by Jane Beall
Saturday, August 13th, my husband Pat Wolfe and I will put his two Norwegian Fjord horses and my mini in the horse trailer and head to Pakenham. This will be our fourth time attending the Pakenham Horse Show.
Pat’s Fjords are the mother and daughter pair he’s dreamed about for a long time. Emmeline, the mother, is a Danish mare, the fifth top rated Fjord mare in North America. We imported her eight years ago. This will be Rose’s first showing season. She’s three and just learning the ropes. Her father is Prydarson, the top Fjord stallion in North America. Even with her great breeding she will probably be a funny and naughty three year old at the fair. She needs the experience of being out with other horses.
My mini, Prince, is almost as green as Rose. We’ve had him a year and he’s just begun his training. But he’s lovely and willing so he may be fine. We are using a bitless bridle on him which is a first for us. He seemed not to take to the bit well, so we had him checked for a tooth problem or some sore in his mouth, and the answer was that his tongue fills his whole mouth, not leaving much room for the bit. That’s when we decided to go bitless. All the literature seems to say it’s a much more humane method than the bit, so we researched and found Dr.Cook’s bitless halter in the states and it’s working very well for him.
We always love the Pakenham Fair. It has such a welcoming feeling. There’s something for everyone in the family and we enter just about everything. It has a really laid back feeling: no pressure and lots of fun.
There are lots of riding classes for Juniors and the rest of us, as well as some classes just for Seniors. Pat both rides and drives with the Fjords. With my mini, it’s only driving, and there are driving classes too. Then there are the fun classes. I’m boiling a dozen eggs for the Egg and Spoon race, although now that I write this I’m not sure if the participants are supposed to know the eggs are hard boiled? There’s also the Ride A Buck, which refers to a pretend dollar bill (remember those?) under your leg, not for riding a bucking bronco. And there are Costume classes for both kids and adults. The most popular class at the horse show, however, is the Cowboy Challenge.
The Cowboy Challenge is so much fun. You ride your horse through 12 or so challenging situations. Obstacles in past shows have included a side pass over flowers (your horse walks sideways keeping a long row of pots of splashy red geraniums between his front and back legs); opening, riding through, and closing a rope gate behind you; going through the “spray” of a car wash (a curtain of pool noodles and long and flapping coloured strips of cut up tarp); riding up and over a little white bridge; dragging a tire behind your horse around a set course; stepping all four hooves up on a four foot square wooden box; stepping the horse into a big box of squishy plastic water bottles; and many others. Few people complete them all but you can take as much time as you need while giving yourself and your horse a new experience.
For further horse show information, you can call or email Janet at 613-253-3353, janetnb@storm.ca , or to register for the horse show, call or email Sue at 613-256-7057, s_garrioch@bell.net We will be so happy to see you all there and you’ll be glad you came. It’s lots of fun.
