'My' ranch horse hasn't ever been off the ranch, so I thought I would enter him in an AQHA halter show to get him used to the arena etc before trying to do anything more adventurous with him. Will I get laughed out of the ring if he's fuzzy though? The show is in March, so he'll still have his winter coat. I don't care if we don't win anything, i'd just like to do it for the experience for us both, but I don't want to look silly.
If it's a local show...WHO CARES!? It's winter (well, ok, early spring) and it's cold. Yeah, anything rated you'd need to do a full clip. Just clean up the ears, muzzle, trim off those feathers...pull some mane, give a spit shine rub and be done with it. OR Just go, don't enter anything and see what everyone else does first. Your horse will get the atmosphere and you won't feel like a dud if you're surrounded by a bunch of shiny horses.
*or* or, as a further refinement of Helmstead's second suggestion, trailer him to the show and let him be a spectator and get used to things from the other side of the rails THis is a really really common way of getting horses used to showing (although it's considered poor form if you take a horse who's going to be such a nutcase he bothers the horses that *are* showing or warming up). Then you can see what local customs are, and decide whatcha wanna do about the *next* show Good luck, Pat
Go for it Cara, he sounds like he can us a little mileage and a halter class will be a good start. Agree with helmstead,,,just clean and trim him up is all. We did many schooling shows to get them used to everything and they are supposed to be fun and learning experiences. Don't worry about looking silly and who cares anyway? And when all is said and done you can see how he does "off the ranch". I would do it and good luck!
Thanks for your reply. I think the poor guy would turn inside out if I came at him with a pair of clippers. I'm trying to resist the temptation to try riding him English. It seems that all of the 'English' horses for sale around here are either Western horses travelling the same but in different tack, or extremely expensive Warmbloods and Friesians. My husband wants me to stick with Western as there are no 'English' horses on the ranch, but it just feels alien to me. It's so frustrating basically learning to ride again LOL