Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Help! Jumpers show?

Firstly, does anyone have any tips for a jumpers show?



How should I do my hair? Bun or french braids? (Im 15)



Also, he has a moderately long mane, should I attempt to put all of TONS of hair into buttons, or do a tight running braid?



Also...



My horse is scared of decorated jumps. Especially gates walls etc.



What can I do to de-spook him?



besides throwing blankets tarps over jumps etc. hay bales.



I want some NEW ideas.



Also



Help! Jumpers show?

put your hair up in a hair net.. braids are for little kids and buns are VERY out dated.. pull your horses mane.. no need for braids in jumpers but you should always have a neat apperance and a pulled mane will do that.



about de-spooking him use things you think they'll have at the show.. fake flowers, pine tree branches, logs and anything you can find that's colorful.. the best thing you could do would be to trailer him to another barn and take a lesson using their jumps.. that way he'll get to see new "scary" jumps



as for tips... it sounds like this might be your first show so take things slow and make the most out of it... if you are showing in more then one class it might be worth it to trot over the first course so he can get a look at the jumps... you don't want to go in there and race around and get DQ'd for refuseals... that's just gonna be a waste of money and you 2 won't get any experience... if there's a schooling day make sure you school over all the fences and if you can school b4 the show starts do that as well so he isn't suprised by the fences



good luck!



*you say his mane is long and unmanageable and you won't pull it... news flash! pulling it will make it manageable.



Help! Jumpers show?

why dont you just put flowers by jumps....



Help! Jumpers show?

is this your first show ever?? What division are you entering in?



Your hair should be tucked away under your helmet somehow. Nobody really cares how you do it, but this is proper show etiquette.



If your horse is a lighter breed (eg. thoroughbred) take a pulling comb to the mane to make it shorter and braidable. The length of the mane should be even to the width of your hand held horizontally (close your fingers together and hold your hand horizontal to the top of your horse's mane and this is how long it should ideally be). Sometimes people cheat if it's a tad longer than this and just braid the mane as is. Personally, I like braids done with string vs. rubber bands, but it also depends on how much time you have. I wouldn't go with a running braid. Also, try not to use scissors when you are shortening the mane...I find scissors makes it look uneven and icky.



If your horse is a bit heavier, then doing the mane might be rather interesting (for instance I used to ride a shire/thoroughbred cross and her mane was a mess!!!).



If your horse is scared of decorated jumps, I wish you all the luck in the world in a jumper division! Practice A LOT at home over gates, walls, brush boxes, etc. Make the jumps look as "scary" as possible...my previous barn had a flat wooden pig that we used to bring out in the jumper divisions and used to scare just about all of the horses but it made it fun! Some great tools are if you have branches/trees (like old christmas trees that you haven't actually gotten rid of yet), flower boxes, liverpools, barrels etc. Try finding unnatural things that you think that your horse may be a tad afraid of and practice practice practice over those BEFORE going to a show. If you get a chance at the show, make sure you do a warm-up and let your horse take a good look at everything.



**well, if it's unmanageable, pulling it will make it manageable and look much much better. Anything that works in the hunter ring (so you should already know that hair should be tucked under your helmet, etc.) is acceptable in the jumper ring as well. Hunters are more 'formal' than jumpers, but it still shows a bit of respect to the judges if you look nice (along with your horse). Of course, you don't need to use a shaped saddle pad or anything...just a regular square pad should be sufficient, and generally speaking, people do not braid their horses for the jumper ring. I personally like to see braids...as I said before, it looks much nicer and more professional.

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