Event Reviews
2010 New Year Western Halter & Ridden Show
21st February 2010
Photos kindly used with permission
of
photographer Mel Boynes
melf1987@hotmail.com
Lopin’ Along Western Riding Group has been around for 7 years now and our main focus has been on holding once a month clinics. However, in a rash moment we decided to take the plunge and run our very first Western Pleasure B show on February 21st at the beautiful Brookleigh Equestrian Estate hoping it would be well received amongst the pleasure horse fraternity.
Well, as show organiser, I think describing the show as a success is an understatement! This show was the first of the 2010 western pleasure show season and with the WAQHA, PRAC & Statewide Paint Horse clubs all running major A and State shows on the 3 following weekends after this show, it seems that the majority of pleasure horse competitors took advantage of this show as a practice run for these next shows. A massive turn out of 48 horses representing the quarter horse, paint/paint bred and appaloosa breeds presented themselves to judge Matt Tierney. Starting the day with quarter horse halter classes followed by appaloosa then paint and paint bred, although the numbers were not high in these events, there were still some lovely examples of each breed to feast our eyes over. Every champion halter exhibit received a bottle of wine, the supreme appaloosa exhibit received a lovely trophy donated by PRAC member Pat Coles, and supreme paint and paint bred received a hay bag each, donated by Mel Armitage & Carolyon O’ Garr of Sekani Paint Horse Stud. All ribbons presents to the Paint and Paint Bred halter exhibits were kindly supplied by the Statewide Paint Horse Society of WA.
Over-all winner of the beginner western pleasure was Pam Eglinton riding PL Sheza Cool Delta. Photographed with Rae Cramp from Braeside Performance Horses who sponsored this event and judge Matt Tierney
A fantastic turnout of 14 horses in the Open WA Bred kept Matt busy for a while and he had some seriously lovely candidates to choose from. Eventual winner was the lovely Paint filly Sekani Chances R I Shine and owner Carolyn O’Garr was one seriously proud mum indeed! Go the paint horses – of the top four Open WA Bred, two were paints. Open ES Bred was a bit smaller in number; nonetheless Matt had another tough choice to make. Creek Lodge Peace Master did the Appaloosas proud by taking out first place in this event. The winners of both events were presented with printed sashes and also a bag each of Hygain Showtorque feed kindly donated by City Farmers Malaga.
Moving on to the showmanship events and it was fantastic to see so many beginner competitors coming along using the show as a chance to find out a bit more about western showing and trying their hand at the various events on offer. With 13 entries in the beginner showmanship alone, it is proof that there are people wanting to start showing in pleasure and are looking for the opportunities to do so. The patterns for all the showmanship classes were fantastic, not too complicated but still challenging enough to keep people on their toes. We also had 6 kids in the youth showmanship which was great to see. Eventual winner of the youth showmanship was Carly Ganzer, and every youth entrant received a prize again kindly donated by City Farmers Malaga.
Winner of the Eastern States Bred halter event was Creek Lodge Peace Master (appy) owned by Pat Coles
A break followed the halter events giving competitors time to saddle up and get ready for the hunter events, and show organisers a chance to catch their breath. First class off the starting block after the break was the beginner hunter under saddle that ended up with 14 riders – too big for one class so an executive decision was made to split the class into 2. Judge Matt chose his top 3 from the first ‘go round’, then the second group came into ride, again Matt chose his top 3, then those top 6 came back in again and from these Matt chose his eventual overall placings.
Show organisers were thrilled to see such a great turnout for the walk/jog events. At one time in the pleasure industry these events did not exist at all, but over the past couple of years they have come about and evolved into being some of the most well populated events at WAQHA and PRAC shows. The organisers of this Lopin’ Along Western Riding Group show decided to try something new and offer Beginner and also Improver walk/jog events. Lopin’ Along is about encouraging new people into the industry and providing a platform for them to get started. When you are first starting out and don’t have all the fancy show tack and clothes it can be quite intimidating to go to a show and see other entrants in the beginner classes prepped like they are due to be riding at the big national shows. There are some riders out there who are very capable with walk/jog and ride fairly educated horses however for whatever (genuine) reason, they do not lope. The Improver events were aimed specifically for these people and they were very well received. The feedback from entrants was 100% positive, some people will use these events as a step up to the next level – either novice or ammy owner – and for those that maybe health or age restricts them, they know they can ride in the improver events, rather than the beginner without fear of being told they either must move up to lope or they cannot ride at shows.
Winner of the WA Bred halter event was Sekani Lodge Chances R I Shine (paint) owned by Carolyn O'Garr
Thanks to our very generous sponsors Brian & Rae Cramp from Braeside Performance Horses and Michelle & Peter Carroll from Platinum Demolitions we were able to offer prize money on the Beginner and Improver ridden events and the riders were out there trying their hearts out to win that cash! Total prize money of $300 was spread around the Hunter Under Saddle, Western Pleasure and Trail events with money on first, second and third place and then assorted prizes kindly donated by City Farmers Malaga for 4th place onwards.
Brian & Rae also donated a beautifully embroidered woolen rug which was to be awarded to the overall winner of the Beginner Walk/Jog Pleasure class. This event was so big that we had to have 2 go rounds so judge Matt could choose his top 6. When he had finished judging his top 6 Matt called them into a line up and then the nail biting started as he called his placings from 6th place down to 1st. Fourteen riders were vying for a spot in the winner’s line up, congratulations to the eventual winner who was Pam Eglinton riding PL Sheza Cool Delta, a pretty black paint bred 4 year old mare.
The goodies table
The youth ridden events were very well supported and the competition was hot. Some of the youth riders are part of the WAQHA youth team who will be heading over to the NPHA and National show in a few months time. All the youth riders at the Lopin’ Along show are a great bunch of kids who, while taking their riding and showing very seriously, still had lots of smiles and laughs with each other. The youth picked up prizes on some of their events which again were kindly donated by City Farmers Malaga.
We only had one 2 year old horse entered in the ridden events even though there was prize money on the hunter, pleasure and trail. And what a little cutie our entrant was, Winderadeen Something Blue owned by Val Sallur, ridden by Brian Cramp who took out 1st place in the open walk/jog and did a beautiful work out in the 2yo western pleasure. He took home a little bit of prize money that had been donated by Lopin’ Along Western Riding Group and was the 2yo hi point ridden horse of the day.
Quite surprisingly there were no novice entrants on the day. These events normally attract a few riders as they are a good stepping stone from the walk/jog to the ammy owner/junior/senior horse events.
Beginner and improver riders waiting to ride the horsemanship event
Judge Matt expected great things from his Amateur Owner riders and great things is what he got. The Amateur pattern events were well laid out and had various technical challenges in them to keep the riders thinking the whole way round. The riders were not given any opportunity to drop their concentration in the rail events either and Matt, when handing out ribbons chatted with the rider’s giving them positive comments about what he saw (good and bad) so they had some feedback to take away with them.
The junior and senior horse ridden events had some quality horses out there showing just what they could do. These guys had only one pattern event – the trail and Matt really upped the ante for them, boy did these horses have to be truly on their toes and switched on because although it was not a long pattern, it had some great technical challenges in there for them. They certainly had to prove their worth to earn their placings.
I must take this opportunity to thank our very generous sponsors Brian & Rae Cramp from Braeside Performance Horses, Peter & Michelle Carroll from Platinum Demolitions, Jason Aitkins from City Farmers Malaga, Mel and Carolyn from Sekani Paint Horse Stud, Pat Coles, the WAQHA who loaned their trail equipment and Statewide Paints for their ribbons and sashes. A very big thank you to my tuck shop ladies and to all the other people, innocent bystanders quietly minding their own business who were roped in at one point or another to do odd jobs throughout the day and of course every single competitor who attended the show and lastly Brookleigh for their hospitality. Without all these people this show would not have been the success it was.
So, for Lopin’ Alongs’ first show, a B show that managed to have on offer $500 in cash and close to $500 in prizes, I think we might just be OK to feel a teensy bit proud of ourselves!