Showmanship

I was wondering if anyone on here does showmanship. Could someone help me out and give me some clues as to what I need to prepare for? What are the basic manuevers I should have down before entering? Could you kind of give me a list and describe what each move is? I'd be very thankful.

I Showmanship, it's become one of my favorite classes, and it's pretty challenging too. IMO, it's great for two reasons: gives my horse a break and a challenge, as opposed to drilling for WP every day, and it has done wonders for his (usually good, haha) ground manners.

Basic Stuff:

Walking---> Um, duh. Self explainitory, but you do have to remember to always line your horse up with the judge when walking. I forgot once, and the judge mentioned it. Oooops!

Walk-Trot and Trot-Walk transitions---> Basically, they need to be pretty flawless. It will really help your "togetherness". Lots and lots of at-home practice, but you do halter, so I'm sure you've got this covered! Some patterns will call for a halt to trot transition, as well.

Setting up---> Should be accomplished in 2-3 seconds/steps. The more exact, the better. You then follow the "quarter system" to present your horse to the judge for "inspection"

Trotting---> Practice in straight lines, and in circles. Many patterns call for trotting circles, and it can actually be fairly difficult. As the handler, you need to be visualizing exactly when to turn, because your horse can only follow your shoulder/general body cues.

The pivot---> On the right hind foot. This was personally a huge source of frustration for us. What I did was once he got even two steps of a pivot, I'd say "Good Boy" and walk out of it. Eventually, he built up the endurance to do 360's, 180's and 90's, which are the most common. However, some patterns call for a 450 or worse!

The back---> Usually it'll call for 4-5 steps, in a straight line. Again, straightness is really important, and it should look like your horse enjoys it. Ha! Well, maybe not enjoys, but it shouldn't be a struggle. Some more complicated patterns will ask you to back in a semi-circle around a cone. Craziness!

In general, your horse needs to be spotlessly groomed, and your appearance should be very neat. As in, hair in a bun, pah-leazzze. No flopping ponytails, ick! Your horse should be very responsive to you, stop squarly and exactly. Smile, say "yes ma'am, no sir," and you'll do awesome!

I know I've forgotten about a million things, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I can give you what a typical SMS practice for me is, if that would help too.

Enjoy!

Wow, lol. That was very in depth (THANKS!) and helped a lot, I can honestly say that we've basically got everything down... except... the pivot. That's something we'll have to work on, and probably setting up a little faster too. But hey, atleast I know what to practice on at home, we'll be going up to a show next weekend and trying showmanship for the first time, so hopefully all goes well, but honestly, he can do all of that (except the pivot) without a halter on He's such a good boy. Thanks again for your wonderful help!

Silverbuckle, there is a very good showmanship video put out by Richard Shrake. It was the very first video I ever got, and even includes grooming, etc. He's a judge, so that's a plus. But it gives you very good details and explains the why's, etc. It's been a long time since I've pulled mine out, but hey... I think it's absolutely great you going in that direction, also!

Rudy has given you a good run-down of all the required elements. You might also want to work on a pull turn. This is a regular pivot in reverse... You will walk backwards and your horse should plant his left hind foot. (Yes, it's awkward, but something you could possibly see! haha)

Some things that help to separate the best from the rest:

--Stepping off on the same foot as your horse. You & your horse should appear as a team.
--Invisible cues. Try to get to the point where your horse will move totally off your body and you don't have to use the chain at all. (Sounds like you are off to a good start if your horse does everything without a halter.)
--Consistant head set. He shouldn't throw his head up in stops or other transitions. Keep it level, or at a place comfortable for both him and you (i.e. if you are taller than him, you'll want to keep his head above level so you don't have to bend down). That said, you may need to lift his head to keep him forward through turns, and lift his head when you are set up so it looks as though you are presenting him for a halter class.
--Being crisp without looking rushed. You want to stay very sharp and snappy throughout the whole pattern, but make sure you take a "breather" between each element. Just a fraction of a second to pause and set up for the next maneuver. Get yourself & your horse prepared for the next move.
--FAST set up. Do what you can in 3 or 4 seconds. Ideally he can set up perfectly in this amount of time. If you are in a class and he's not set up perfectly, just take as close as you can get in the 4 seconds.
--STRAIGHT LINES. One of the most important things. This will be judged heavily, especially on seemingly simple patterns. Not only does it look better to keep straight, but it is also very important when you are trying to place yourself in the correct position for other elements of the pattern.
--SELF CONFIDENCE. This is a really big one. My riding instructor used to tell me that the only time I can act like a snot is when I'm in the ring showing. You need to exude self confidence. If you make a mistake, play it off as if you meant to do it! Smile and nod when you acknowledge the judge. Trust yourself and your horse to go in and do his job.


Showmanship happens to be Clara's best class so I have quite a bit of experience in it. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions!! I hope everything I wrote above makes sense. You may also want to check your AQHA rulebook for the specifics in judging this class.

Loving Loping and QH 163 covered everything I was too lazy to write and did an excellent job. A lot of self confidence and preciseness combined with quickness will take you a long way. You want to look flawless but not rushed . I agree that the pivot is challenging for a horse to learn but we just took "baby steps" with our horses along with lots of praise for every small success and they picked it up quickly when we consistently practiced. While they are learning I think if you put alot of time into it they can learn very quickly. We had ours pivoting flawlessly in less than two weeks with lots of practice and then just little refresher courses help them stay sharp.