Shame Before Fame, or Just Plain Shame…

EC Blog by: Allyson Hicks

I was recently disqualified for being off pattern in Halter. I know, it’s hard to believe and embarrassing to share, but I’m hoping this blog post can serve as a public service announcement to help others avoid the potential shame of also being off pattern in Halter.

Basic Halter Directions:

When showing your horse in Halter, you must first remember to stop at the cone and present your horse to the judges. Secondly, you must walk straight towards the judges. Then, they will move out of the way. When they move, trot past them towards the ring steward. The ring steward will then tell you where to line up. You should leave about a horse length between each horse as you line up. That’s pretty much the pattern. Easy, eh?

From personal experience, I can tell you that if you don’t walk your horse to the judges, they will ask you to come back again and start over. They don’t mean for you to trot like a crazy person all over the arena; they only want you to go back to the first cone, walk, trot past them, and then line up.

Apparently, I just couldn’t remember to walk. I trotted my horse all over the arena like we were two jumping beans with a string attaching us together. What can I say? I was really excited to show my horse! What could they say, except, “Sorry, but we need to excuse you, as you are off pattern.”

I think this could definitely be my “most embarrassing moment.” Recently, I asked a few judges at a show if they might share their most embarrassing moments with me so I could include them in this “Shame Before Fame” blog. They seemed cooperative until I told them about recently being disqualified in a Halter class. Every one of them scratched their heads and said, “I need to check the rulebook to make sure that’s an accurate disqualification. I haven’t actually had to disqualify anyone in Halter before…” Then, they said, “I’ll get back to you about my most embarrassing moment…..” Haven’t heard a word from any of them since.

I thought it might be fun if some of my Equine Chronicle friends might share their most embarrassing moments by commenting below or on my blog post on The Equine Chronicle Facebook page. I could use some company, and we can all use a good laugh. Names can be changed in order to protect the innocent or the not so innocent…

Until next time,

– Allyson Hicks and No Fun Being Good, Penn Valley, CA.

A few readers’ Most Embarrassing Moments from our The Equine Chronicle Facebook page:

Cybill– “Way back when I showed Reining horses, I asked a fellow exhibitor what pattern we were doing. I went in and did probably the best pattern I’d ever laid out. When I went to drop my bridle to the judge, while grinning ear to ear, he said, ‘Do you know that you did the wrong pattern?’ I thought he might be joking, but I soon realized not so much. Lesson learned!

Maria– “When I was younger, my horse tried to lay down in a Showmanship class. I promptly pulled him back up and smacked him on the neck. Needless to say, I didn’t get a ribbon. I was lucky they even let me stay in the ring.”

Sara– “My most embarrassing moment was when my horse flicked his headstall and bosal off while loping. Despite putting it back on, I was disqualified. While judging, I had an exhibitor lose her pants. She didn’t realize until she tripped over them because she had control top panty hose underneath. I kept saying, ‘miss, thank you,’ but she kept running until she tripped.”

Cyndi– “My most embarrassing moments came when we halted at the end of the pattern. My horse would not move! She thought she was stuck in cement. Another rider came in and walked us out.”

Michele– “I showed a yearling in Halter once, and the yearling didn’t trot in hand very well. She stepped on my heel, and I fell to one knee. It was only half a second, because I was still running. If you weren’t looking, you never would have seen it. All the judges came running to ask if I was ok, which I was, and my mom and friends were up in the stands just cracking up.”

Bertina–  “I took my mare to a show last summer. She is amazing at what she does, which is Halter and Showmanship. The day of the show just wasn’t her best day. We bombed all of our classes. We got a third by default and everybody told me how well we did for her being such a young horse. She is 18. The judge did tell me how nice it was to see someone laugh at their disaster as opposed to blaming the horse and getting mad.”

Rikki– “I had one horse jump sideways at the trot and then he proceeded to lay down three steps later. During another class, a couple other riders and I did an Equitation pattern wrong, and the judge yelled at us after the class. She was really mad that half of her class didn’t do it correctly. I can’t really blame her.”

Michele– “Another time, I was showing in Western Pleasure. I was extremely nervous. I was in the class and did a beautiful lead change. Mind you, lead changes are not supposed to happen in Western Pleasure classes. I was disqualified of course.”

Tina– “In my first Showmanship class, I did a great pattern. I lined up and scratched the horse for the good job, not knowing that the class isn’t over until the judge finishes the last scorecard and gives them to the ring steward.”

JannToby– “During my first halter class (April, 2001), I was trying to get my mare to square up, and I kept backing her up. It was a big class, and we were pretty close together anyway. We got so close to the poor man behind us that my mare swished her tail and knocked the hat off the man behind me. I was mortified and have apologized to him every time I’ve seen him since.”

Charlotte–  “I nailed a perfect Hunt Seat Equitation class, only to find out that I was supposed to be on the INSIDE of the cones and not the outside… I had read the pattern incorrectly, and I bravely was the first to go because I was so confident.”

Elizabeth– “I can feel your pain. When I was a youth, I had a beautiful bay gelding that I rode in English and Hunter Hack. My dad decided he was built for Halter, and I should give it a try for All-Around points. I was so excited the first time to show him in a Halter class that when everyone started telling me my class was in the ring, I marched right in, did my thing, and lined up with the other horses. That was when the judge came over and informed me that my beautiful gelding and I were actually in the Youth Mares class! But every mistake is a lesson, and you can be sure I did not make that one again!”

Cecilia– “Well, I drive and do cones courses, and I was on a perfect run when they blew the whistle. I had gone between the timer and the cone rather than between the cones.”

Kristin– “I dropped my reins during the middle of my Trail course! Most embarrassing moment ever!”

Lucy–  “I had the perfect cones drive! When headed for the last cone, I took a shortcut through what I *thought* was a ‘dead’ gate. Nope. I disqualified myself, and I’d have won the class anyway without the shortcut! Argh….. won’t do THAT again!”

Shannon– “Forgetting how to count in a Reining class. Apparently I can’t count to three!”

Tammy– I had a friend who showed in Halter. She had this hyper yearling that was great. He did perfect in practice, but the second she brought him into the ring, he would lay down and not budge. Every single time. She attend show after show, he eventually got called the lay down king!”

Caryn– “During my Showmanship class, my number fell off, my hair came down, and my horse set up like a drunk monkey. There are more…..”

Marisa– “Yesterday, I was showing and I was so nervous that I blocked everyone out. I never heard them call for the jog, I walked the entire time (I feel like a complete idiot).”

Jill– “I borrowed someone’s Showmanship pants at a four-day show to change things up. I bent down for some reason and split the crotch from front to back! I was, of course, the first to exhibit and there were about 18 in the class so I had to wait until the class was over. Totally humiliated!”

Brister– “During my most totally awesome Showmanship pattern, someone yelled ‘cooler!’ I, being extremely confident, stuck my chin up and thought, “I can’t be much cooler than this…” Upon setup I realized, yep…I did the whole pattern with my horse’s cooler on!”

Jena– “I laid down probably the most beautiful Reining pattern I had ever done… Backwards.”

Lauren– “I was excused from a WALK TROT jackpot class at a very large AQHA show after my gelding knocked over an AQHA official, almost ran over a judge, and was a ping pong ball between other horses…. We had won the western Horsemanship the day before.”