Nervous / novice horse showing test

Dannii5691

Dannii5691

Owned by Ponies!
Nov 16, 2009
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Ok!! 4th may our local venue are running the first show of thw series. I wont ride him till I loose another stone so realistically hes off until the end of feb.

We want to enter the nervous novice horse and rider class. There is no group canter but a canter in individual shows. So this leads me to the next question. Those of you who show what would your individual show be. I dont want to do to much cantering as it is neither of our strong point. And I cant remember the last time I showed under saddle properly.
 
at local shows, the individual shows seem to be identical no matter what class you're in :) if you do a 'figure of 8' show with a bit of canter and trot on each rein you should be fine :)
 
Working on a figure of 8 in walk, trot and canter is generally the way most do it. You could do a short burst of canter along the diagonals of the "8" on both reins, then trot around the corners.
 
As others have said, working on figure of 8, I would do roughly this...
stand up for judge then walk away
turn then trot back towards judge then begin figure of 8 in trot
trot figure of 8
pick up canter leaving fo8, canter top part of second fof 8
change rein in trot
pick up canter after rein change and do whatever you are comfortable with on other rein
back to trot, walk, halt for judge

this way you can minimise you cantering. Hope that's some help. Good luck! X
 
Thanks for the advice :) I shall have a go at that and see how we do. Im hoping with it being in a big field we will be better as theres more room for us to canter. He camt canter circles. O have no feeling in my right leg when riding so my right leg is useless which doesn't help my green unbalanced cob. :redcarded:
 
I wouldn't worry too much about your leg as the feel for canter comes from your hips. If you give the same aid for both sides you should be OK.
I have to glance down sometimes to check my feet are still in the stirrups, but its my hips that position my legs.
 
Its more I struggle to move my leg back behind my girth effectively. Instead I tend to scrunch up my leg and tip my body. Im hoping some lunging work to teach him to canter properly will help as last year we avoided it, we worked more on trot and bending. And learning to jump in a very ... uniquely stylish way :giggle:
 
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