A Lesson Learned

I wouldn't call myself an expert on horses or showing them, by any means, but I do know a little bit of something . When I say this, I only mean that I know how to not totally look amiss when showing in the A circuit. I don't have the money for the super fancy custom made show clothes, I ride borrowed horses, and my saddle is U to the SeD. BUT, I started off worse. I've posted a few pictures and I'm offering up some tips for those who care to look-listen (read) and possibly learn.

This gorgeous specimen (NO, not me in the pic below, the horse!), is Turkey. Turkey was my first Morgan Show Horse.

These pictures were taken at two very open shows. I say very, because they placed me in one and I won the other, 'nuff said.

What I did wrong - - - hmmm....the hoofs. It's all in the hoofs. Turkey has 4 lovely white socks - a trait, my trainer adore(s). Don't believe me? Look at Bobby. Trainer (AKA: J) found Turkey for me too. Anyway, I'm digressing.

Because Turkey had four white socks, he also had quite a bit of white on his hooves. In order to prepare hooves for showing, one must first sand them. I prefer an electric sander, but in those days it was all muscle power, baby! Anyway, after sanding, comes the polish. I slapped that on the whole hoof, however THEN. It wasn't until later on that I learned the err of my ways. I have since learned that any white areas of the hoof are to be left unpolished. Untouched, no gloss, no spray, just hoof. The only areas to be painted black, are the black areas themselves. Now, there are other, more time consuming ways to polish hooves. One method uses actual shoe polish and steel wool, but I won't go there this time around.

NOW, when I do hooves, err, prepare hooves for the show, I bathe the horse, removing all dirt, muck and poo from their hooves. After they are completely dry, and already at the show ground preferably, I begin sanding. You can use regular sand paper, but it's much easier to use a small electric sander. I sand until the white ares are clean and free from darker marks (this isn't always possible); the black areas should just be smooth. Next, I use a black hoof polish to, well, polish the hoof. Be wary of the coronet band as well as your hands. This stuff doesn't come off easily.

After the hoof polish dries, I spray the painted hooves with a shine spray (check out tack stores), there are sprays made especially for this. If your horse has white areas, a black magic marker comes in very handy. You can paint the areas you feel comfortable painting, without getting any polish on the white, and then fill in the open spaces with the magic marker. Voila!

Here I am attempting to show Fitting & Showing at yet another open show. I never had formal fitting and showing lessons - so let us not judge that part. But, see the hooves? This is sans my lesson learned. There are black lines and white areas. To me, it looks much better.

This picture brings a better hoof job than the rest (that sounds kind of dirty). This is a picture of Turkey and I at our first A rated Morgan show. The sour puss look on my face is the result of my very poor sportsmanship. Oh my, that is another lesson for another day! I am much better now - had to say it :). I'd also like to point out the crazy angle of my calf - it's so far away from the horse - what was I.....ohhhh...we're talking hooves here! Anyway, basic it is, but I sure wish someone had told me that I wasn't doing it right BEFORE I started showing. I have many more "lesson Learned" pictures waiting too, it's bad.

Editor's Note: I was 14 when these pictures were taken - had to throw that out there.