October POA Show

Sierra had her first "real" show with her new pony, Buster. (Since she had him only a few days before she tried him out in a couple classes last month.) Sierra and Buster look so good together. He is a beautiful pony and she is a beautiful girl:). I love watching her ride him. She is still learning "how" to, but she is getter better and better each time. Here she competes in the Bareback Horsemanship class for the first time.
In her Open Western Pleasure class, she earned a first place. And, in the Country Western Pleasure class, she earned a 2nd and 3rd place. Many of the girls enter these classes as their warm up class, so Sierra was very happy to get a high placing. I think she was most proud of her 2nd & 3rd place (there are 2 judges that each give their own placing) in the Senior Western Pleasure class. There were ten girls in that class, including some of the older, more experienced girls. This class judges the pony. Way to go Buster!


In English, Siera earneda 4th in Open Hunter Under Saddle and a 4th and 6th in Country Unter Under Saddle (again competing againest older girls). In her age group, the Hunter Under Saddle 9-12 yr olds, she earned a 1st and 2nd place out of six riders.
In Huntseat Equitation 9-12, she placed a 1st and 2nd, but there were only four riders. Overall, she is improving and becoming such a better rider with her new pony. We are so happy for her.



At the end of the day, they have Gymkhana games. Buster has A LOT of potential there for gaming fast. But, sometimes gaming ponies get "hot" or crazy when told to go fast. The former owners really stressed that she should take it easy and learn the patterns first to keep control. Then, the speed will come naturally. Well, she took it nice and easy in the games. Since a couple of the girls that are usually "faster" or more competitive weren't there, she still ended up with a first in cloverleaf barrels (24 seconds), a first in figure 8 barrels (17.5 seconds), a 2nd in Texas Rollback (15 seconds), and a 2nd in a Straight Barrels (37 seconds). The last game, handy horse, Buster started to act up. Sierra quickly stopped him, backed him up, and did the pattern slowly. She was disqualified for doing the pattern wrong. I was so proud of her. She has been told that it is worth losing a game to keep control of the pony and to prevent him from getting game crazy. No ribbon is worth ruining a great pony. Really, these aren't FAST times, they are just nice and easy which is what she was told to do. What a good listener:)

Overall, she had a great show!