Which (ridden) showing classes....?

[Mr Ed]

Thinking of looking at trying some ridden showing classes over the Summer. Wondering which classes I can enter.

Ed is a 14.2 Welsh Sec D. He's registered so the obvious class is M&M. (My only concern with this is that spurs cannot be worn - Ed is a lazy monkey without spurs :help.

Are there any other classes I can enter e.g. Hunter, Ridden Pony etc. Apologies for my naivty I'm totally new to this :biggrin:

 

[natural horse]

Hi, Yes apart from the M&M you could do Ridden Pony, Riding Club pony, Working Hunter, Ridden showing 14.2hh and under, or Ridden showing over 14hh, Equitation, Any of the Welsh classes which include sec. D., Novice showjumping, and probably some more I have missed. Horses entering Show Hunter classes are plaited.
I would get him going forwards more at home first without the spurs. He needs to be more responsive to your leg aids. Ask him to move forward from slight pressure of your leg and if he refuses increase the pressure. At the same time ask him to walk on. If he is ignoring you then a short hard crack with the whip will get his attention. Although I don`t condone the use of whips it is better to give one hard slap with it than to keep niggling him. I can say from experience that this works, as my granddaughters pony would ignore her leg aids. We only had to use the whip once with her, hard, and it worked. After this, if she ignored a slight leg aid just a light touch with the whip would get her attention. You could also try using a whip whop in conjunction with your leg aid. If you havn`t used one before then this will certainly get his attention.

 

[Mr Ed]

Thank you. Certainly looks like we have plenty of ridden showing classes open to us - that's great news :biggrin:

We already do a little beginner show-jumping and dressage (prelim). Next weekend we're heading for our first mini-ODE. So we're doing plenty of other stuff, just not tried any showing yet... he's handsome lad and achieved Supreme Show Champ at a local club some years ago.

I do try the leg aid/whip idea and in fact my daughter rides without spurs all of the time. But, it can be difficult to get him off the forehand. He's nearly 15 now and I guess it'll be hard to change him. However, we can but try. With spurs (usually little roller-ball ones), he's more forward.....