Real Horse Events

Showing Weekend Part 1

Kristian BeverlyLeave a comment

Today was day one of the show held at someplace (Briarwood Farms). If you know me, you know I am directionally challenged and rarely know where I am.

The day was successful! Here’s the group of us at the end of the day with our ribbons.

 

Everyone did well in each class they were entered.

I rode an adorable pony named Kelpy and we got 3rd in beginner walk,trot, and canter!

Tomorrow is the last show of the huntseat season! 

First Team Show!

Kristian Beverly2 Comments

My October is going to be a very horse filled month. It’ll be filled with model and real horses and it’s an awesome feeling. The past Sunday was a real horse filled one. Sunday was the first IHSA show for The Penn State Harrisburg Huntseat team. The team had an awesome first show. 

IHSA is short for Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association. It ‘provides collegiate riders of all skills the opportunity to compete individually and as teams in equestrian competition. It was founded on the principle that any college student should be able to participate in horse shows regardless of his or her riding ability or financial status.’ Which makes the organization pretty awesome because teams need riders of all levels. 
I went along to take pictures, and opted out of showing. I wanted to see how everything worked, plus I didn’t feel ready! When you join IHSA, you have to take a placement test. Prior to taking the placement, I felt that Walk/Trot would be better for me. After taking the placement, I was bumped up to Walk/Trot/Canter because of having too many hours of instruction. So hopefully I’m ready for the next show in a couple of weeks, which the thought that I’ll be doing actual horse shows is still surreal and just a bit nerve-wracking. 
Sunday’ show was at Grier School. There were other teams there such as Penn State University Park, Millerville, and Susquehanna University. Just to name a few. 
The cool thing about IHSA is you don’t know who you are going to ride until the day of the show. It’s random and the first time you ride your mount is when you are about to show. So watching the horses warm up is important because it tells you how your horse moves. It isn’t that one horse is smooth and the next horse is a wild bronc. None of the horses are poorly trained or dangerous. Some just have their own quirks. 
Each horse had its name on its saddle pad, which made finding your horse a little bit easier. There weren’t any tack requirements because it’s judged on equitation, so some horses had boots, others had martingales, and some went without anything. 
Two team members competed over fences. 

The rest of the team competed in flat classes.

It was fun to watch and learn how the shows worked. At the end of the day, the team posed for a photo with our coach and advisor. 

Horseball

Kristian Beverly2 Comments
One of the coolest live equine demonstrations that happened at Breyerfest was Horseball. A fast paced sport that reminded me of soccer? What’s not to like!

Taken from the sport rules, Horseball  is described as being ‘played between-two teams of six players who must pick up a ball from the ground without dismounting, and using a game of attack and defense attempt to score in goals at each end of a pitch’.


There were two goal on each side of the area that the teams scored on. 
When reading the sport rules, I found that tack choice is pretty lax. There are some restrictions (such as no Camarguaise, western or racing saddles), but generally anything that is well fitting and safe seems to be allowed. I also read that all horses must wear a pick up strap ,standing martingale and over reach boots. 
There was two referees. One was on horseback and the other was on the sideline. 
After the match, I went to the booth and asked if there were certain positions that the players played. Interestingly enough, it goes by the horses. I also took a picture of the ball!
Doing a performance set up of this would be fun to try.  I think the ball would be a lot of fun to make. The Sport rules  has everything you need to know. Dimensions of the goals, game play, etc are all in the sport rules. Here are some more pictures of Horseball!

Also, I forgot to mention that I did finish reading Go Set A Watchman. A brief opinion of it is I wish I’d listened to my initial gut reaction instead of ignoring it and not read it. It has a beautiful cover, but that doesn’t make up for the book. Now, it wasn’t written badly, but To Kill A Mockingbird is the better version of the story.