Cisco is destined to be a versatility horse because that is what I love best in the show world. \u00a0Cisco has the latent talent to be a performance horse. I also show in certain classes in the Ranch Horse Events. \u00a0I can show at the Kansas City Pony Express shows in the “rail” classes. \u00a0People have asked…what are versatility, performance and ranch horse show events? \u00a0I’m here to tell you the great opportunities we have in the fox trotter horse shows. \u00a0I’m not getting into a discussion of all the events there are in trail riding like the ACTHA and NATRAC events which feature trail riding, endurance and obstacle negotiation.<\/p>\n
Versatility<\/strong> is<\/p>\n English Pleasure (not for me) \u00a0I would have to be forced into an English saddle for many lessons. \u00a0I would also have to buy an English saddle of some kind and then learn to love it. \u00a0cry Ranch Horse Events<\/strong> are<\/p>\n Ranch Horse Conformation – Is horse well balanced and \u00a0muscalarly able to rope a steer (that last part is my own definition). \u00a0You ride in and perform two gaits, get off, take off the saddle, be inspected by the judge, put the saddle on and get your ribbon if placed! Performance Classes<\/strong><\/p>\n Horses show two or three gaits on the rail. \u00a0The horse showing the best gaits in a consistent manner are the winners. \u00a0Gaits are flat foot walk, fox trot and canter. \u00a0All fox trotter classes have flat foot walk and fox trot requirements. \u00a0Some classes also require the canter. \u00a0Classes are group according to horse age, rider classification (novice, amateur, open), rider gender, horse gender and rider age (for the senior citizen class).<\/p>\n So the upshot is that the performance class horses have to be expert in the consistency of the correct gait going both ways on the rail. \u00a0Easy to say, but gait correctness, precision and consistency are the key words.<\/p>\n The versatility horses have to be trained in moving all parts of the body (hindquarter turns, forequarter turns and side passing), moving each foot, immediate response to gait changes and immediate response to stopping. \u00a0Versatility horses have to stop or change gaits in one or two steps. \u00a0They have to navigate objects. \u00a0They have to canter. They do lead changes and slide stops (reining and Western Horsemanship). \u00a0Versatility horses must negotiate the patterns and obstacles with the correct signature gaits which \u00a0nearly always include the canter. \u00a0Versatility people have to train their mind to memorize complicated patterns. \u00a0I always said if I can do the versatility patterns, it proves I’m not suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.<\/p>\n Ranch horses have to be trained to understand their object is a cow. \u00a0They must stop and turn, run fast etc…as they cut or herd or rope a cow. \u00a0But we do have the Ranch Horse Versatility class which is a combination of reining and trail class. \u00a0I do show in that!<\/p>\n I love the versatility, but occasionally I long for the peace of mind to ride the rail and concentrate on the precision and consistency of the signature gaits instead of the concentration needed for riding patterns.<\/p>\n I started this blog to tell you how my first lessons have been with Cisco, but this is what you got instead! \u00a0Lessons with Cisco are focused on developing all the above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cisco is destined to be a versatility horse because that is what I love best in the show world. \u00a0Cisco has the latent talent to be a performance horse. I also show in certain classes in the Ranch Horse Events. \u00a0I can show at the Kansas City Pony Express shows in the “rail” classes. \u00a0People have asked…what are versatility, performance and ranch horse show events? \u00a0I’m here to tell you the great opportunities we have in the fox trotter horse shows. \u00a0I’m not getting into a discussion of all the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cisco","category-missouri-fox-trotter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3070"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3073,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070\/revisions\/3073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWestern Pleasure \u00a0– all three gaits, smooth and comfortable
\nReining -my favorite…canter fast, canter slow, slide stop, turns, spins…. \u00a0oh feel my heart beat with love especially over the words, lead change! \u00a0If I could do a flying lead change on Cisco, I would trade off my husband. \u00a0That’s not unreasonable is it… \u00a0a husband in exchange for a flying lead change?
\nShowmanship – \u00a0part of the points toward Versatility World Grand Champion. \u00a0I have to suffer in this class. \u00a0In my mind, if you are not riding a horse in a class, it’s not fun. \u00a0Showmanship is leading a horse in a pattern with flat foot walk and fox trot gaits, turning on the hindquarters and setting up a horse so the judge can see all four corners of the horse without the handler being in the way. \u00a0The horse must shine and be faultlessly groomed. \u00a0The handler should look pretty darn good too.
\nWestern Horsemanship – pattern showing precision and finesse of riding in all three gaits
\nTrail – finesse and control of every part of the horse’s body, all four feet and all the gaits with many obstacles to negotiate
\nPole Bending \u00a0– my need is slow just for fun
\nBarrel Racing – my need is slow just for fun<\/p>\n
\nRanch Horse Versatility – it’s a trail class and reining pattern combined
\nRanch Horse Roping \u00a0…nope
\nRanch Horse Cutting…maybe<\/p>\n