Ranch horse classes?

[Crown_Royal]

I am predominantly an English rider but have done a lot of trail riding, dabble in western, and appreciate a handy horse with good “life skills” in any tack! I’ve heard a little about the newer ranch horse classes shows are having and watched a ranch horse trail class at a schooling show this weekend. It reminded me of judged pleasure trail rides I used to do on my pony and seemed like a lot of fun since it was judged on how quickly and accurately you completed the entire course instead of attire/appearance and style. They had obstacles as well as skill tests like dismounting and having your horse ground-tie then mounting from the offside and dragging a tire attached to a rope.

I’d love to try some of these events with my Thoroughbred. He has a great brain, is handy, works well off the leg, and is overall very responsive. He has some trail experience with things like bridges but has not been extensively schooled in all trail obstacles. He sidepasses and turns 360° well, is decent opening/closing gates (but we need to work on that), has a little experience with having objects dragged beside him, ground-ties when there he isn’t on grass , stands for mounting, and jumps well. What else should I teach him and what are some things I can easily set up at home?

Second part of the post- what are the ranch horse pleasure classes judged on? How do the horses go and what are they judged on?

[Luseride]

Keep doing what you are doing and go to a few shows. Each show will offer something different which can then add to your practice routine. Most will also have you work a gate, even if the gate is just a rope between two jump standards.

Different associations will look for slightly different things but overall it is about being smooth through the obstacles.

[beau159]

[QUOTE=Crown Royal;8363884]
What else should I teach him and what are some things I can easily set up at home?[/QUOTE]

Things I have seen done:
-going through a real water obstacle (usually a constructed box with a tarp filled with water inside)
-going through a “fake” water obstacle (usually walking across a blue tarp)
-walking your horse through streamers hanging from a stand
-walking your horse thought pool noodles, that are standing up from the ground on a stand
-backing through an L (with logs) or other shapes
-rope a dummy calf
-drag a log
-open/close a real gate or rope gate
-ride up to a rain slicker and put it on, and put it back on the post
-load/unload from a stock trailer
-complete a small reining pattern
-trot or lope over logs
-walk over a bridge

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Of course, you won’t be able to practice EVERYTHING at home, but the key thing is to have a good handle on your horse and be able to move their body in anyway you want. And some desensitizing is good!

[QUOTE=Crown Royal;8363884]
Second part of the post- what are the ranch horse pleasure classes judged on? How do the horses go and what are they judged on? [/QUOTE]

They are judged similar to a Western Pleasure class except the movements are going to be more “forward motion”. You want good rhythm, smooth movements, and a loose rein (though not as exaggerated as WP).

[saddleup]

I showed in ranch pleasure at two Paint shows. It was an individual pattern class. The judges are looking for forward motion but not a Reiner type pattern. I also sat behind a panel of quarter horse judges at a show and heard one judge’s comments to his scribe. Very informative. His most critical comments were for the western pleasure type horses who were in the class. He questioned why they were there at all. Smooth transitions, diagonals didn’t matter at the trot because you could also stand in the stirrups or sit the trot. Go to YouTube and watch some of the videos. It’s a fun class.

[Foxglove]

Suggest looking at the rules for Ranch Horse: Two ways to go --Ranch Horse Association and AQHA Ranch Horse type classes http://www.americanranchhorse.net/2014_RULEBOOK.pdf

There are slight differences between the two. Where we are Ranch Horse can be an entire show over three days all by itself involving cutting, reining, roping, pleasure, showmanship, and trail. It seems you watched a trial class. Everything (here any way) can be entered separately, but there are awards for accumulated scores if you do all the parts and add up the scores. Our 4-H club offers Ranch Horse Pleasure (the pattern class someone mentioned) and Ranch Horse Trail similar to what you watched. I suggest you download the Ranch Horse Trail Class information and systematically work through the various required and optional obstacles --seems like you have most of the required obstacles and would just need to polish those and look at the optional ones.

As to the statement by saddleup about WP horses being entered in Ranch Horse classes --that’s not permitted in our club --you pick one or the other. BUT some riders here (kids) mistake Ranch Horse for “Cowboy” --heavy use of aides (yanking your horse around, spurring excessively, screaming, and other activities seen more in action classes) is penalized as heavily as a WP peanut roller.

What I personally like most about Ranch Horse classes is that the judging focuses more on the horse’s behavior and attitude than on the rider performance --does that make sense? Maybe not --for example, in the trail class one must built a loop and cast it at a stationery cow head on a hay bale. The rider must build a loop (or no points) and cast it (or no points) but hit the cow head or not is irrelevant --ALL the points are awarded for the horse standing still during the entire loop building and casting process. See what I mean? Horse good training is rewarded --not rider accuracy with the rope.

Foxglove

[Crown_Royal]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

I practiced opening and closing the gate on him last night (including latches)- success! Then I clipped my lunge line to a bucket and hand walked him up and down the gravel driveway with it dragging both far behind us and right alongside his legs (and let the rope lay across his hindquarters too). This was his first time and he took notice to the strange, loud noise but didn’t react at all- more success!

I’ll practice dragging it while riding him later, and work the gate more, too. I think I can also rig up something across the gate entry to dangle pool noodles from!