This is Lauren and her pony just after they competed in a horse show. Lauren rides in Short Stirrup classes in hunter shows.Lauren is wearing her show shirt which has a separate piece around her neck called a "ratcatcher." You can see a gold pin the front of her neck. This is part of the appropriate dress code for showing in hunter shows. The neck piece Velcro's in the back, but before Velcro was invented the pin was used to keep it in place.
Lauren has her hair pulled back into two pigtails which are tied with ribbons. Once Lauren is old enough to start showing in regular hunter classes she will not wear pigtails anymore, but instead she will tuck her hair into a net tied with a bow in the back of her neck. When a judge is looking at a horse and rider in the ring, they don't want to see lots of hair flying around, so care is taken to keep it neat and tidy.
A sure winner for Lauren is not only that her pony appears to be immaculately groomed, but her smile will show any judge how much she loves riding and her pony.
* Do you know why those shirts with the separate collar are called "ratcatchers"?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete