Ace's 4th Show - part 4 - Trail Classes

Trail class is a class that every horse should be able to do no matter what your preferred discipline is and Ace has been doing great in it.

On the first day, Shannon took him in first and placed 3rd.



Madison went next and placed 2nd.  We told her Shannon warmed him up.



The 2nd day Shannon placed 1st and Madison placed 5th - but Madison went first so SHE did the warming up!!

Ace's 4th Show - part 3 - Western Pleasure & Horsemanship

Ace has been going strong in Western Pleasure from the start but once again, competing against the stock horses hasn't been easy.  Since Madison had done so well with him in the one class she had done with him a few weeks earlier, we all had really high hopes for this show.

Once again, Shannon went first warming him up.  His lope really is a rocking horse type lope - he never feels like he's trying to get out from under you.  Just popping along with great rhythm.

Look at that mane...

and that pretty head.  So many Gypsies don't have pretty heads and Ace's is gorgeous.

And then there's that butt again!  Shannon placed 2nd and 1st in the 2 days of WP and two seconds in horsemanship.

Next it was Madison's turn with Ace.

Her red and white outfit really made her stand out and the color looked great on Ace.  Most of the other 13 and under kids in her class (and there were 12 of them) all were wearing black chaps and more toned down colors.

Ace had a 3 year old identity crisis hanging out with all the stock horses and decided his head should be down too.

In the end, they placed 3rd and 4th in Western Pleasure over the two days and 1st and 2nd in Horsemanship with the judge having patterns for horsemanship the second day.

Here's a video of their WP class so you can see how pretty he moves!  Pictures just don't do this horse justice.

Ace's 4th Show - part 2 - Hunter Under Saddle and English Equitation

Just a few weeks ago Ace went in his first Hunter Under Saddle class after having mostly been trained in western tack and did great.  This weekend would be his big test with FOUR English classes between the adult classes with Shannon and youth classes with Madison.

Shannon started the day with Hunter Under Saddle placing 3rd.

Doesn't Ace have the cutest butt?  They talk about QH's having nice round hind ends but these Gypsies have them too!

For a heavier breed, Ace moves so pretty in English tack and placed ____ in English Equitation with Shannon.  On Day Two they placed ___ in HUS and ____ in Equitation.

Shannon got Ace warmed up and then Madison hit the gate strong placing 1st with Ace in both HUS and Equitation on the first day.

His canter looks big and strong but Madison says it's really smooth to ride.

On Day 2 the competition was ready for them but Madison and Ace still placed 2nd in HUS and 3rd in Equitation.  Different judge too.

Here's a video clip of Shannon in her HUS class on the first day.


And here's Madison on Ace the first day in English Equitation.

Ace's 4th Show - part 1 - Halter Class

Ace has never done a halter class.  In the open shows he's been to, it's mostly stock horses so we never really thought he'd do all that well and...that class is really early in the morning!  But this weekend was different.  This weekend was a big one because he was not only going to be doing all the adult classes but he was going to be shown by 12 year old Madison in the 13 and under classes.

Madison had come up a few weeks ago and took him in Western Equitation - and won with about 10 minutes of practice time.  We wanted to see how well she could do with him over 2 days and everyone knows that kids will take a horse in every possible class they can - and do!  Thus, Ace was entered in Halter-Geldings both days.

The first day they did the class in Western wear - the red looked so good with Ace and they really stuck out in the crowd of dark colors.  We know that Ace has good conformation but we weren't so sure what a stock horse judge would think since he's definitely NOT a stock horse but we were pleasantly surprised when he placed him 3rd out of 13 horses!

The second day we decided that wearing hunt clothes was appropriate and would save time from changing again later for the riding classes.  Again, he was the odd man out being the only non-stock horse but once again placed a very respectable 4th out of 10 horses.

We were all really proud of Ace and can now say he has a few halter points from an open show!

Going Hunter!

Up until now, Ace has been only doing the Western classes at shows but it was time to kick it up a notch!  Last weekend at the June 13-14 shows at Alma, he did the Hunter Under Saddle classes and for his first time out - did great with 3rd place in a class full of stock horses.  And he looks pretty darn cute too!

We are so impressed by this little guy and how he's been coming along so nicely and just seems able to do it all.