My name is Fred, they call me Fred

I've been meaning to write updates for all of the horses, cause this is a horse blog after all... I figured there should be some horse content occasionally.

Before I get into recapping Fred's impromptu training session, I'd like to add that I've made a late Q3 addition to my goals list: get more f*@*ing pictures for the blog.  LOL  But seriously, I could use some current media.  

 Last Sunday the Cowboy was here for Ivy.  He worked with her for about and hour or so and decided she was good and needed a break.  I had told him about Fred, so we decided with the 45 mins left of my time, we'd assess Fred and see what he thought about breaking him out for me.

A pic from last fall with the other trainer

We threw the saddle and bridle on Fred and he was worked on the lunge for a bit.  If you remember, I had someone sit on him a few times last fall, but we never had her off the lead line.  The cowboy quickly ran Fred through some basics to test where he was at: leaning on him, mounting/dismounting stirrups flapping, etc.   I really need to get a video of this for you guys, but this trainer can jump on from the ground - with a western saddle, no less - with just a couple of bounces and Fred is close to 17hh!

Actual footage from that day: Trainer bouncing and chubby me looking perplexed!

Anyway, once he saw that Fred was good with a rider pretty much climbing all over him, he got on and tested out the controls.  This is where Fred got confused - he was fine to back under saddle and even turn on the forehand.   Moving forward was very hard for him, for some reason.  Often if that is a problem, the rider uses an open rein and encourages the horse to take a step to the side to start, then they get some forward momentum.  This sort of worked with Fred, but he didn't really catch on to what was being asked. 

Now, this was his first session under saddle since the fall, so I wasn't expecting any miracles.   Fred was super good in that he never offered to kick or buck or rear when he got a bit confused by the trainer asking him to do stuff.  He has a very quiet temperament and is just maybe a bit less smart than others (lol poor Fred) and a bit stubborn. 

Cute, but confused? 

Without pics to show you, there isn't much more to add.  The trainer kept trying different techniques to get a few steps forward and it would work one time, then not the next. We gave Fred short breaks every few minutes to ensure he wasn't completely overwhelmed, but I think maybe he had had enough.  He is 5, so I was hoping he could work in larger chunks of time, but maybe not.  Anyway, I'm officially considering this ride 1 on Fred and I'm hoping to do more with him over the coming months as the temps have started to cool down.  

I don't have any experience starting a young horse, but since I know Fred is so quiet, I feel it should be safe for me to do some work with him in between pro sessions.  I don't have the budget to send him and Ivy this year (Ivy goes tomorrow for her bootcamp) so I'll have to do a bit of work on my own.  

Right now my plan is to show him a bit next year (if we ever have shows here again???) and get him started under saddle w/t at least, so I can find him a new home or keep him and trail ride him or something.  I have the foal coming (fingers crossed) in Feb, so I'll be busy with that little creature as well.  It seems weird to even attempt to talk about plans for next winter/spring, since we have no idea where the pandemic will take us at this point!  

Halter class - the basics - part 1

I’ve been trying to draft this post for a while!  I have a hard time 100% endorsing halter classes, with the halter industry being so specialized.  Yes, I own a horse from halter bloodlines that was bred in the hopes of doing well in that one particular class.  There is A LOT of criticism of halter horses online – a quick google search will show you all that you need to see.  As an amateur, I feel that I can experience the class, learn about how to show my horse and learn about feeding and keeping him fit to do as well as I can locally without being a big supporter of the whole industry.

Having "fun" at a schooling show with a broken ankle. 

Why do I do it if I don’t 100% like it?  That is a question I struggle with – I wrote about it more detail in an earlier post so I won’t go into it again here.  Tl;dr – I can work with Fred at home without a coach, lessons or fancy tack and I can still experience breed shows without needing a fancy riding horse.

Another note: I did not want to use photos I found online from shows/breeders in this post, as I don't want to bash anyone or anything, as that is just not how I roll!

Ok, on to the meat of this post:

AQHA has halter classes broken down by age and sex and they also have a performance halter class, which is for riding horses that have a certain amount of points from riding classes.    All of the 1^st and 2^nd place geldings from all the classes then go in for a grand/reserve championship and then the same happens for mares and stallions.  The grand/reserve titles are what people are really after, as your horses is up against a larger selection of the best at that particular show. 

Reserve champ x 3? Sure just give me all the ribbons!  Also, with this horse (not Fred) I said a lot of "whoa motherfucker" in the ring! LOL

Many western performance classes are scored and have comments, such as showmanship, horsemanship, trail, reining, western riding and ranch riding.  Halter does not have any scoring or feedback, so it is purely the opinion and tastes of the judge.  All breed show judges are carded and go through training, but trends, personal preferences and politics (at big shows) definitely come into play.

There is some really good info on the University of Arkansas Ag Dept. website about judging a halter horse (https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource002677_Rep3962.pdf) and some of the info in my post is from that article. 

The halter class is a class where the horse is judged based upon its conformation, overall appearance, and usefulness. Conformation is defined as the physical appearance of a horse due to the arrangement of muscle, bone, and other body tissues.

When evaluating a halter class, the following four factors should be used (in that order) to select and rank the horses being judged.

1. Balance and Quality
2. Structural Correctness
3. Breed and Sex Character
4. Muscling

This stallion photo gives you an idea of the balance and proportions that are sought.

(Edited 11/16) For a halter class, you walk into the ring toward the judges, they then move out of the way and you jog the horse straight away from the judges and then around a corner.  They are watching for soundness and decent movement and if the horse tracks well (ie  - minimal paddling/interference, etc. ) A lack of muscle and overall turnout/appearance will affect the judge’s first impression also. 


The handler is not judged in a halter class, but if you cannot set your horse up in a way to show it off to the judge, it will affect your placing  – especially in an open class, in amateur classes they cut you more slack.   For example – if you do not try to set your horse up squarely (breed halter doesn’t use the same set up as English in-hand with one back leg set back) or are not trying to show your horse to the best of your ability, they will ding you. 

I don’t have many pics of me showing Fred, but here is one where I am trying to keep his head and neck up and his ears up.  The horse can’t be moving around and bopping around with their head.

You can’t tell a lot from this picture of Fred (he is a 3yo here), but he has moderate muscling – especially his forearms, gaskins and hip.  He is turned out properly – clean, shiny, chalked white socks, properly fitting show halter.  Fred is a bit weak in how his neck ties in to his withers and in this picture, needs more weight over his ribs/mid section.   He doesn’t have the nicest head either – he is a bit plain looking.

Now that he is 4, going on 5, he has put on more weight, his topline is filling in and his chest has widened, but I don’t have any pictures since he looks like a yak right now! lol

Compare Fred’s head to this picture of my friend’s horse – I showed him in 2016. He has a gorgeous head and is very striking.

Me and Spunky (not Fred)

Here is a video that is teaching people how to judge a halter class:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXJ4L5dsUeI

If you have time to watch the video all the way through you’ll see a pretty standard AQHA/APHA judging of a halter horse class.  They show the suggested placings and some rationale.  Read the comments though and you’ll see another story.  The horse that people would want to ride is not the class winner.  This kind of thing is common in halter as a specialized industry.  Some judges prefer “performance” horses, which are horses that are successful under saddle as opposed to the specialized beefcakes.

If you are interested in more details on QH conformation for halter – the University of Nebraska has a good 20 min video with lots of information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z9AlY-xMkQ

And that is it in a nutshell...  More to come on selecting a stud for breeding to hopefully show in halter...

Weekly wrap-up

This week is the local AQHA show in the town close to my house.  I normally show there or volunteer, but this year I did neither!   I took the week off to help some friends that were showing and I spent the rest of the time parked on my butt in the shade watching the show.  It was relaxing to not have to worry about having a horse there, but I did sort of miss it too.

The club had their annual awards banquet and bbq on Thursday night, which is always fun.  Fred and I were the high point overall halter gelding and the high point open and reserve amateur 3yo gelding so we got a bit of loot.  The prizes weren't quite as nice this year, but that is ok. Missing from the pic below is a ball cap with the club logo on the front and "champion" on the back.  I'll probably get the most use out of that.

A portfolio and a picture frame.

I helped my friends get their halter horses prepped.  For this show format, which is 7 days! (omg) exhibitors show to 3 sets of judges over the week - 4 on Tues/Weds, 3 on Fri/Sat and 3 on Sun/Mon (it is a long weekend here on Monday).  The halter classes are the first to go on the first day of each "show".  They showed Tues am, this morning and will go again on Sunday morning.  A lot of QH shows are run this way or in a similar format.  You rarely show to just 1 judge any more.  7 days is a damn long show though - people that travel long distances often have to buy hay and other supplies as they just can't haul enough to last them.  And many people were at a show in Quebec before coming here, so they would be on their 2nd week away from a regular bed and laundry facilities.  Wild!

Halter horse up close and personal.  I was holding him to be groomed, but he just wanted to cuddle. 

Banded mane - something I need to work on this fall...

The entries for a lot of the breed shows have been down the last couple of years.  Costs to show keep going up and more and more people are staying home.  It is too bad, but maybe things will bounce back?

A halter gelding class

Now,  the most important thing about being at a horse show is the horse show food, right?  Right.  And adult beverages...it's five o'clock somewhere?  Totally.

yaasssssss - poutine!!!  And water - err...coors light... 

I even took Sophie over to the show for a few hours most days.  She enjoyed watching and meeting all of the horse show dogs that were quite literally everywhere.  Although, don't get me started on the people that have their dogs off leash and then happen to be looking the other way when they poop.  Argh. So rude!

Watching from the shade.  

 I'll miss the rest of the show, which is ok - it does get a little boring after a few days of the same stuff being repeated!  I'm heading "down south" for a few days to visit my Mom for her 70th birthday.  She lives near where I grew up, which is about a 7-8 drive SW of here, still in the same province.  I'm looking forward to a nice family visit.   I've been feeling stressed and grumpy lately, so some good laughs with my family should help!

Wordless Wednesday

Gulp.  Need to find all my stuff!

A challenge for the vertically challenged

I'm really short - about 5'0" - maybe a smidge over that, on a good day.  It is sometimes challenging in the horse world when you are so short.

Some of the (very minor) and slightly funny issues I've faced are:

- western saddles - the fenders/stirrups are adjustable, but often don't go short enough.  I had to have a saddle maker cut the fenders on my current saddle so it would work.  Turns out I need a youth sized fender! 

- dressage saddles - standard length flaps are too long - the stirrup and my ankle barely make it past the bottom of the flap, causing my ankle/boot to get caught on the flap. Awkward!  If I ever do ride dressage again, I'll have to look for a short flap saddle.

- trucks - even with power seats, it is sometimes hard for me to reach the pedals or even touch the floor! On one old F150 I tried, the seats were too deep - my non-driving foot didn't even touch the floor!

- horse trailers - depending on the style, it is hard for me to reach the windows from the outside to open/close them for horses.

- getting on a horse from the ground.  This picture illustrates it perfectly:

And finally - the funniest one considering what class I like to show - setting up a halter horse!

For whatever reason, halter horses are all taught to set up in the ring a specific way.  The off-side hind is your place marker. You then use the halter/lead to set the near hind.

Then, to set the front legs, you put your hand on the horse's wither (you can touch the horse) and use your right foot to indicate where the horse should move the front legs/hooves.

In theory, that is how it is supposed to work.  When you have a 16+hh horse and a very short handler, this gets tricky!  I can reach Fred's wither, but I can't put my hand on his wither and put my leg out at the same time!  It just doesn't work!  I was practicing setting Fred up the other day and realized I need to retrain him a bit so I don't look as silly!

Retraining the setup is one of my projects for this spring, so we are ready for a show, if possible.  Here is a clip from a video with the way I will be attempting to retrain him.  I should be able to put my hand on his shoulder and make the adjustments to his front end that way. 

Fred - in a saddle!

I was bound and determined to do more than just groom Fred this weekend!  I really want to start working with him as the weather is now more spring-like.


I wasn't sure how much my ankle could tolerate, so I thought handwalking on the laneway was my best bet.  I also decided Fred was going to try out a saddle too!  Whew! Can you handle the excitement?  lol


I've saddled Fred a few times in the barn this winter, but never had him walk around with it girthed up.  Spoiler alert: he was fine.  ;-)  It is hard to take pics of this horse - he wants to be in your pocket the whole time!

I need scritches pleez.  Fred, probably


I threw an English saddle on him - we aren't ready for the big western saddle just yet.  Not to mention the fact that I can't lift and carry that sucker right now. I'd probably trip and break my ankle! lol  (Going slightly crazy since my ankle is not better yet!)   He didn't even react when I tightened the girth slowly.  He is so calm 99% of the time. I really hope that carries over when someone gets on him for the first time.

I managed to get one decent-ish picture. 

We hobbled up and down the laneway a couple of times and Fred was great.  I just didn't feel comfortable leading a huge animal that could jump/spook at any time.  I don't think I could react quick enough if something happened. 


This ankle business is seriously cramping my spring plans!

At the end of the walk, I even let down one stirrup and flapped it around.  Fred really didn't care. He might feel differently moving a bit faster on the longe line - maybe next month I can try that?  *Sigh*

I really need a green saddle pad! Sheesh!

All in all, it was fun to do something else with Fred, even for a few minutes!