Horse Show Attire

This past weekend most of you know I scribed at the Spring Bay HT. It was tons of fun and I’ll talk about that in another post. What I want to talk about today is something else. We all know when we go to horse shows we should be turned out properly right? Some of us (me) never did Pony Club but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what proper show attire is and better yet, some of the people I saw were riding for bigger name trainers in the area and were even more poorly turned out than the ignorant crowd. My main “rant” about this is something I was told many times by many different trainers/mentors/friends/parents- “ a well turned out horse and rider adds confidence.” It’s also courteous to the judge, the volunteers, your trainer, any owner you might be riding for, heaven forbid a potential sponsor, college recruiter, organizers, and yourself. I have to say I was slightly appalled at some of what I saw this weekend. Let’s have a rundown of proper as opposed to improper.

Let’s start with the helmet. As we all know approved helmets are now required and as most of you know I am a HUGE helmet advocate. Its amazing how one little piece of equipment can mean life and death, but better yet it’s EASY to wear. Most people have gone to a velvet or similar type helmet, and as long as it’s black and fits you properly, great, wear it. Even helmet covers are ok, as long as they fit and are black. It didn’t happen in my ring, but seriously, you would go in a ring with not only an old dirty helmet cover on and think people wouldn’t notice? Not only that but when the judge says something to you about it, be nice, take the critique and FIX IT. Don’t come back in the SAME ring three more times with the same helmet! Eventers are nice! BORROW! 

And what about the hair? I can’t say I am a huge fan of those gaudy show-bows, but at least your hair is neatly put away in them. When your hair is flying out the sides of your helmet like Pegasus wings- don’t you think your horse might be a bit embarrassed? Seriously- the horses are here for us and ol Flash does not like it when you’re trying to help him around the ring with your hair just a-flappin in the breeze. Either put it in the helmet (although Charles Owen says no ponytails up in helmets) or better yet WEAR A HAIRNET and if that still doesn’t help…get hairspray…it’s only one day and it washes out.

Now on to clothing. A black or navy blue coat is appropriate, and it should be long enough to cover your seat, but not so long it’s a dress and not so short it looks like a sweatshirt. And if your shoes are too small you wouldn’t wear them…same goes for the coat. A stock tie is absolutely necessary, and while even I used to have the dreaded “pre-tie” at least it was clean and pressed, not dirty yellow and wrinkled (oh yeah…saw a bunch of those). On to gloves. I don’t know what trainer in their right mind would send their kids into the arena in white gloves. In case it was confusing- white gloves show EVERY movement of your hands. If you aren’t Anky Van Grunsven don’t wear them. Even when I ran around a 2* and advanced and wore tails even I didn’t wear them.. I don’t want the judge noticing if I have an attack of the “it” hands. 

Your breeches can be white or tan, but if they are white…keep them clean…seriously, no putting on hoof polish, baby oil, petting your horse, cleaning tack, etc. while they are on…if you rub your hand on your pants..we all know. And finally your tallboots. Just clean em- that’s all. Don’t come in the ring looking like you have been wallowing in a mud pit with the pigs (that is unless its pouring rain and your slogging around in the mud just desperatly trying not to drown).

And NOW your horse. If it has white, BATHE IT. If it has been wallowing with you in the mud then BATHE IT. There is little worse than trotting around the arena on a dirty horse. If it’s too cold then hot towel and again eventers are generally an amiable crowd…if somewhere in your schooling no one taught you to hot towel, someone will show you. Let’s move on to braiding. If your bad at it DON'T DO IT. Ask a friend, pay someone, ask that friendly person in the next stall, but if you come down to the ring with your horse looking like he stuck his mane in a blender and you put rubber bands around it that is just as disrespectful as going without braids and if that’s what they look like then not braiding is a better choice. Finally, CLEAN YOUR TACK. It’s THAT simple.  Grab a sponge and some dishwashing soap (if you are like me and living on a shoestring budget). It works fine. And finally your saddle pad. At least buy a $10 white saddle pad and then ONLY use it for shows. It’s even worse when you have a LOGO from a prominent farm/company/ or trainer and your saddle pad is dirty it reflects poorly on that person who is on the saddle pad as well.

It’s simple. If you look good and your horse looks good, then it’s proven that you will ride better. You make a better impression and it’s respectable to everyone involved. I know for a fact that I don’t want to stand out negatively,the easiest way to avoid that is simply to dress nicely.

Ok my rant is over. I just don't like anyone to disrespect the people who are out there painstakingly puttion on a show for us. These people spend countless hours out there so we can have a good learning experience. The lease we can do is dress nicely and be properly turned out.

signing off

~Mandy

A little about the Weekend and a tribute to Will

Words cannot express the pain of loss, of any kind of loss. People can tell you it will be ok, everything will be alright but when you experience a loss of someone you care about you just can’t agree with them. I lost my mother eleven years ago and to this day I think of her every day. I experience a dull pain whenever I think of the hole in my life where she isn’t and I thought that was the worst pain I could ever feel.  I think this past weekend I felt a kind of pain that rivals that to a degree that I never imagined possible.

What should have been a good first event of the season this past weekend at the Ark HT in Monroe, NC turned into a bittersweet, long, slightly surreal weekend. The trip down and setup was smooth, albeit the last 25 miles of the drive are hell on wheels because there is a light every 200 yards and Charlotte traffic is awful.And don't even get me started on the trip home (what was supposed to be 7.5 hours became 12 because of a horrible accident on I-75 which caused us to sit at a standstill on the interstate for 2 hours) Since the Ark is a one day, we knew it would be tight and we had a plan.

Saturday ran smoothly to start. Mira went first and put in a nice dressage test (in a downpour), but then the sun came out and so did Mira’s  “jackrabbit shoes.” She had wings on her feet that day and nothing was gonna make her touch a rail or a cross country fence. She finished in perfect time and we won our PT division. Kellie Driscoll took her own Remington who was foot perfect in dressage. It was during her warm-up for showjump that I heard something no one wants to hear at an event. There was a “hold” on cross country. You always fear that announcement. It means one of a few things and none of them are ever good, but as always you hope it was no one you knew and you pray everything is ok for all involved. I didn’t dream it would affect us because you only hear about that stuff happening to other people- not to the people you are directly associated with.

Kellie had an excellent show jump round and headed out slowly to cross country because the “hold” was still in effect. I told her I would run back to the barn to grab us some water and be back in a few, she had plenty of time (as an aside here since this isn't the main purpose of the post, Kellie did end up having a great run, as did Catherine and her pony Ransom who had an excellent first horse trail).

There is nothing in this world worse than walking around the corner of your barn aisle and seeing people standing at your group of stalls talking and just knowing something isn’t right. There is nothing to describe that feeling you get when you know it was a friend you were showing with for the weekend that was affected in that “hold” and  no way to express the pain you feel when you find out the horse that you have been around for years isn’t coming back to that stall.

Now, let me tell you a little about Willpower aka “Will”. When KC was selling him I wanted that horse so bad. He was such a nice animal. He had the cutest ears, floppy like the nicest dressage horse from the minute the rider got on him. He was quirky. He loved to jump and like little Mira put his heart into every fence. I have never seen a braver/bolder cross country machine either. We will never forget Will standing in the barn aisle ground-tied patiently waiting on Maggie to come back to him or the flames she clipped on his rump every winter.  Let’s also not forget seeing Maggie in the barn aisle late on those winter evenings blow drying Wills coat (yes I said blow-drying..with a hair dryer) because he would sweat and she didn’t want to risk putting him out wet.  He had a heart of gold and would let even the rankest beginner go for a trail ride on his back or teach an up-down lesson. Will earned nicknames like “Willard” “William” and “The Pirate”- so named by my niece, Maddie when she saw Maggie leading him to his field one day last summer with that ridiculous pirate fly mask from Rolex on.

Will was a good soul and as I said on facebook the other day, horses, like dogs show us unconditional love. Any animal that can repeatedly jump fences at a gallop when asked, or dance around a dressage arena, and keep his toes up over rails that fall even when they are exhausted goes to heaven. All dogs do, I truly believe horses like Will do too.

Will is in heaven Maggie, he died doing what he loved for the person he loved the most. He will be watching over you and your future horses giving you the "willpower" to fly around with wings on your feet.

RIP Willpower. Hang in there Maggie!

Signing off

~Mandy