Finally.....News (or Olds?) from our October Dressage Show!

OK, you're wondering why I have a horse and rider in Western attire to start this post about our dressage show at the beginning of October??  Well, if you happened to read a few posts ago, we offered, for the first time, Western Dressage classes (also called Cowboy Dressage) at our schooling show on October 3rd.  The whole show was a great success, and the Western classes were an added highlight to that successful day.  We had more entries, both English and Western, than we could handle for the day, so I would say that we're probably looking at holding 2 shows in the spring - one for English and one for Western!

Our riders all turned out in their finest, and their hours of practice and study showed!

A pat on the neck for a job well done!

 A great halt at "A"............

First time with a new partner......

It was great to see our Western entrants on forward moving horses - horses who carried their heads above their withers, and who went well with a soft contact on their mouths.   

I suppose a job well done deserves a little reward?!

And, that pesky itch needs to be scratched.............

I have uploaded to my photo web site images from this event, so I hope you have time to peruse some of them - especially if you were an entrant in the show.  I couldn't "shoot" everyone, but I did get a lot of shots that day.

I also want to thank all the wonderful volunteers who offered their time to help put this event on - I couldn't have done it with out you - especially our great manager, Carter Chess!  Our judge, Alexis Katz, did a fabulous job, was very happy to take on the new "challenge" of the Western classes, and was a cheerful presence throughout a loooong day. 

Thank you to all of you!!

I would like to extend my best wishes for a speedy recovery to Eitan Beth Halachmy, who is recovering from a medical issue suffered at the World Equestrian Games last month, and who was the originator of "Cowboy Dressage".  To see a heartwarming video of Eitan and Debbie (with whom I was in contact about Cowboy Dressage before our show), click here .

In closing, it seems that the Western horses decided that it was way too much work to do this dressage thing, but they were good sports, and made their moms very happy - and I'm sure they'll enjoy doing it again in the spring!