Southern States Regional Championship is one of our favorite shows, and to say we missed it in 2020 was an understatement!! It is something of our home show, since it is put on by the Virginia-Carolinas Morgan Horse Club, of which Jen is a very active member. Never mind that we’ve moved to West Virginia, it’s still in the name, and besides, VCMHC has members all over!
Three horses ventured to Southern States this year; Jimmy, Clara, and Chip. This was Chip’s first show! He was there to take it all in, and perhaps enter an in-hand class or two if all was well. He had a lot more in store for us! All three horses settled in, while their people unpacked, hung drapes, and contemplated the merits of waiting until after dark for schooling rides (yes please).
With three horses in tow, this was a very packed show for Figment Farm! Chip was doing so well that he ventured off to the Justin Morgan Standard class – his VERY FIRST horse show, and he popped right into the main ring! He earned a fourth place, and a BIG smile from Jen, who handled him for the class. It was on to the ranch and trail divisions after this. All three horses were entered in a variety of ranch halter, trail in-hand, and under saddle trail. Katie and Miss Clara won the ranch halter class (Chip and Jen were fourth), and all three horses did the trail in-hand, with Katie and Chip winning the class (Chip’s first blue ribbon!!!), Clara and Katie in fourth, and Jimmy and Jen in fifth. Katie and Jimmy won the open trail under saddle.
Wednesday evening was the Sport Horse Suitability Under Saddle for both Jimmy and Clara. This is one of our favorite classes, because we love for the sport horses to get a chance to shine in the main ring – fantastic photo opportunities, and isn’t that half the fun of a horse show?! This was a big class, which is always GREAT news for the sport horse divisions. It was a great experience for Clara, with expert piloting from Katie. Jimmy and Jen placed sixth after a nice ride!
Thursday was a big day for the Figment horses, packed with all of the working hunter classes. Clara was up first, with her very first class over fences at a horse show! She showed in the cross rails, and we really appreciated the opportunity to have a division like that for our young horses. She was her happy-go-lucky self, and was Champion of her division…way to go, Katie and Clara! Jimmy and Katie competed in several classes in the afternoon, everything from the 2’3 working hunters, to Hunter Hack and Bridle Path Hack, with good ribbons all around, including a nice first in Bridle Path Hack.
It was an early start at the show grounds on Friday, as all three horses had Sport Horse In-Hand first thing in the morning. Chip and Jimmy both had great trips around the triangle in a big gelding class, with Chip finishing in first and Jimmy right behind him in second. It is so hard to believe that less than a year before the show, Mr. Chip had been rescued from a kill pen. We were extremely proud of him. Clara was an excellent second in a large class of mares!
Clara and Katie were first up in dressage, and with a lot of distraction (mostly her brothers hollering from the stables, come on guys!), Clara did quite well in her intro tests and received good scores. In deference to the heat, Jimmy and Jen opted to do Training Level Test 2 and 3 (dropping Test 1). Test three is a new addition for them for 2021 (with plans to use it as a stepping stone to move up to first level at the end of the season), and it went quite well! They received good scores, great feedback from the judge, and two nice ribbons never hurt either!
The show went by SO quickly, it was hard to believe we were packing up to prepare to leave on Saturday! We love watching all rings, the main ring can be so exciting, but we were super pleased with the numbers in the sport horse classes! It is always great to see packed classes, and lots of happy entries from all over. We can’t wait to see everyone again in 2022!
