Ruby's First Horse Show

"Do you want to ride to win, or to train?"

I have always wanted to show Ruby, but, after all the road blocks, pitfalls, and complications, I assumed this was just not our future. After some nagging and harassing, a friend of mine finally convinced me to at least give showing a try.

Connie met me at the show (I asked her to be there in case I decided to freak out), and asked me "Do you want to ride to win, or to train?"

I said train, since this was our first show and I had no idea what Ruby would think of the whole thing!

Despite the 94 degree heat and absurd humidity, I tacked up my pony and headed out to the schooling ring. Walk, look around, walk, SPOOK at the flower box in the corner that eats horses for sure, walk, trot, rush past aforementioned horse-eating box, trot, relax. We left the schooling ring (we actually schooled in the wrong ring, but hey- first show means we are allowed a few mistakes!). Heat. Humidity. Cold Bath. More heat and more humidity...for a while there I though we would both drop! The classes I wanted to do (pony pleasure) were near the beginning of the show, so we did not have long to wait. I entered the walk-trot class, no expectations, and determined to get her to bend as we have been practicing in our lessons. She was perfect and we won the class. Well then, might as well do the next walk-go as you please class right? I mean, I can just walk-trot again...

Which we did. And won. With only one more class in the division, might as well do that too (since the heat hadn't quite killed us yet either). Won that too!

Super proud of my pony, not even for winning (although that is nice of course!). I knew she was nervous, but she stayed calm, listened well, and (as long as I didn't get out of her sight) behaved.

Horse Personalities

"You and Ruby are exactly the same!"

Not going to lie, the first time I heard this, I was extremely offended! Ruby was moody, unpredictable, and (quite frankliy) a brat when I first met her. You can obviously see why I was not pleased when people kept telling me this!

Further into our relationship, I actually saw this to be true: we are both control freaks, pleasant with people but like our space, neither of us likes kids, both of us love cats and simply tolerate dogs, both of us take time to warm up to new people/are slightly nervous around new people, and (when situations get uncertain) both of us look to the other to figure it out (whoops on my part, but we both equally bail in certain circumstances).

I found this funny blog that lets you take a test to see your horse's personality: Horse Personality Test.

Ruby was: the Perfectionist (go figure)



Shy, suspicious, sensitive! Are you a solid, consistent enough rider with low enough expectations to be able to work with this horse? They need a solid, well planned out training program to be able to perform well. They want a job that they can perform perfectly. Each step in the training process needs to be methodical and repeated until they really, really get it. If things get too hard to handle, this horse's evasion is simply to leave - mentally, emotionally, and physically if possible. If they find a job they like and are allowed to learn it slowly and correctly, they will give you an endless amount of effort.

*When you take this test, you will also be given a few pages that describe your horse, how they react to certain situations, and training methods that work with this personality. Despite my usual suspicions, this breakdown was Ruby almost to a 't'!

Finally, some information that supports my anti-cookie-cutter beliefs on horse training!