Baby Green Hunter Moment VIDEO UPDATE on p 10

[meupatdoes]

So, my young hunter who turns 5 this year went to his first bona fide schooling show over fences over the weekend and decided that even though at home he is the Big Bad who rocks around courses 6" bigger like he is ten feet tall and bullet proof, in this big scary ring all by himself he would really rather crawl back under his cooler and hide.

One corner of the ring was PARTICULARLY scary, and his eyes got very, very wide and he became very, very pathetic. (Awww.)

Sooo, for everyone who is also bringing up baby or has suddenly had an erstwhile brave soldier suddenly go all wet noodle on them, here are some videos of hunter trips gone (adorably) awry.

First Trip

[URL=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xUa-tIiV3I”]
Second Trip

Overall I think he really was a good boy, though.
Awww.
It’s HARD to be brave!

[Quin]

Loved the graceful exit from the ring the first trip…backwards… :lol:

What a cute boy! You’ll have all kinds of fun this summer introducing him to the big wide world.

[FineAlready]

Babies are too funny! The first video was so cute, he was like “cantering, cantering, cantering…WOAH, what the heck is THAT? Mom, trust me, I think we should just back…out…slowly.” In the second video he’s like, “Hey guys, what are you doing over there? Are you the judges? How am I doing? WOAH, since when was there a JUMP there?”

I love, love, love babies…and I’m partial to chestnuts.

Mine hasn’t started showing yet, but his funniest baby moment was hitting himself in the FACE with one of his front legs while spooking in the air over a jump. Left the ground normally and while in the air, he cranked his knees waaay up and hit himself in the face. I was really scared that he was going to get his leg through the reins, but he didn’t. Oh my! The jump was a single striped pole set at, oh, maybe 18 inches. Silly pony! He was afraid of striped poles for a while after that - apparently believing that the pole is what hit him in the face (?)

[supershorty628]

Haha that reminds me of my large pony when I was showing him in the greens. He was legit GREEN, and this was back when the Old Salem indoor still had lots of echoing and big windows with blinds over them. We were coming across a diagonal line when someone opened the blinds and a sunspot appeared on the wall (a big sunspot) on the other side of the line. Poor pony was so terrified and couldn’t decide which way to go; he landed from the out and first went right, then left, then stopped, and then sort of spider-cantered by the Evil Sunspot of Doom. It was adorable.

[SmokeyCB]

Oh wow…I showed at the same show this past weekend (Lone Star Expo).

Good job getting him through it. Your second trip was much better!

It was my boy’s first time in that ring too. We had an interesting experience at the bending line, where my guy saw the exit and wanted to “go toward the light” ha ha, but I managed to (barely) get him over the second jump in that line.

[Tegan]

Too cute! I love babies!

Funny, my mare is the exact opposite. Got there the first day of her first schooling show and we almost killed each other. I thought it would be a good idea to take her on a walk… until she started rearing and spinning and having an absolute fit. I had “that” horse and I was ready to kill her.
But then she settled in so nicely and jumped her first ever real course on the second day, and even ended up packing around the crossrails on Sunday, I was impressed. She ended up way better at the show than at home.

Your guy is too cute though!

[tidy_rabbit]

Where is your crop?

I use a crop to help steer in scary situations… for instance one of my horses will ALWAYS run out to the right if given the opportunity so I always lay my crop on his right shoulder to help balance him up and keep him from running out. And if I feel him start to balk I’m not afraid to give him a little tappty tap on that shoulder where he’s thinking about running out.

Then if I know he’s going to be balky about another fence going to the left I’ll switch it on course so I get a little assistance coming up to the fence. Must. outsmart. the. evil. babies.

Good luck with your young horse!

[billiebob]

He’s adorable! I loved the moonwalk out of the ring in the first video–very stylish:D. I would say, for a first show, that can go in the win column.

[Beethoven]

Here are my horse’s first show…she is not really a baby at 9, but has only been under saddle for about 2 yrs now and jumping for less than a year at the time of the show.

These were really our first courses ever and far from perfect…mainly my fault…lol

training hunter round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1tb6E_XbP8

first baby green:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA1HdUV04-U

2nd baby green:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoCOvb7M6ic

[Equino]

[QUOTE=tidy rabbit;4656679]
Where is your crop?

I use a crop to help steer in scary situations…[/QUOTE]
EXACTLY what I was thinking. My greenie has some steering issues too and even though he is much more in front of my leg than your guy is, I always carry a crop especially when in new/potentially scary situations.

I give you credit though-doesn’t look like the most friendly place to take a greenie to his 1st show. It is kind of spooky the way the layout of the ring is, especially by the in-gate, so no wonder he became gate bound. Lots of luck, post future videos as he progresses!

[meupatdoes]

@tidy rabbit;4656679

Where is your crop?

The short answer is I don’t own one.

I don’t like crops because you have to completely abandon your ride and make a big move to use one (behind the leg).

The dressage whip was in the trailer.

[Parrotnutz]

[QUOTE=meupatdoes;4656315]
So, my young hunter who turns 5 this year went to his first bona fide schooling show over fences over the weekend and decided that even though at home he is the Big Bad who rocks around courses 6" bigger like he is ten feet tall and bullet proof, in this big scary ring all by himself he would really rather crawl back under his cooler and hide.

One corner of the ring was PARTICULARLY scary, and his eyes got very, very wide and he became very, very pathetic. (Awww.)

Sooo, for everyone who is also bringing up baby or has suddenly had an erstwhile brave soldier suddenly go all wet noodle on them, here are some videos of hunter trips gone (adorably) awry.

First Trip

[URL=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xUa-tIiV3I”]
Second Trip

Overall I think he really was a good boy, though.
Awww.
It’s HARD to be brave![/QUOTE]

You are soooo right about he wanted to crwal back under the cooler…too funny. Loved the exit, he backed out as if no one would notice.
For a made horse an indoor stadium ring like that can be scarey. One can see that obviously the jumpes were no problem…just the boogie men in the arena…hehehe
Job well done…he was soo scared and you did not make a big issue. He sure is cute

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=Beethoven;4656709]
Here are my horse’s first show…[/QUOTE]

Well I for one think Miss Nala is adorable!:yes:

[Wizard_of_Oz_s]

I was also at that show this weekend! Me and my friends enjoyed watching your boy, and all of the babies in general; they do the darnest things! And we thought it was funny how they only closed the gate for the babies. Congrats on his first show! Did you do schooling hunter too? I remember seeing pair that looked like you two win the flat class I think…not sure.

[toomanyponies]

Is that a pony?

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=Wizard of Oz’s;4656774]
I was also at that show this weekend! Me and my friends enjoyed watching your boy, and all of the babies in general; they do the darnest things! And we thought it was funny how they only closed the gate for the babies. Congrats on his first show! Did you do schooling hunter too? I remember seeing pair that looked like you two win the flat class I think…not sure.[/QUOTE]

That actually was the Schooling Hunters.
We missed the Baby Greens because that ring started at 8:15, and by 8:27 they were telling us they had finished the entire Adult Novice division. Picture our faces: :eek:

My trainer won the schooling hunter hack on another chromey chestnut, so it was probably them you saw.

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=toomanyponies;4656786]
Is that a pony?[/QUOTE]

A 16.1 hand one, sure.

[Roxy_SM]

[QUOTE=meupatdoes;4656744]
The short answer is I don’t own one.

I don’t like crops because you have to completely abandon your ride and make a big move to use one (behind the leg).

The dressage whip was in the trailer.[/QUOTE]

While I think there are certain horses with which it is not best to carry a crop, like a horse that gets very tense when he knows you have one, if your reason for not carrying one is because it makes you abandon your ride nobody ever taught you how to use one correctly. A quick smack behind the leg while your legs,seat, and other hand keep contact does not require any loss of control or other aids.

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=Roxy SM;4656896]
While I think there are certain horses with which it is not best to carry a crop, like a horse that gets very tense when he knows you have one, if your reason for not carrying one is because it makes you abandon your ride nobody ever taught you how to use one correctly. A quick smack behind the leg while your legs,seat, and other hand keep contact does not require any loss of control or other aids.[/QUOTE]

If you can tune up a leg yield (for example) tapping the crossing hind leg at the inception of its step each stride for two or three repetitions, swinging your arm off the inside rein all the way behind your leg and then back to the rein again each stride while you are at it, without “any loss of control or other aids,” then you are way, WAY slicker than me.

Me, I don’t think I can get my arm behind/infrontof/behind/infrontof/behind/infrontof my leg that fast (to say nothing of quietly stabilizing the inside bend while all of this back and forthing is going on), nor am I coordinated enough to school a leg yield on a greenie one handed, so I just accept my limitations, choose to carry a long whip for schooling, and am flat out too cheap to buy a bat just for shows.

[Halfhalting]

I love him!!! What a sweet boy, I give him A for Effort! I had my two kids with me watching that, just laughing at those funny baby moments. I’ve been there done that - you handled it VERY VERY well. It’s so stressful in those situations! I love a sweet greenie, that made my morning, thanks so much for sharing!