Pi's 1st Versatility Ranch Horse Show

[kewpalace]

P and Show (Sunday) this last weekend. At the clinic we were divided in two groups, the first went to the cutting pen and my group went to the roundpen for roping instruction with Team Roper Ty Burke (sp?). Pi had had some roping experience so was good being roped off from her back.

After lunch we went to the cutting pen. It was a HUGE round pen with a feeder and a trough. Christina Allen worked a long time with each of us and did two rounds. I was last; but she save the best wild cow for me, LOL! We had a blast and Pi was
pretty much on her game. But at one point the cow cut through the middle of the pen. We had about 4 feet between the water trough and the cow, but I guess Pi didn’t think it was enough and jumped, LOL. I thought she was trying to buck, but after we came through everyone was laughing that she was jumping the feeder! I was VERY happy with Pi in the cutting.

We dabbled in the trail and got a little instruction in spins and by that time it was about 5 pm and I was done.

On Sunday, while saddling Pi up, I decided to bite the bullet and ride her in
Hackamore - kind of a scary thing for me, since I have not ridden her in it much and never at a show.

Because we only had 9 people altogether in the show - 1 Open rider, 3 greenies and 5 in the NonPro (my division) - we all went “together”. Plus it was a schooling show, so things were pretty informal. Our Judge was Tommy Thompson, one of the Pro cowhorse trainers. I had clinic’d with him before.

1st up was cutting. Pi did a great job and I was really happy with her. Judge said it looked pretty good except I back fenced the cow, so got a good penalty for that. But we got 2nd in our division in Cutting! Here’s some pix:

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Next was trail. It was a pretty simple trail course: back around three barrels, walk over a bridge, 4-pole trot over, branch drag, left lead lope, side pass, dismount/remount, rope the dummy, walk over the tarp, gate, and mailbox. Pi did it all great except for two bobbles - after the lope when we went into the side pass she thought I was asking her to lope I guess, she did a couple of mini rears. Slowed it down, stopped and asked again and she went right to it, but ticked the pole. And with the tarp walk over she stepped on the pole at the end. We got 2nd in Trail. Other than pointing out the bobbles, Tommy said he loved the way Pi went over the trot poles. Here’s some pix:

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Have no pix of the rest of the show. There are some of the cowhorse class but on another person’s camera. Next class was Ranch Riding. Pi seemed fine in that class, except she didn’t really have a “jog” … a little too fast, but she has a fantastic extended jog! Tommy didn’t talk about this class, so I don’t know why we placed last.

After lunch was the cotwhorse class, so we had to do a reining pattern, box our cow and run it to the end of the arena. I was the last run. Everyone had problems in reining and I joined them. It felt like I had a fresh horse! Reining was bad. :-x Called for our cow and we got a fast one. But Pi was again spot on; what a rush! After we boxed it a bit, took it down the arena and that was the class.

Rushed to untack her for the conformation class and when I got back to the arena, Tommy was sitting out front and said that we impressed him and his scribe with our cowwork, we were so in sync. He said that we won the cow portion of the class! Woo Hoo!! He laster said for reining I was rushing too much and to SLOW DOWN when asking her to do things. Yep, he’s spot on. :o Because of reining, we placed 3rd in our
division in the cowhorse class.

After conformation we waited around for the final scores. I talked to Tommy about my classes. He said we got 3rd in Halter because, well, Pi is not ranch conformed, LOL - too muscly! But we actually got FIRST in our division! WOOHOO!!

Overall scores, I placed 2nd in our division with a score of 410. 1st place had a score of 411 - so we almost got 1st!! WooHoo!!! Out of everyone, I placed 4th.

It was a good day for us both & I was so proud of my pony. :yes: Hope others get to try these shows; they are fun with all the variety in the different classes!

[froglander]

Looks like a fun day!

[Pocket_Pony]

You guys look GREAT!!! What a fun day! :yes:

[kewpalace]

Thank you both!! It was a fun day and my mare was totally up for it! I was really happy she had a good time, too!

[Pocket_Pony]

Tell me about your mare - how long have you had her, where did you get her? She’s a QH, right?

[Bluey]

You did great!
Wonderful pictures, very, very nice mare, she is leggy too.
Don’t know exactly what they want to see on a ranch mare.
She is not going to look like a gelding anyway.

I was expecting her to be a short, chunky one, for them to say she is not “ranchy” enough, if I understood you right.

All you had to do sounds simple, but it is not at all, as anyone that tries it finds out in a hurry.
You did good to place so well.

[kewpalace]

Thank you, Bluey! I was really excited with my mare, she was a real trooper. Last time we sticked her she was just about 14.1. She’s probably closer to 14.3 right now, so not real big. I’m 5’1" on a good day, LOL, so probably make her look bigger than she is. There were other horses there who were much more ranchy than her; out of the 9 horses, the Judge placed her 3rd (which turned out to be 1st in my division, LOL).

There is a lot that goes into these shows and the fun part about it is that if you don’t do as well in one class (like Ranch Riding with us) you can still place well overall (2nd for us). This being her 1st Ranch Horse show AND the first time shown in the hackamore, yea, I was pretty stoked with 2nd place! They are FUN shows!

[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;7589631]
Tell me about your mare - how long have you had her, where did you get her? She’s a QH, right?[/QUOTE] Pi is a 5 yo cowhorse bred QH mare. Here is Pi’s pedigree. I have had her since she was 2. She was started at 18 months with an eye on prepping her for the NRCHA futurity, but they decided not to take her and sold her sometime before I got her. The guy who bought her didn’t feed her well and didn’t make the payments and the breeder/owners sent her to my friend to resale. My friend has her full older sister (who happens to be a palomino); I knew both of them from my cowhorse shows. I really liked that mare - how she worked (I’m not a big pali fan, but she’s a nice golden color).

I was only casually looking for a new prospect but wanted a 4-5 yo preferably red or bay roan. But when she emailed me she had this filly - the only part about her close to what I wanted was her pedigree & price (which was greatly reduced for a quick sale). She was pretty small and scrawny when I saw her, but she took off across the round pen when they were warming her up and sat down into a sliding spin. :yes: That sold me but I wanted the opinion of my trainer who was out of town. But never did as a few days later my friend called me and said someone from my town was coming to pick up a horse and could bring the filly if I wanted her. So I said sure, send her down. :eek: She had about 40 rides on her at that time.

Here are a few of her sale pix:
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Here is a pix of the day she came home:
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My trainer was not impressed. Until he rode her and she sat down on her stop. :winkgrin: So she was basically turned out, with an easy lesson once a month, lots of work on the ground and ponying. At three we started doing more lessons and I sent her to my trainer for a month just to get some riding on her. Yea, he almost didn’t give her back. :lol: Last year we increased the lessons and she started doing clinics at his place and I started showing her. We did a Cowboy Race where we placed 2nd (totally rider error, LOL) and a few cowhorse shows.

These are from last year, the 2nd is from her 1st cowhorse show:
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And this year, we started showing cowhorse in ernest (although I’m not pushing her to competitive, just get used to getting in the show pen and performing). We are struggling with reining, but she is dead on on the cow. I did the Ranch Horse Show for more experience for her and because I really like them - they are a blast!

She has a very sweet temperament - except when it comes to cows, LOL. She has the BEST work ethic and will try all day long for you, always looking for what YOU want her to do. She’s a FUN mare and will really make me improve as well.

[Bluey]

Very, very nice pedigree, all proven top and bottom.
While the top is very popular, I like the bottom better for several reasons, mostly the steady minds those bring to the table.
The very talented top can have some quirky minds.

Looks like you both are making a wonderful pair!

As for reining in other than straight reining, I have seen that be the trouble spot for so many.
They really need to take lessons from a strictly reining trainer for a while to get over that hump.

I know two local reining trainers that get plenty of working cowhorse and versatility competitors and their horses regularly to sharpen their reining, riders that have their own trainers for everything else.
Reining is so technical it is made easier by a specialist.
Once you get the horse right and lean how to ask, the trick is letting the horse do it, not keep trying to help it.
The same for straight cutting, but at least there talent really shines, if your horse really gets down, it is easier to let it do it’s thing.

Working cowhorse and versatility are just now getting popular here and growing.
You would be a star here, I think, most people still in the basic learning stage.
It is getting popular because it is so much fun for horse and rider.

Looks like you are really having fun there.

[kewpalace]

Thank you, Bluey. I liked the bottom of her pedigree the best, too, but like the “spice” the top adds, LOL. She is smart as a whip, too; I have to be really careful of my bad habits since she picks them up in a heartbeat.

I have been competiting in the Greener than Grass boxing class, 5k class & Open Boxing class of our cowhorse association for 6 years; the 1st 5 years on my 1/2 Arab mare, who is really not built for cowhorse, but she LOVES cows and tolerated reining. We did pretty decent in the long run - scored a few 70’s and got through renining with minimal damage at the end. :lol: We actually placed 5th in Open Boxing and 5th in NP Reining last year.

I did not like reining when I started, but grew to appreciate WHY we do it and started dedicating myself to improving, which I have. My problem is what you pinpointed:

[QUOTE=Bluey;7590049]
the trick is letting the horse do it, not keep trying to help it.[/QUOTE]

I think when I get nervous I start rushing, I manhandle my horses and, of course, it does not turn out well. When I stay relaxed, breathe and go SLOW, we both fare much better. Both my horses know what to do; Pi may need a little more experience at it, but she knows. They just don’t like me in their face all the time when I ask them to do it (and I can’t blame them for that!). I just need to stay out of her way! :yes: I will get there …

On the cow, I don’t seem to do it as much. Maybe because I’m more relaxed and having FUN on the cow. I did it more with my Arab mare as she took a little more work to get in the correct position; but once she was reminded she usually kept the position. If I’d kept getting in her way, she’d do poorly though … (duh!).

We are having fun!! And that’s my goal - work correctly and have fun! When I take it too seriously, I fall apart, I make my horse fall part and no one has fun. So I lighten up and breathe and have a go. :winkgrin:

[Pocket_Pony]

Sounds like so much fun! I wanted to compliment you on your position. In the pictures it looks like you have a nice independent seat and quiet hands. You make a lovely pair!

[kewpalace]

Aw, thanks so much Pocket Pony!! I still struggle at times, especially when Pi turns FAST on a cow (feel like a monkey on a border collie :lol:). But I have my moments (much to Pi’s relief :yes:!).

[Flash44]

Wow, she looks like fun! I have a mare that I would love to do some ranch pleasure with, but we are bovine-challenged as in we have no access to cows, and I’ve never swung a rope.

[ezduzit]

What a lot of fun!!! You guys are great together! Sure beats a round and round class.

[kewpalace]

Thanks so much! We both had alot of fun; they are really fun shows. :yes:

[QUOTE=Flash44;7593747]
I have a mare that I would love to do some ranch pleasure with, but we are bovine-challenged as in we have no access to cows, and I’ve never swung a rope.[/QUOTE]Yea, cows are a problem for many of us. I usually show reined cowhorse; I don’t always get to work cows in between shows. Closest cows are an hour away. So we do what we can and work on positioning or on the flag if we don’t get to work cows. No worry about throwing a rope; many shows have a green class, in which many of those in the class have also never swung a rope. Plus you can start learning now for future use! :winkgrin:

[QUOTE=ezduzit;7593799]Sure beats a round and round class. :D[/QUOTE]Boy, howdy!! :lol: I have done a few arena shows in the past; never enjoyed them at all. Then I started doing these shows and found my niche … THESE shows are da bomb! They are what actually lead me to the reined cowhorse shows.