[18thTomorrow]

I'm in the process of acquiring a 4-year-old half-Arab mare, Jezzie, from a friend about 700 miles away (driving down to pick her up in late august). Eventually, I intend to do Saddleseat/English Pleasure with this horse. I'm thinking a couple or few summers from now. I'm 20 and I've only been riding for 5 months (after longing to do it my entire life!).

We're holding off on SS/EP for a couple of reasons. I want to give this horse a bit more time to mature (mentally) and for us to really get working as a team. And I need more experience in the saddle before I can handle a double bridle. Also, she's broke, but not trained for any specific discipline yet. In order to do SS I'll want to have an experienced trainer put at least 30-60 days into her, as well as taking lessons from them. And I don't have the funds for that right now :-) I need time to save that kind of money.

So my question is this. I'd really like to do some showing next summer. Is it impractical for me, as a novice rider with her novice horse (by next summer I'll have ridden for 1 year, and she will be 5) to think about/plan on showing her in some halter and hunt seat classes at the regional breed assn shows next summer, just so we can both get some experience in the show ring and maybe win a few ribbons for fun? I don't expect to do anything spectacular; I'd just like to have some shows as a "goal" to shoot for while we work on our training in the next few months. Then we'll move on to Saddleseat/English Pleasure in another year.

What do you think of that plan?

[EqUeStRiAn]

Thats a very good plan! Saddleseat is definatley something you do not want to rush into, esp if the horse is still young. My Saddlebred mare was trained /showed in Saddleseat and hunter at 3 1/2 and managed fine, but it is not for every show horse. Starting out in Jr/Nov horse/rider classes are also an excellent idea when starting SS. I still ride in Novice horse classes with my young mare because they are excellent experience (often full of young/hot horses though). The plan sounds good to me but make sure you are prepared to change it as well! Best of luck!

[18thTomorrow]

bump...anyone else have opinions or suggestions for me?

[Lindsayanne]

Halter is really easy. You could probably start that right away no problem. It's a good way to get used to the show environment and see how your horse will respond to the show ring without taking any real risks.

If your mare is sane and you're taking lessons there's no reason you shouldn't be able to start competing a year later. I got my first horse in May of last year, and did my first show in September (1 walk/trot class!).