wingnut
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- Apr 16, 2009
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We attended our 2nd club show yesterday. Again, we were so happy to just have made it out there and back in one piece (2 hr drive for us). I took 3 of our 4 (two yearlings, one 2 yr old). It's new to them, new to me and even trailering while driving is brand new to me. So it's a success to get there! LOL!
Now that we've done 2 shows, I'm starting to wonder about some things. Mainly, would I be better off concentrating on ONE horse? Prepping 3 horses the day before a show, especially when it happens to be a work day, was tough. I don't think I did as good a job as I could, especially with the mostly white yearlng. I simply ran out of steam!
At the same time, I'm not sure any of them will be happy about being driven all that way alone. Do I work on one horse but take 2 with one just being the "buddy" for the trip, no entries into classes?
What did you do when you first started out?
My husband helps a great deal already. He cleaned out the trailer (before and after), he prepped the stall for when they were clean Friday night. He hooks/unhooks the trailer. He helped me when I did a minor bit of clipping on the yearlings. My daughter groomed the yearlings for me so I could go straight to washing them. She goes with me to the shows and handles a horse when they fall into the same class (the yearling mare class and the solild color class). So, I have help...it's just that there's still so much left to do.
Despite my misgivings, our 2 yr old placed 6th out of 7 on her first time out. Our silver bay yearling got 4th out of 11 in the solid color class. So, no blue ribbons but we didn't come home empty handed.
The yearlings went up against the same yearling we did last time and with only 3 in the class total, we placed the same 2nd and 3rd. I've been told this yearling/handler combination are working with trainers and other professionals and go to nationals with there horses. It's not surprising they come in first...that yearling is awesome and the handler, although a teenager, has more experience.
I think that of the 3, the silver bay yearling has the best chance of improvement if I were to concentrate soley on her for the next couple of shows.
I guess I'm looking for encouragement or maybe even a "slow it down silly woman, of course you should be working with one animal!"
Now that we've done 2 shows, I'm starting to wonder about some things. Mainly, would I be better off concentrating on ONE horse? Prepping 3 horses the day before a show, especially when it happens to be a work day, was tough. I don't think I did as good a job as I could, especially with the mostly white yearlng. I simply ran out of steam!
At the same time, I'm not sure any of them will be happy about being driven all that way alone. Do I work on one horse but take 2 with one just being the "buddy" for the trip, no entries into classes?
What did you do when you first started out?
My husband helps a great deal already. He cleaned out the trailer (before and after), he prepped the stall for when they were clean Friday night. He hooks/unhooks the trailer. He helped me when I did a minor bit of clipping on the yearlings. My daughter groomed the yearlings for me so I could go straight to washing them. She goes with me to the shows and handles a horse when they fall into the same class (the yearling mare class and the solild color class). So, I have help...it's just that there's still so much left to do.
Despite my misgivings, our 2 yr old placed 6th out of 7 on her first time out. Our silver bay yearling got 4th out of 11 in the solid color class. So, no blue ribbons but we didn't come home empty handed.
The yearlings went up against the same yearling we did last time and with only 3 in the class total, we placed the same 2nd and 3rd. I've been told this yearling/handler combination are working with trainers and other professionals and go to nationals with there horses. It's not surprising they come in first...that yearling is awesome and the handler, although a teenager, has more experience.
I think that of the 3, the silver bay yearling has the best chance of improvement if I were to concentrate soley on her for the next couple of shows.
I guess I'm looking for encouragement or maybe even a "slow it down silly woman, of course you should be working with one animal!"
