Royal Melb Show - ASH

The only Australian Stock Horse event I caught was 'Australian Stock Horse and Lady Rider'. I went into this expecting it to be like any other hack class, and while it was mostly similar, there was a couple of small differences.

Pics and more info after the jump!



The class began with entrants cantering both directions of the ring for a few minutes, and then being called into a line up along one side of the arena. Each entrant then were called out of the line-up one at a time. They held the halt for 30 seconds or so a few steps out from the line while the judge completed a visual inspection of the turnout.

The judge explained the pattern to the rider. The entrant then had a chance to do their individual workout, which consisted of trotting and cantering a figure-of-eight (including a simple change of lead):

 and then came the fun stuff. After completing the figure of eight, the entrant halted near the line up and held it for a few seconds and then took a few steps backward. After that, they then cantered in a straight line for 10-15m, then performed a roll back, cantered back in the opposite direction, performed another roll back, and then walked back to the line-up.

And that was the ASH class. :)