Tips, tricks, turnout? Just a local unrated show, please don’t tell me to braid 
Is this a young horse?
Don’t fuss with them too much trying to get them to stand PERFECT. You want them loose and relaxed.
Make sure they jog well and it’s better to run fast/ahead of them NOT LOOKING to encourage them to look forward through the bridle and show off their movement.
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You definitely do not want to run ahead of them, you want to keep their shoulder in line with your body so you disappear on the off side
Here is a webinar from one of the best in the business
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I explained that poorly. What I meant is don’t make them jog to your pace… you jog out to THEIR pace.
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Practice!! You’ll be showing in a bridle (most likely) and you need to practice with your horse-- are they using the triangle pattern? Practice stepping off and running alongside their shoulder not ahead. Your horse might get a bit “up” the first time, be prepared for that. Wear tennis shoes or paddocks you can run in on arena footing. Clean tan pants and a well fitted dark polo if you aren’t showing in your show clothes. Practice setting up your horse for the judge.
I recommend finding some videos and watching how the best do it. It really helped me when I showed my filly on the line as a two and three year old. It is a bit of an art to do it well.
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How old is your horse? If its young and your goal is to get them off property for some experience, I do suggest to braid. There’s nothing better than for a young horse to learn to stand to be braided (even is someone is holding them and praising them for their patience) and learning to wear and not scratch braids out. I have shown a lot of youngsters (and older stock) on the line and I love them to learn how to be braided and stand (somewhat) at a young age. It helps prep them for their future! If the goal is more of for you to have fun and get out there, braiding is not necessary, but does show the judge the extra effort.
I made sure they work well in hand, as in trot off when you ask (use a helper to help if needed until they get the idea), learn how to stand and not fuss too much. Nothing worse than a judge trying to look at your horse while its moving around and not standing still to be assessed. I don’t pick too much at the young ones and ask for perfection, as they have a mind of a child and get easily distracted (to be expected), but they should be able to stand still for a minute or so for the judge to look over them. When walking away from the judge I make sure I’m in a straight line from them so they don’t have to move to see my horse walk away or back at them. I trot them on a loose rein and move at a good pace. If they are a good, big mover, you have to RUN! You want to show off their best movement. The judge will walk around the horse while you have them set up, I move off to the side when they want to see the front legs - don’t block them. Get a good walk. They shouldn’t be rushing, but not dragging themselves at a mosey either. A nice brisk walk to show how they track up. Know what kind of conformation faults you horse has and if he toes in a bit, make sure he isn’t when you have him standing up. Don’t let them rest a hind leg. Keep their attention for the minute or so that the judge is walking around them. I like front legs fairly close together, not parked or camped out for the hind legs, and the hinds can be split a little bit.
I like to wear an unmarked ball cap when I’m outside and can use it to get the horses attention when needed (if needed). Depending on the horses colour/socks, I wear pants that will not blend into their legs (eg: a bay with no high socks, I will wear tan or white pants so my legs don’t blend into theirs when running. A light coloured horse or big socks, I will wear black pants). I like to wear comfy shoes so I can move (usually paddock boots), a nice show shirt and riding jacket. But a nice blouse will work as well. I keep a carrot and whip with me as well and use it to get attention if the horse is polite (as in not grabby for carrots). I will sometimes toss up some dirt to get ears forward when judge is looking at them, or grass. You want a nice relaxed position with the neck stretched out a little when they are being looked over. I don’t always ask for perfection the whole time when I’m in the ring (as the judge will be looking at a lot of other horses as well), but I always keep my eye on the judge to see where there are. They could be making the hard choice of placings and can be looking at the horse in front of them and quickly look over to your horse to decide a placing. So don’t droop and stand around casually the whole time you are in the ring. That’s the biggest mistake I see now a days. I’m not saying you have to keep them still and in a perfect position the whole time (I’ve been in some huge classes and can be in the 20 mins +) as it can be boring and tiring for a horse to always be “on”, but just be aware of the class and judge and shine all the important times. I’ll attach a few of my ponies to show what I’m wearing and how I set up. The one pic of me in the riding clothes was only as I was showing 2 horses and had no time to change into my riding gear. I hate wearing tall boots and breeches to run my ponies, but had no choice that day.
Good luck and have fun!
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might want to add some flowers at the turns as a pot flower seems to be of interest if not seen before
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beautiful pictures and beautiful horses, everyone
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I have never in 20 years showing on the line have to show on a triangle. Not saying they never do this, but it would be very unusual. The only time I’ve used a triangle is when I was doing a inspection and its one horse at a time so the judge’s attention is fully on that animal. Then they ask for a pattern and its very specific.
The hunter and breeding line classes I’ve shown at will have multiple animals in the ring at one time and show them off in front of the judge when they call you forward (they have a ringmaster who will tell you where to go and when to approach the judge, or where to line up).
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They show on the triangle in Dressage and Eventing sport horse showing. The only time I have done a triangle in hunter breeding is in the National Championship but it’s a different triangle than the ones above.
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Do they not have many entries for those shows? We can have 80-100 ponies at a show and I couldn’t imagine the time it would take to show one animal at a time on a triangle. It would take more than a day to go through them all!
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yeah in sport horse in hand classes is where we have been subjected to the triangle patterns as the judge is looking for correctness in movement
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I have done a lot of Sport Horse and Sport Pony in hand as well (in Ontario and parts of the US) but very differently. The judge still looks for correctness in movement as well, just all in one big class as there wouldn’t’ be enough time in a day to look at all of them individually on a triangle. They still have a clipboard and write down their % for conformation and movement and any notes they need. For Inspections (Sport Horse and Sport Pony) they book only a set amount of animals in a day (maybe 20) so they can do a triangle and keep their eyes on one animal the whole time they are in the ring
There can be 10-20 in one line class alone (and there are usually at least 9 different age brackets) and anywhere to 50-100 animals for the in hand portion. Then under saddle and driving classes need to be done as well after the line portion, and all within one day.
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I’ve only seen the triangle in WB inspections. Did not realize it was used in other venues–yes indeed, it makes for a long day.
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The National Championships tend to be around 20 in each class give or take.
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For a basic halter class at a local , unrated show.
walk in stand up trot down and back.
OP I personally would braid since this is part of being a show horse . The animal and the human have to learn and to tolerate. It does not have to be the million braids of AAA but do tidy it up and present like a winner
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my daughter put her weanling in a sport horse in hand class, he was presented just as any other horse in the class, primary goal was to expose him to being shown
but he won beating nearly thirty head
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I like that he and his handler have matching manes!
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He is very fancy. In fact, I know quite a few people who’d kill for that color and those markings. 
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