away.

Findings:

1. Stop with your horse's nose at cone 2.
2. Depending on the space given between cones 2 and 3, you may have to start close to cone 1 to allow yourself enough room to perform your 270 without actually stepping on cone 3.
3. The trot off is going to require an immediate inside turn (this is going to be a blind turn and will come up FAST!)
4. Note: Make notice of how close cones 2 and 3 are to cone 4, do you need to make a super tight turn or is there a little breathing room? Also, if everything is close together, don't run over your judge (that would be bad)!
5. Make sure your lines are straight at this point, there should be no widening of your arcs on either end (around cone 2 or 4).
6. As you approach cone 4, make sure you are looking up and around for the judge. This way you know how to space that very important turn so that you are trotting straight for the judge!
7. Stop 1 1/2 arms length away from judge.
8. Back straight, find a place on the rail or fence and make sure that the dock of your horse's tail is in that zone for straight backing.
9. Do a nice 90, do not over or under turn.
10. Do not hesitate, walk away (chances are the judge is looking at the next person).

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!

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?