After last weekends somewhat demoralizing horse show, I wasn't all that sure I wanted to go to a show again so soon, but I am glad I did. I had a GREAT time at the Aurora Arabian show in Ponoka. People were so friendly and helpful when they realized I was new to the circuit.

Izzy wasn't so sure about the first day. We got there mid afternoon, with our class running after the supper break. I took her for lots of walks for grass to try to convince her that showing is fun...she is a great dandelion hunter. Then we warmed up in the main ring during the supper break. We were in there with western horses, saddleseat horses and other horses preparing for the sport horse classes....poor Izzy did NOT like that ring. She didn't like the people in the stands, the "play pen" they had set up in the middle, or the man sweeping the stands. There was threats of rearing and tantrums...but she eventually seemed reasonable, and by the time of our class she went pretty good...only falling apart when one horse in the class started to buck, setting off a second horse and then Izzy. The class was quite big with over 20 horses, but it was a fun experience.

Day two was the dressage classes, running in the afternoon. The class was kind of in a far corner of the show grounds in a made last minute show ring...and I think that worked well for us. Aside from bolting when the judge blew the start whistle, and spooking at the show photographer, she did SO much better than the last show, with both our tests scoring above 60% and a second and a fifth.

I am sure most of the improvement came because it was a more relaxed atmosphere, but I had also switched her from my super expensive KK Ultra snaffle, to a simple eggbutt snaffle I have owned for close to 30 years...ungrateful horse seems to vastly prefer this simple bit! Maybe she also liked being around her kin.

-----

It looks  like there is a lot of rain in the forecast, but hoping to start getting horses out on grass this week.

For lessons, not sure if we will be stuck in the indoor again or not...I hope not! Keen to be back outside. If inside we will do some more precision type courses, with jumps coming up quickly and poles to make sure you keep the horse balanced and attentive. We will also do a little more counter canter work, and trying to feel the lead we are on when jumping.

Karen