County Mountie Horse Show | Day 2 | Plymouth, WI Photographer

The next installment of horse show photos :)

Day 2 was the Western/Hunt day. This day was only flat work. So no jumping or dressage. But still lots of people having fun with their horses! It was another beautiful sunny day with a great breeze. Perfect show weather. 

First up are some showmanship classes:

Showmanship is where you show the judge how well you and your horse work together on the ground. So the rider is leading the horse and normally has a pattern to do before getting to the judge. A simple pattern would be walk from cone A to B, trot from B to C, at C present your horse to the judge, and wait to be dismissed. There are more logistics to it than that...but, that is the easy version :)

Next was hunt riding. 

Then, western. This show also does a pretty neat class. It is called therapeutic riding. This is where a 4-H'er lends his or her horse to a disabled person in order for them to be able to ride in a class. At this show it is a walk only with 2 spotters. The spotters are meant to help the person riding the horse in case he or she gets uncomfortable and needs to get off. I love seeing this class because the people that are in it have such a huge smile on their faces the whole time. You can tell it just makes their day!

Here are some more western photos:

If you would like to see more photos from this horse show click here.

Otherwise, happy Tuesday! :D

xoxo Maggie

email me! :) / visit my website! :)

County Mounties Horse Show | Day 1| Plymouth, WI photographer

Goooooooood afternoon :) A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting a 2-day horse show. It was a ton of fun...even if I did get a little too sunburnt. Apparently you are supposed to apply sunscreen more than once during the day. oopssss :) I guess better luck next time! haha.Anyway, the horse show was great and so was the weather considering that it has been kinda rainy and really hot and muggy around here this summer. Day 1 of the show was the all Hunt day.

So there was dressage,

jumping,

and flat work.

Now, for all of you that aren't familiar with horses and what goes on at a horse show, I am going to give you a little lesson :) Most people consider dressage to be like dancing with your horse. In the upper levels (at the olympics and other 4* events) riders and their horses have really complicated patterns that they ride to. A lot of these patterns have special moves where it looks like the horse is trotting really slow with its legs held high, or really extending it's legs out and even pivoting on its hind leg at the canter. I think its really pretty to watch. But that is probably because I have ridden dressage tests and know how hard it is to get your horse to do that. It takes lots of patience and time.

Here are a few more pics from Day 1:

Next will be Day 2! Stay Tuned :D

xoxo Maggie :)

email me! :) / visit my website! :)