The Spring 2020 Bluebonnet Rescue Horse Training Challenge is different from our previous Challenges in that we have replaced the obstacle course with a horse show and we’re going virtual! Competitors showing in hand will show in Showmanship at Halter and perform a freestyle routine. Those in the Professional, Non-Pro walk/trot and Walk/Trot/Canter classes will show in Showmanship at Halter, Disciplined Rail (English or Western) and also perform a freestyle. Points will be calculated based on the horse’s overall condition, placings in the horse show classes, pre-event work, and the freestyle score.
How is this going to work? We’ve set up a Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/245038313471956/. PLEASE join that group today – that’s how we’ll know you got this email.
You can invite friends, potential adopters, etc. to the group, too. We’ll be posting it in our announcement to let people know of the format change.
We are asking you to video your performance (described below). We only want videos made on cell phones – that way everyone’s on a level playing field. Make your video in landscape mode (with the person videoing holding your phone sideways). You can ride in an arena or a field – you don’t have to ride someplace fancy as where you ride isn’t being judged. You need to use UNEDITED video with your ride all in one go – so don’t cut and paste videos together.
You’ll make two videos:
Every competitor will make a freestyle performance. This is your chance to show off what you and your horse can do together. We’ll be following the published Training Challenge rules on freestyles: they can be up to 4 minutes long, you can use any safe props you want, you can have music playing and you and/or your horse can wear costumes. If you want to review the rules on the freestyle, they’re at http://www.bluebonnethelpahorse.org/rules/.
The second video will be a pattern video. We’re waiting on patterns for the judges. For in hand competitors, it will be something like a showmanship pattern. For the under saddle, it will be like an equitation or horsemanship pattern. As soon as we have the patterns, we will send them to you.
If you do not have someone who can video for you, please let us know. We cannot promise, but we will try to find a local volunteer who can help out.
Once your videos are made, you can let us know and your Challenge horse can be available for adoption.
For the competition, I will be setting up posts on the group for each division and video type. Example: Professional Division – Freestyle. You will post your videos as a comment on the right posts.
You can make your videos any time you are ready, and we will accept posts from May 29-June 12. Judging will start June 13 and may take a few days (we want to give the judges plenty of time to really watch each video). We will NOT be admitting judges to the group until June 13th, so they won’t see the videos early. They will be filling out a score sheet for each video, and we will share those with you after judging is done and awards are announced.
The complete rule book is here.2020 TC Rules