Getting out there - Hunter show

I posted a little over a week ago about my first horse show with Sierra. And, well, last weekend we were at it again! This time it was really a practice show, because Sierra tends to get really "looky" at strange jumps that are off property (meaning, not at my barn). So we wanted to see if she would go around and make it over the jumps at a small, local hunter show.

We weren't expecting much, which is good, because the whole thing was very entertaining. Hunter shows tend to be unorganized and hectic, and this one proved no different. There were kids, parents, families and trainers running around everywhere, people yelling, the loudspeaker booming constantly and lots of scary tents, chairs and tarps. Sierra was on brain-overload. She's never seen so much activity before!

When our turn came up, she didn't even want to go in the ring! haha. We did a California warm up (which means you get to jump the course without being judged) and then we did a judged jump round. During the California warm up Sierra was freaking out a bit and looking at everything, but we got around haha. Got around is being generous ;). We did much better during the judged round!

We didn't place because we trotted all of the jumps instead of cantering, but that wasn't the point anyway. Sierra jumped and handled herself without completely flipping out, so I'd say it was a victory after all!

Here are some funny pictures for you:


Sierra was probably cursing me at this point lol


She hated this jump


Patting her and laughing after our California Warmup


Yay, we did it!

The show was held at a horse park that also has a cross country course, so after the hunter show we did some cross country schooling! I have some great pictures/video from that, so I think it deserves its own special post ;)