A Diary of Shetland Pony Showing

For the last few year's I have competed my miniature Shetlands in a fairly casual manner in various pony shows and agricultural shows.  This year, prompted by the difficulty of actually finding any shows in my first two years, I have decided to do a 'Round the Show Circuit' blog, with personal views and reviews about the shows I attend during the year.  Hopefully, this will be of interest and use to the beginner at in-hand pony showing.  I must emphasise that the shows I will attend will be those suited to in-hand showing of Shetlands, or Mountain and Moorland, to widen the category, and of course, this is a very different thing to actual pony shows, where smartly dressed children compete with dazzling bravery over small jumps and the like.  No, we will restrict ourselves to trotting around the ring, pony in hand, enlivened occasionally by the odd burst of life when pony decides to simulate the gait of a bucking bronco.
So, to start with, a word of advice in preparation for this year's show calendar - Do Not Do Anything!  Your pony will almost certainly be too muddy.  Come back in a few weeks, and if the ground is firmer, perhaps you could begin to get your pony ready for the show ring by accustoming him to walk and trot on the head collar, and stand still when required.  In the case of my ponies, the difficulty is in encouraging the pony to trot without fear that he will set off at  a pace somewhat faster than my little legs can cope with.  For small beasties, they can really run!
The first show of the year that I will be attending is the Yorkshire Shetland Pony Club show, held at York on 3rd April 2011.  More of this later. Happy Showing.