Best In Hand and Turn Out Show - 26th August 2013

Yesterday was the pony club in hand and best turn out show. When we got there Fiona had already chosen the horse and person combinations, and I was quite surprised but looking forward to having Sam. Sam's one of the newer ponys at the stables. We had an hour and a half to brush and groom them however we wanted to we could bath them if we wanted to, so I set to work going all over his body with a brush first. I knew from the beginning that I could not do his mane and tale because his Mane used to be hogged and is only just starting to be grown back (where he was before hogged him because he had sweet itch). His tale I think at some point had been pulled but I think that he has been rubbing it as well, so that meant that plaiting him was out of the question but I was okay with that. Instead I spent some time trying to get his white socks clean and then I washed his tale. I liked doing this although Sam didn't always like it but we got there in the end. I then went over his tale with a brush all though I will admit that it could have been brushed better. The last thing that I did was oil his hooves inside and outside. I enjoyed working with Sam he can be quite stubborn at times but I had to work past that and get on with what I wanted to do. I then cleaned his bridle (although I think that I missed a bit on it) got changed in to my show gear and was ready to go.

We then took all of the horses down to the school and walked around, we did a couple of laps in walk. Then we all came to a halt and did a lap each in trot. When we had all finished this we stood in the middle, then one at a time we went up to Fiona so that she could check how well groomed they were. We then had to walk in a straight line down to the bottom of the school then trot back up to the top and return to our place in the line. When we had all done this we then carried on walking around the school while Fiona and Elaine judged some more. In total there were three prizes to win. 

The first class was the Best Groomed horse, there were 50 marks to get and I got 47. I got 9 for a clean body and legs (some dust on his back), 9 for a well brushed tail (needed brushing more), 9 for a Clean Bridle, 10 for a plaited or neat mane and 10 for oiled hoofs in and out. In the first class I came joint second with two others. 

The second class was for the Best Young Handler, in this class the highest score was also 50 marks and I got 50! Getting straights 10s in Lead on a correct side, Active walk, Active Trot, Pony Listens to Voice commands and Stands Pony Up Correctly. In this class I came joint first.

Finally to find the overall winner the marks from the first two classes were added together and then we also got marks out of 10 for correct dress of handler (I got 9 all I needed was a Coat, I'd left mine at home because I thought it was too warm) and 10 for Clean Boots, Tidy Hair, Gloves (I got 10 in this). So my overall mark out of 120 was 116. This put me in Overall First Place winning a Free Half An Hour Private Lesson as well as a bar of chocolate! :D. 

After we had finished this it was time for the normal Pony Club meeting, other than the 6 of us no one else turned up for Pony Club so we got told we could do what we want. So we decided that we would have a chilled out Pony Club including playing hide and seek in the fields, then sitting in the fields talking about what badges we would like to do next in Pony Club, we also got to ask Fiona and Elaine any questions that we could think of. When it was half an hour before the end we got to put the horses to bed. I chose Gatsby, so skipped him out, filled up his water bucket and hung his haynet. Then it was time to go home. I had such a good time and can't wait to use my free 1/2 hour private lesson. 

Until Next Time 

A Girl With A Dream