Post by brontepearson on Apr 20, 2014 16:00:11 GMT
On Saturday Cwmcerrig Calzaghe aka Joe went to his first show and was a little monster on arrival. I didn't think I'd be able to ride him that day and we were convinced he'd never get in the ring, but after a lot of lunging he finally stood still long enough for me to get on. He was latching on to any horse that walked past and was a nightmare to warm up but once in the ring something must have clicked. Despite never having been ridden in company apart from his hacking partner (gelding), he coped brilliantly. As you can imagine, in a novice class containing section c & d mares, stallions and geldings there were horses flying everywhere and he was a star. He even stood reasonable well in the line up, turning some circles but no silly behaviour. When it came to doing an individual show he just didn't know what was going on and was really not keen on leaving the security of the line up so I made the decision just to trot as best he could as canter was out of the question due to his napping. I'd rather have just trotted than tried to canter and it been a horrible rushed mess. Overall his owner and I are over the moon with how he coped and can't get over how good he was in the go round even with cobs flying every which way (one was kicked out for being out of control). We will practice coming out of a line up of horses and working individually before his next show as now we know he can cope being ridden with others. I very much look forward to taking him out to his next show. P.S. he broke his reins before I got on so had to buy new ones at the show which had keepers on which couldn't be removed and only had plaiting scissors with us which wouldn't cut through them