Last weekend, I took my pony to his first rated show. This was only our second time doing jumpers, but we won 3 of our jumper classes! After a shaky start, i fell of our first round, we didn’t have enough pace and poor little Tucker just didn’t want to jump from such a close distance, so I jumped it without him… video coming soon! There are two one striders in this course, being a pony, these are challenging. the first one we did in one, but the second one i tried to fit two in, which was the plan, lets just say He saved my butt a couple of times! I’m still new to the whole jumper world… sometimes i forget i can cut off my corners and turn… haha, you can my trainer saying ‘Turn!” This course is .95 meters .. i think.. we did the 1 meter too, but he got tired, and we placed third. Also, someone asked us to fill the Childrens hunter pony divison.. we ended up reserve champion and won the classic! Some of our distances were a little off.. i didn’t make a decision on what i wanted him to do..i wasn’t expecting to place… we were just there to fill it! But, This makes me so proud because he has been my project. I’ve owned Tucker for two years now, and he has been very difficult to work with.. People thought he would never be good for anything, and that he was a waste of time, but i kept trying. Before this show, i’ve had only one real lesson on him. He has come such a long way since i got him as a terrified four year old.
Sorry for the long paragraph…I’ve uploaded both the classic round and the .95 jumpers. I would love to get some feedback on Tucker and i! please keep in mind that he is only 14.1h and im 5’7 
Thanks in andvance!
Hey Kelsey,
Could you separate this into two posts? One in the hunter ring one in the jumper? Thanks!
I am not much of a hunter/jumper. My first thought when I saw your pony was how upside down was his conformation (butt high, up-straight shoulder and front leg and short neck). Then I saw what you could do with him. That was may be not perfect but awesome none the less!
Kudos to you as a rider and trainer. One has to be quite good to keep his front end light and able to lift over a .95m course. That said he was comfortable showing and took care of you too. That says something about you two as a pair. A lesson for any fancy WB or TB!
I only had time to watch your 1st video…..the hunter round. That is an unusual ring….it’s shaped like a giant “L”. It was also a really looooonnnnnggg course! I thought you were very deep to # 2 and again to the final oxer. Mostly, near the end of the round, you had to make a 90 degree turn to the left, and were never on the “left lead”. You counter cantered that entire turn. In my book…..you missed a lead change! Score….65!
Thanks Rob!normally that is two seperate arenas, they took the fence down in the middle for the classics. This was the last day of the show and Tucker was extremely tired. We have to have more pace when I ask him to change… Since it was a hunter round, I really didnt want to get him all worked up.. I was really just doing this class as a favor to someone else, so i wasn’t too worried about it..
He is not built the greatest like valoffrance said, in fact it surprises me how well he can jump. But he is one tough pony!
is he a quarter pony? I think he kind of looks like one…very cute. Honest like a quarter horse/pony too! Of all my training on warmbloods I have a real soft spot for quarter horses/ponies haha…because you are a taller girl on a pony I think it’d be helpful for you both if you kept your body a bit quieter instead of “snapping” in and out of two point, it’ll look smoother and less distracting in the hunter ring so the judge can focus on how well your pony jumps, I know you didn’t ask for an eq critique but I think the two are related. Being quieter with your upper body will also help in jumpers because if you drop with your shoulders like that in a one stride with a less honest pony you may find yourself biting some dust…… I definitely learned that the hard way. I’m not a judge obviously so take what I’m saying however you may, all in all I’d say you did a great job on a project pony, they’re not always easy I’m sure you know!
Thank you! He has been far from easy. As much as I know, I’m pretty sure he is a quarter pony.. possible with something else in there. I did bite the dust earlier that day actually..and it was all because of my body like you said. My trainer is constantly telling me to quiet my body, on everything I ride.. its become a terrible habit.. there’s something in that red quarter horse gene that makes them very hard headed.. but for the most part he is so sweet, and will do anything I ask.