Pic: Getting tired and more interested in chewing my shoes...On Saturday my little baby had his first experience of the big world. It consisted of the inside of a trailer, a panel of serious looking judges and more other horses than he had ever seen in his life, and a surprising amount of them his size.
He took it all in his stride, but was fairly subdued compared to what he is normally like at home. Most of the time he stood nicely next to his mother watching the others and in the ring he followed me around like a little dog. So in other words my worry about him misbehaving was unfounded.
As for the actual evaluation it went well too. For a moment I was a bit worried as the judges seemed to take a dislike to his mother, and her neck in particular. But in the end he got good marks for his conformation and was marked down on his trot and canter.
He took it all in his stride, but was fairly subdued compared to what he is normally like at home. Most of the time he stood nicely next to his mother watching the others and in the ring he followed me around like a little dog. So in other words my worry about him misbehaving was unfounded.
As for the actual evaluation it went well too. For a moment I was a bit worried as the judges seemed to take a dislike to his mother, and her neck in particular. But in the end he got good marks for his conformation and was marked down on his trot and canter.
Marks:
Type 8
Head/neck/body 8.5
Legs 8
Walk 9
Trot 6
Canter 6.5
Overall impression 7.5
I choose to explain his lack of paces with his young age and the tiring journey. The trot mark is fair enough but I refuse to worry about his canter seeing that his mother is a race horse and his father got a 10 for his canter. I opt for the excuse used by most parents when their offspring underachieve; he was just having an off day. He was just overwhelmed by the pressure. He is very talented really.
On a more serious note I have to say that at least he got good marks on the things that are impossible to improve, like conformation and walk. The canter will come I’m sure and the trot we will just have to work on. Besides the other week we happened to see Foal of the Year 2004 and it was not exactly anything to get over excited about… It is a difficult game to predict the future. I’m afraid I have to wait until he is three and I am actually sat on him to know whether I have got myself a really nice horse or not.
Head/neck/body 8.5
Legs 8
Walk 9
Trot 6
Canter 6.5
Overall impression 7.5
I choose to explain his lack of paces with his young age and the tiring journey. The trot mark is fair enough but I refuse to worry about his canter seeing that his mother is a race horse and his father got a 10 for his canter. I opt for the excuse used by most parents when their offspring underachieve; he was just having an off day. He was just overwhelmed by the pressure. He is very talented really.
On a more serious note I have to say that at least he got good marks on the things that are impossible to improve, like conformation and walk. The canter will come I’m sure and the trot we will just have to work on. Besides the other week we happened to see Foal of the Year 2004 and it was not exactly anything to get over excited about… It is a difficult game to predict the future. I’m afraid I have to wait until he is three and I am actually sat on him to know whether I have got myself a really nice horse or not.
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