Woodside Horse Show, by Julia Goldman

TWELVE BLUES, 6 horses, a whole lot of fun!!! The UPHA Chapter 1 Woodside Horse Show brought us, at BSF, nothing but anticipation. How good were the horses going to be? Were we ready for a larger show? With only two and a half weeks between Monterey and Woodside, it’s hard to break bad habits, (for the ponies and ourselves).Walking away with twelve blues came to us with great pleasure AND surprise; our hard work, training and readying for the show paid off.

It is only appropriate to start with the champ of all champs, our little Sterling horse. Sterling had some TOUGH competition. There is a point where you explode under the pressure of hard competition and Janna was close to that mark. We groomed Sterling until he was super shinny and polished the silver on the tack so much it looked new. All that work….. and we enjoyed sitting back and watching Janna and Sterling make flawless passes and perfect canter transitions from the outside rail. Finally, line up was called. “And our winner is National Champion Black Sterling!!!” No way, wait, was that correct? Had our Sterling come out on top. There was NO MISTAKE, Sterling had won. Janna jogged Sterl to the winner’s circle and made a stunning victory lap, with her prized gelding. People forget, due to his temperament, but Sterling is our oldest Friesian, showing and winning at the age of fourteen! Talk about a true champ!

Stormy and Blu made their way to the winners circle in their qualifying Friesian Working Singles Driving class. Although I was testing for AP Lit and was unable to see them, from what I hear, they had a flawless class and my father could not remove the smile plastered to his face for a day or two. In their championship, they took reserve, and although Stormy minded his manners well (which he can be tricky about), Blu did not show enough of a difference between the three trot gaits he was asked to perform and that is what we believed knocked him down to reserve. Through it all, we were proud of Blu for his job well done, first and second…you cannot ask for much better, especially when you take into account how much Blu “practices” with Stormy [hint…not much].

My Stormbucket treated me well, too. Even though I only showed him in one class, it was a memorable one. Open English Pleasure AM.—Stormy’s ideal class. This class was one of the larger classes at the show, six entries. Storm and I shot into the ring, a perfect pair. He felt so good, the only way I can describe it is that he really knew what to do, and simply performed it when asked. We had competition too, some very pretty Saddlebreds, and from past classes I knew that some ASB judges will not tie a Friesian over a Saddlebred. Well, lucky for Stormy and I, we were called into the winners circle while standing in line up.

Ate remained UNDEFEATED in the Open Hunt and Friesian Hunt Pleasure classes, Janna in the irons in the Friesian classes and Barend in the irons in the open. Ate was the talk of the show with an INCREDIBLE floating trot,, where, as Blu explains, Ate is in the air more than he touches the ground. Ate is a solid competitor and game for any curve ball thrown his way. Although his hand gallop is quite a handful, Ate’s supreme gaits made it hard for the judge to keep his eyes off him.

Laurens had a hard show; his classes all had such fierce competition that he placed reserve in each one. From asking the crowd and watching videos of the classes, Janna and I agree that his headset could be improved a little. It’s a simple issue of trust and establishing a relationship with the horse. Laurens is incredible and has such potential, but we have only been working him since January and mastering his little corks is just beginning! Watch out, he is going to come back strong, we know it!!

Ravello had a good show, winning three for three classes with me. Maybe that was due to my lack of competition!!! He unfortunately was the single entry in all my classes but, much like Laurens, I am still figuring out how to show him because he is such a different horse at the show---so all the experience we can get just helps in the long run. Blu showed Ravello in AM Friesian Walk and Trot against Laurens and I, placing third in the qualifier. We were really happy for his ride, and with an unexpected bobble in the championship he was placed a little further down the ribbons, but again, all the experience we can get in the show ring the better.

We always like to bring one sale horse to the show with us and this time, the awesome Fredrick seemed like the appropriate contender. Fredrick hasn’t much experience but SO much potential, claiming the Friesian Dressage Suitability Grand Championship. He bounced around with his floating trot and amazing conformation. His striking, bold performance with Barend in the irons resulted in the pair traveling down victory lane! We were so proud of them, Fredrick is incredibly powerful looking and Barend really showed his Friesian funk off!!! “Strut your stuff” doesn’t really even encompass how fun that class was to watch.

The only way to properly wrap up this story was the way we wrapped up the show. Tons of blues, tons of fun, tons of jokes, but wait—there was one more class. Janna straightened her black cowboy hat on the brim of her head. We were in the warm up arena taking down the tail, rubbing his coat down, for a final test. Sterling had a last benchmark to meet: his Western Grand Championship. The competition was head to head fierce, and the other horse looked really good. Knowing nothing is over until it is OVER, Sterling pranced into the show arena. The heat was unbearable, the tack was blinding it reflected the suns heat and light intensity. (Ooh, it was also Mother’s Day!) The stakes were high and Sterling was ready to meet his match, and take on the competition. Like the qualifier, I was clinging to the fence, almost shaking, possibly as nervous as Janna. Line up was called and our National Champion was called to the winners circle. I almost cried, our little guy pulled it off again, of course under the superb direction of Janna.

BSF is looking foreword to a strong Del Mar Charity Fair Horse Show for the 2007 season. We are cranking down, its going to be a little BSF boot camp to get our boys and ourselves in shape! Come cheer us on, we would love to see you there, at the Del Mar Fair!!