Horse of the Year 2024: In-Hand

 I can hardly believe another year has passed and it's time for the best and most fun show of the calendar again. Despite the fact that HOY is always the most pressure, stress, and effort of the year, it's also always the most epic. Hubby and I consider it a huge highlight. Spoiler alert: this year was no exception.

I woke up on the Wednesday night before HOY and realized with horrible suddenness that I haven't actually bathed Wynnie since HOY 2023. Not that she really needs it - she is solid bay, after all - but I was gripped with panic that she wouldn't stand for a bath.

a riding school aunt took so many photos

My concerns were deeply unwarranted. Not only did Wynnie stand perfectly still to be washed from head to toe, she was perfect in our handful of in-hand sessions to prepare for her classes. At first she didn't want to trot - until she got her first click and reward for a few trot steps. After that, she trotted up effortlessly with a voice command. I didn't have to pull to get her to go or stop or stay beside me - it was pretty cool.

We also worked on standing square, which she didn't quite do on her own by the end of the sessions but she easily went there when asked. As an aside, this is the first youngster I've clicker trained, and I am absolutely going to do the same with Raya when the time comes. She's at the point where she immediately looks around for a treat when she sees a Scary Thing.

click treat, feat. ugly plaits

Getting her ready that evening in the dark was effortless. She didn't move a muscle as I clipped her legs and face. She even stood sleeping on Friday night while I plaited her mane, which was a total disaster through no fault whatsoever of Wynnie's. Her hair is really long and thick, but has a missing chunk in the middle, so I couldn't show her natural. We ended up showing in the biggest, ugliest, fattest pull-through plaits you've ever seen in your life. Sensitive viewers should avert their eyes.

Faith's prep was less promising. She has been working hard with E2 and K, but often moved short with K and we couldn't quite figure out why. I think her obesity has a lot to do with it, possibly leading to a little tenderness on her feet, but then again she would move beautifully for E2 on the same surfaces. Anyway, the week before HOY, Faith was better than ever under saddle.

Studvet Turbo, Wynnie's paternal grandsire, who is 26 now and still going strong

Show time clashes meant that I'd be showing her in the hand, so I practiced a little with K screaming at me to run faster (I've got little legs) and she was really super in hand. K had done a fantastic job before last HOY getting her to stand square and trot up easily.

Arwen's prep was pretty unremarkable. We've already settled into a fun routine of bathing, manic tail-scrubbing, and plaiting. She snoozes in the cross ties while I work; I listen to the Compelled podcast to keep my perspective, and it's almost as much fun as the actual show. While she was not amused about being locked in a small paddock for the night, she only galloped around for a couple of minutes before resigning herself to her fate of eating a huge net of hay.

Raya and Wynnie's daddy Dakota as a young stallion

We finished up on Friday afternoon with a bit of box training, just a refresher for those who hadn't been in the four-berth box before or hadn't been out for ages. Wynnie walked right in, obviously, but Faith was extremely dubious. We could get her in, but I physically couldn't shove her over enough to close the partition. Everyone started to get stressed out at that point, and it was getting late, so we took her back to the stable in the hopes that BarnRat would be able to help me close the partition.

At half past four the next morning, however, all four mares (including Erin's lovely mare and Arwen) loaded like a dream. We put the lunge line behind Faith and she was unsure, but it only took ten minutes to get her in, and hubby was able to push the partition closed. It appears I no longer need to wrap him quite so heavily in cotton wool.

With that, we were off to Horse of the Year Show 2024: my poor husband with a literal truckload of girls and mares. They traveled perfectly and unloaded calm and happy at the show, even - perhaps especially - Wynnie. She seemed to look around and say, "Oh, this place again," then immediately settled down to hand graze. In fact, I handed her to BarnRat so that I'd have both hands free to wrangle Arwen, who turned out not to need any wrangling. She was chill from the moment we got there.

We tucked the mares into their stables and immediately leaped into action. C and BarnRat helped Erin and K to turn out their Boerperd mares to the nines while I got Wynnie ready and helped with Faith. For the record, bay horses are the best thing ever. I sprayed some shine spray, brushed her tail, wiped her face and put her halter on while everyone else ran around painting Wompom on white legs and bemoaning grass stains. In a flurry of activity, everyone was ready, and we all set off for in-hand: K and Erin to the Boerperd arena, and Faith and Wynnie to the Bob Charter arena. Arwen came along so that she wouldn't be all alone in the stables.

Faith and I arrived at the arena gate with a little time to spare. The gigantic Bob Charter was divided in half, with the showing happening on the far end near the restaurant. Faith and I hung out on the other side for a while and I immediately knew that we were going to have a rough time of it. Faith couldn't see Wynnie and Arwen - although there were other horses in the arena with her - and it worried her hugely.

I walked her around a little and we discussed the fact that feelings are okay but running over your handler is not okay at all. She was still tense and pulling but no longer trying to squash me when the steward called us in and I showed the big girl for the first time in years.

photo by Denford Studios

She was understandably worried but actually the best I've ever seen her in hand. In motion, she was perfect. She wasn't into standing still, but did so long enough for the judge to look at her. Her trot was really cool despite my tiny legs and she pinned second in a medium-sized class, her best in-hand result yet.

After Faith's championship class, where she didn't place, we quickly trotted out and I handed her off to the girls in exchange for Wynnie. We went straight in with no time to get her settled, which turned out not to be a problem at all, because Wynnie was utterly chill. She called to Arwen once or twice, but never really looked around for her. Instead, she marched into the show arena like she owned it.

I had a pocketful of small treats and I unashamedly deployed them with frequency because my little two-year-old was foot perfect. She tossed her head a little and had an excited step or two in her trot, but didn't yank me around or jump up. She barely even fidgeted when she had to stand still in the lineup - which is a feat for a baby her age.

photo by Denford Studios

I was glowing with pride even before the judge placed her second in a class of five, which I was over the moon with. She's only two and her class was fillies four and younger, so there were much more mature girls in the class, and she stood up well against them. More importantly, she was pleasant to handle and enjoyed herself. She knows this game now and she likes it. I think she's going to be an absolute pleasure for her first ridden show.

We had a short break before the group class, which gave me time to get Arwen spot washed and polished for her baby riding classes with a little kiddo. (More on those later). I handed Wynnie to C while I was busy with Arwen and she quickly figured out that she could drag poor C all over the place. When I took her back, she tried to walk over me and got bopped in the shoulder with a showing cane. She took the correction with grace but she was starting to run out of patience - understandably for her age. Annoyingly, it took several reminders for her to stay out of my space, and this transferred into her class somewhat.

photo by Denford Studios

We headed in for her group class, where two horses from the same sire or dam are presented, and showed alongside her beautiful half-sister also by Dakota. Wynnie was getting a little irritable at this point and wiggled around in the lineup a little. I gave her the tip of the showing cane to chew and that settled her somewhat. She gave a jump when we trotted up, but never brought any feet near me, and trotted nicely by my side despite some annoyed head-shaking. I had to remind her to stay out of my space a few times, too. Nothing was horrible, she was just really over it by that point and that's okay.

Hubby was having an amazing time. He thinks Wynnie is the most beautiful horse he's ever seen, and we brought his bike along to the show, which was a stroke of genius on his part. He zoomed around happily fetching and carrying and none of the horses seemed to mind. Each time we won a ribbon, he hung it on his bike. It was delightful.

We got third in a fairly large class and then poor baby Wynnie could go for a rest. It was time to get Arwen and her kiddo into the arena, and this was the class that I was the most invested in for the whole show.

More on that later. God is so good.

the first of many