Baby Goes Horse Showing

Friday I took baby Luxxx to the final local show until fall.  And this weekend was a reminder of why showing in Florida over the summer is brutal.  Think 90s and about 90% humidity.  I don't know what hell feels like but this has to be close.

Luxxx trailered over like a champ.  We unloaded, unpacked, and he settled right in.  This time he even got along with his neighbor.  The down side to having a concrete block barn is that he doesn't have any idea of what having a neighbor is.  I did this to eliminate barn repair but at shows where he can have neighbors on 3 sides, it's a lot to take in.  I always give trainer the option of riding him and she definitely wanted to.  Although I do one day want to show him, it is nice to get a chance to see my own horse go and enjoy watching the hard work I have put into him.

He was fantastic schooling however he has been a little hard mouthed lately.  We opted for a bit and adding a martingale and this was a big help.  I start the babies in a loose ring French link typically then change as they progress.  I was thinking next would be a Waterford loose ring but trainer suggested a 2 ring happy mouth loose ring and running martingale.  She felt a big difference which I also saw. I plan to play around with bits once at home and see what I think.  She felt she was able to compact him better.  He definitely still has a long way to go with his flat work.  He is getting so big he is still learning what to do with this big body and compacting that is hard.  His stride is huge.

After schooling him over some 3 foot jumps we decided to move him up to 2'9.  Woo hoo!  The 2'6 are like speed bumps for the big baby now so we felt confident he would handle the bigger course just fine.  It was also the second division of the day so that bought me time to lunge him.

Due to trainer having other horses doing at the same time we were the last to go in our classes.  This meant the warm up ring was empty thankfully.  He does not appreciate people running into him so this helped provide him with a nice experience before going in the ring.

He jumped all his jumps, got a couple lead changes and ended up first and second!  Trainer even sliced a couple jumps.  He could care less.  He just goes.  He needs to work on steering and smoothing out his changes (he does not like to be asked he just likes to be balanced).  I could not be more proud of him.  His attitude was perfect and the things that need to be improved will come along with more time and training. I am thrilled with him.  Video coming soon when I can get them uploaded.

And last but not least Panda Moo was a perfect puppy at the show too.