# Funniest Show Moments!



## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Hahaha that's great!

Well, I've only shown once before, and it was a few weeks ago, but my gelding and I had practiced jumping up to 2'9" (pretty good for a 14.3hh 22yr old gaited horse, eh?) with balloons tied to the standards, dogs running around, etc. He was fine with it all. At the show, I was only showing Western but my friend who rides on the IEA team convinced me to enter an 18inch class and two 2ft classes.

We go into the ring for the 3 warm-up jumps we were allowed, were fine cantering around, until we went for a jump at a good, solid canter, and Arthur slides on his butt before the jump. Literally like a reining horse. I canter him around again, determined we are GOING over this jump! This time, at the last second, he jumps to the side. Canter around again, and this time he slides to a stop in front of the jump, but I keep kicking him so he hops over it from a stand-still. Our time was up so we went to line up for the class.

He refused EVERY STINKIN JUMP in all three classes lol. Hence the 3-refusals=DQ rule, we were DQed every class. Half the class was DQed in all three classes, most had never seen a jump in their life and people had entered them!

But it was funny (at first, maddening) that he would be PERFECT at home, and then cop this fit in the ring. lol.



Haha, in the same class there was a girl whose horse refused one, the girl stayed on, but the saddle went upside down. Took her 5 minutes to untack, retack, get back on, and then she finished the course, coming out of the ring laughing. I felt really bad for her but she seemed to find her own little episode completely amusing! :lol: that was pretty funny, only because she thought it was haha


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## ThatNinjaHorse (Jul 26, 2009)

Almost running over the judge in one of my first shows.

Also, our young pony getting loose and running around the ring, people were running everywhere to close gates but we got compliments on "her lovely expressive trot" :lol: By the time i caught her again her lovely white socks id just whitened were muddy.
The reason she shyed and got loose? She saw a mini pony for the first time, found it so scary i couldnt hold her. Shes only just over 13hh herself:-x


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Well a couple weeks ago at an Event we were standing in the start box waiting for our cross country to start...and Sandie decides that all that lovely water I'd been giving her to keep her hydrated needed to come out...so she lifts her tail sky high and starts peeing in the start box!!!  HAHAH 

The judges were hilarious, they jokingly told me I was going to get penalty pts for ruining the start box!


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## GraciesMom (Jun 17, 2010)

Hoofprints in the Sand said:


> Well a couple weeks ago at an Event we were standing in the start box waiting for our cross country to start...and Sandie decides that all that lovely water I'd been giving her to keep her hydrated needed to come out...so she lifts her tail sky high and starts peeing in the start box!!!  HAHAH
> 
> The judges were hilarious, they jokingly told me I was going to get penalty pts for ruining the start box!


Oh, that is too good, lol! The same thing happened to me at a llama show. e took our llama into the show ring and we were going over obstacles great! Well, in the middle of the ring our llama stops, I'm yanking on his lead rope trying to make him follow me and I hear laughing! He was going to the bathroom! And trust me, llamas take a lot of time going potty. I was so emmbarrased, but we won the first place ribbon!


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## barrelracer892 (Apr 3, 2010)

This was when I was cone weaving at a show last Saturday. This is what happens when you get too excited about your totally awesome run and don't sit down going around a turn. Then your run isn't so totally awesome anymore. Can you say... embarrassing? HAHA


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

I was in a barback horsemanship class once and there was only two of us and I was wearing a bright pink rail shirt with a slightly heavy zipper pull on it. Well the other girl and myself were riding around and I was slipping around more then usual and the other girl was having horrible troubles. I noticed my mom on the side of the arena was laughing and so was the judge. I just figured it was because we were both struggling a bit. After the class the judge mentioned something to me about it feeling "a bit breezy out" when actually is was hot and stale out... well I won the class and when I got out my mom told me "your zipper"- I automatically thought my pants were open when infact my heavy zipper pull had pulled my shirt open exposing my bright blue sports bra!!! I was concetrating on the class so much I had never noticed- needless to say a safety pin was quickly put on to keep the zipper up!!!


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## bubblechic11 (Jul 23, 2010)

Well i have only shown twice before. The first time I got first place in Course A, B, and flat resulting in champion but the second time on my first course i did my hunters circle and rode right up to the wrong jumjp. I didnt even notice that the jump i was going towards was backwards. I was sooooo embarassed.


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## corinowalk (Apr 26, 2010)

Just last weekend I took Nico to a gaming show. He did really great but I was there to show him to a buyer and they asked me to push him a bit. Along with jumping, I gave up super speed when I had kids. I thought 'oh what the heck...just let him go!" And go he did! He had very little practice on poles but was amazing me on how quick he was getting it. On the run home, I kicked him for the first time in our rides together. He is super sensitive and rarely needs more than a firm 'GIT!" to run full speed. We slid to a stop at the gate and somehow, I landed over his head on my feet! LOL The crowd clapped and several of the 4'H girls wanted to know who taught me how to trick ride! LOL Moral of the story, dont let people tell you what to do with your horse!

EDIT: Just so you know...what makes the story funnier is the fact that I am 5'8" and 210 pounds. Imagine THAT in your head!


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

I was at a very windy show and in spite of putting on my top hat on as tight as I could it blew off in the middle of my test right along the diagonal I had to do a series of flying changes on. No way was I going to run my expensive hat over so I carefully maneuvered my line so I just missed the hat.

Comment from the judge.

Nice straight FC and excellent maneuverability to avoid foreign object...LOL


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## Mickey4793 (Sep 24, 2009)

I was in a small jumpers class, at a schooling show, and I was riding my favorite school horse who was a great jumper, I got through my round REALLY really well, very smooth and no faults, and the girl who was going next took it into her head that she could ride this schoolie as well and maybe do as well as me!

Well here was the problem, 1. She was a VERY [I don't want to say bad..] inexperienced rider, and 2. She had NEVER ridden this school horse before let alone jumped him.

She got on, a few jumps in lost her balance and fell off of him, and the horse continued to do the course, and completed it riderless as she sat there baffled.

I got first, in that round, and let's just say that she wasn't as successful.


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## sandsarita (Jan 20, 2008)

Both of these were showmanship classes with my old horse, a 16.2hand sorrel gelding. In one of his very first showmanship classes, and at an AQHA show, we trotted up to the judge and he apparently decided he didn't know how to stop. I asked for it, and he just kept right on going. Now most of the time you have a hard time getting close enough to the judge. Not us. When he stopped, he litterally stuck his nose out and hit her clipboard with. He was so close I couldn't cross over if she was standing in front of us. Even with this big ole green horse trotting at her, this little bitty judge (she was on the shorter side of 5') didn't move a muscle. I'm almost suprised he didn't run her over.

Couple of years later, we trotted up to the judge at another QH show (and yes, he did know how to stop by then), and I set him up and when I stepped back to present him, he stuck his tongue out directly at the judge. I swear it looked like the judge was trying not to laugh. The bad thing is this horse loved to have his tongue played with, and was just looking to make friends with somebody.

And yes, when he didn't have his extracurricular activities in front of the judge we would occasionally do well. Just have to keep those at bay.


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## ErikaLynn (Aug 3, 2010)

Mickey4793 said:


> I was in a small jumpers class, at a schooling show, and I was riding my favorite school horse who was a great jumper, I got through my round REALLY really well, very smooth and no faults, and the girl who was going next took it into her head that she could ride this schoolie as well and maybe do as well as me!
> 
> Well here was the problem, 1. She was a VERY [I don't want to say bad..] inexperienced rider, and 2. She had NEVER ridden this school horse before let alone jumped him.
> 
> ...



How'd the horse know the course sans rider??


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## HorseOfCourse (Jul 20, 2009)

I think my most embarrassing moment for me was when I read and practiced the completely wrong pattern. When I got into the line for the class I was so confused on what everybody was doing and there was an extra cone that I had no clue about. Luckily, I was able to get in close to the back of the line and I watched the rest of the people in front of me and actually did pretty well in that class.

Another really embarrassing moment for me was when I was changing my clothes inside the tack room in my trailer and the door decided to lock. Lucky for me I had my cell phone with me and was able to call somebody to get me out.


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## Rowzy (Mar 1, 2010)

Well, one embarressing moment was at my first 4-H show I couldn't memorise the 'trail' course (the kind thats in an arena) worth a darn. I went out there and did the pattern all wrong. To make things worse the judge always asks a question at the end of the trail class, and this time it was "What is the first thing you do when you get off a horse on the trail?" and I couldn't figure out what she meant by that question (Although a lot of people couldn't I guess).

Another time at a schooling show I entered the ground polls 'jumping' class, and it was all at a trot, super easy course and everything, it SHOULD have been easy, but Gypsy decided to stop before every poll and wouldn't trot the whole time.


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## Gidji (Dec 19, 2008)

This happened about 2 months ago when I took Ricky to his first western show. It was just a local one and my old instructor had invited me to show her students the way and to give them hand. I didn't mind either cause they paid for all my classes and it was good experience for my little man.

Anyways I had just placed 2nd in open showmanship with my feral yearling out of a class of about 15. The reason why I didn't win was because Ricky has a lovely english trot. Anyways as the judge was explaining this to me, I notice she has a spider on her hat. And I felt it would be rude to interupt her so when she finished talking, I told her and she threw her hat on the ground and started stomping on it. This spooked Ricky and he rears up and I'm there trying to control my little green yearling while she continues stomping her hat. Was pretty funny but a bit of a traumatic experience for Maverick.

Haha, funnily enough I've had to tell 2 judges in the past year that they had a spider on there hat.


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## LoveStory10 (Oct 31, 2009)

Mine was funny. At Love Story's first show, we came fourth in one class. We go to line up, and all the other horses are spooking and going nuts because right in front of them was the speaker, perched on a bale of hay.

Love Story marches up to it, gives the speaker a dirty look, grabs a mouthful of hay, then goes to the line.

Everyone almost died from laughing!


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## zanyoutthere (Jan 31, 2009)

So i took a green horse named saphire to a gymkhana, and well she did fairly good at home. Turned barrels really well..only been training for about a month on barrels and was getting 20 sec. barrel runs pretty good for a month. so we went to the show did great in pole bending, key hole, down and back, then came the barrels. She galloped to the first barrel. Stopped. Walked around the barrel. Galloped to the sencond barrel. Stopped. Walked around the barrel. Galloped to the last barrel. Stopped. Walked around that barrel. Then galloped to the gate. It was a local show so i knew about everyone there, they knew she was green. 
Which is good becuase i would have been embarrased....That run was about 40 seconds haha


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Rowzy said:


> To make things worse the judge always asks a question at the end of the trail class, and this time it was "What is the first thing you do when you get off a horse on the trail?" and I couldn't figure out what she meant by that question (Although a lot of people couldn't I guess).


Well, what was your answer??


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## Rowzy (Mar 1, 2010)

Hoofprints in the Sand said:


> Well, what was your answer??


I said "Grab the reins", because you don't want your horse walking off lol. Some of the other peoples answers were "Loosen the girth", "Get back on" (I like that persons thinking lol) and "Untack the horse". I think we were all confused.

I still don't really know what the judge meant by that question. When you get off a horse on the trail there could be a large number of things you do first, and it depends on why you got off the horse. It was a novice class, and a lot of the kids were younger, so I guess they probably planned it to be less analyzed or something.


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## paintluver (Apr 5, 2007)

I was at a gaming show a while ago and one of the events is jumping figure 8. You have to run up and jump over a pole that is like 10 inches off the ground, and run up to 3 barrels do figure 8s and run back.
Well Romeo didn't want to hit the pole, so he jumped like an extra foot to clear the jump (Great right?) well no, at the end of the run the judge was like "Dani, your horse reset the timer, so it is a no time".
DANG....

Here is a pic:
(Yes I was completely unprepared for this jump haha)


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## WithABitOfHope (Aug 8, 2010)

Alright, here it goes 
This was my first schooling show in years, probably three. I showed LOADS as a young kid, but once I turned 11 I decided to take a break from showing and focus focus focus on my riding in general.
Well, I was taking a rescue pony Snickers, who is the first horse I've ever retrained. It was his first show, and when he's away from his best bud, he goes NUTS. He whinnies like no other every few seconds and there's no stopping him. Well a good friend of mine from the barn was riding in the indoor, so I decided to go watch her ride. It was about a minute and a half long hunter course and I decided Snickers could fend on his own for that long. I put him in the washstall and ran off to see my friend ride. Well, I came back and little pony managed to TURN AROUND in the crossties! So his butt was out of the washstall, and his head was pointed toward the backwall of the washstall. This pony has magical powers 
And at the same show, in our class(it was only a crossrail class, no biggie!) Right before I went in the judge told me, "Now be careful. I'm sure you already know this but you have no neck to hold onto!" LOL! I liked that judge, came home with 2 firsts and 2 seconds!
Oh, and for perspective, I am 5' 5" and my pony was 12.1


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

WithABitOfHope said:


> Alright, here it goes
> This was my first schooling show in years, probably three. I showed LOADS as a young kid, but once I turned 11 I decided to take a break from showing and focus focus focus on my riding in general.
> Well, I was taking a rescue pony Snickers, who is the first horse I've ever retrained. It was his first show, and when he's away from his best bud, he goes NUTS. He whinnies like no other every few seconds and there's no stopping him. Well a good friend of mine from the barn was riding in the indoor, so I decided to go watch her ride. It was about a minute and a half long hunter course and I decided Snickers could fend on his own for that long. I put him in the washstall and ran off to see my friend ride. Well, I came back and little pony managed to TURN AROUND in the crossties! So his butt was out of the washstall, and his head was pointed toward the backwall of the washstall. This pony has magical powers
> And at the same show, in our class(it was only a crossrail class, no biggie!) Right before I went in the judge told me, "Now be careful. I'm sure you already know this but you have no neck to hold onto!" LOL! I liked that judge, came home with 2 firsts and 2 seconds!
> Oh, and for perspective, I am 5' 5" and my pony was 12.1


haha cute! :lol: I'd love to see pics! I'm 5'1" and ride a 14.1 large pony -- ponies rule! hehe


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## missyhorse (Aug 9, 2010)

Once a bug decided to fly into my horses ear right before we got to the jump. She shook her head, stopped at the jump and I fell off. Another time we were showing and we had a really long spot to the fence. My horse launched herself over and I fell onto her neck. She started to panic and I was trying to get myself back in the saddle. Then we stopped, took a 5 second breather and then carried on like nothing happened. Other than that I can't really think of anything too funy that has happened.


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## Mickey4793 (Sep 24, 2009)

ErikaLynn said:


> How'd the horse know the course sans rider??


I had ridden it before her on the same horse. Seeing as this horse did amazing with me she thought she would take him for a spin too. Unfortunately, she had never ridden him before in her life and really.. hadn't even jumped much anyways!


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## Mickey4793 (Sep 24, 2009)

I just remembered my most embarrassing show ever.
I was at an event, doing elementary level on a horse that NO ONE liked to ride. He was stubborn, stiff, and didn't walk [just jigged along] Well. I loved him, for some reason me and him clicked. I trained for MONTHS for this event. We knew we wouldn't do great in dressage, but we'd get through it the best we can [He doesn't go on the bit, he rides with his head up in a ewe position even though he doesn't have a ewe neck, his canter is a near gallop.] We knew where we would have trouble was stadium jumping. He was HUGE on refusing, he would throw his shoulder at every jump 3 our 4 times before going over. We knew cross country would go fine because he loves being out there alone and is great on the course [no refusals, good times etc]

Well the day came. We get in the dressage arena prepared for our mediocre test. He is so freaking nervous it's insane. On our first canter circle he threw his shoulder [which he never did with me before] pointed in the opposite direction and started to gallop. I turned him back onto the circle and made it seem like it never happened. Then we transitioned to trot and as we approached the letter C, HE JUMPED OUT OF THE DRESSAGE RING! The judge, in a very snooty tone, said "I think you better stop.."

Well, it was a schooling show, I got to do the test over, it wasn't any better and he broke into a canter every other step, but this time he didn't jump out. We were eliminated but aloud to compete in the rest of the show. 

Stadium came next, our dreaded area of the event. He rode every fence without a single refusal, run out or hesitation. Great!

Then cross country came, his favorite. The second jump he came off at a gallop, did a 360 turn from under me and sent me on my rump going downhill. I injured my tailbone, and it hurt so bad I SCREAMED and it echoed. So embarrassing. I got back on though, finished the course. My mom and trainer were worried because two horses that went after me came back before me. My adrenaline was so high I was able to ride the rest of the 10 jumps. But the EMT nearly dragged me into an ambulance [I begged him otherwise.]

Worst.Show.Ever.


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## KittyCat (Aug 6, 2010)

So I hadn't showed in like 4 years so I decided to go with my trainer to a little local show and ride the horse I've been riding for 3 years. 
The problem: he's an OTTB with a serious hyperactivity problem
I get there early the morning of the show to warm him up and take him over the jumps. I lunge him for 15-20 mins and hack him. All fine. First jump. Trotting then 3 strides before are bucks then he takes it 1ft over the jump. I'm over the neck, sitting on his withers, at this point with one stirrup. The stride after the jump is another buck as I try to get him to stop. I land on my butt in front of everyone.

The show itself was very good considering. We were in novice so 2'6-2'9 courses. Of course my trainer never lets me practice that high in lessons so I was like "holy shiz" for the first oxer. Well this lovely OTTB has, you guessed it, a problem with going hunter pace and stopping. So I decided to just half-gallop since at least we would be going the same pace the whole course instead of speeding up and me looking like a fool trying to slow him down. 
We came third overall in EVERY SINGLE CLASS to the freaking show ponies and 12-year-old girls. Considering I was 17 and riding a half-crazy OTTB we did pretty well but, I mean, come on.........


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## Mackieb (Aug 16, 2010)

I was schooling at a horse show, I was waiting for my trainer to give me instructions, and on a outside line, two riders going opposite directions cantered into the line, jumped the first jump at the exact same time. passed each other directly in the middle, and jumped the last jump at the exact same time! Thank goodness they didn't crash or anything...


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