Lexington Jr. League - Tuesday Morning Musings
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
By Susan Harris
Once again, the weather held everyone’s attention… not so much, would it rain, but how much? Again, the weather gods were in a pretty good mood. Although it drizzled off and on throughout the morning, the precipitation was not particularly disruptive to the riders, spectators, or the schedule. Whew!
Pleasure classes have been surprisingly light at some shows around the country earlier this year. At Lexington today, pleasure horses came out of the woodwork… and kept coming. Winning any color ribbon in the 19 horse Adult Country Pleasure or 17 horse Adult Show Pleasure Driving classes was something of which to be proud.
The rise in popularity of pleasure equitation has been phenomenal over the past few years. It seems that the advent of pleasure equitation has made the art and sport of equitation more accessible and more affordable to more riders. It also appears that to be successful in pleasure equitation today, one must be equally skilled as the traditional “trimmed” equitation riders.
As with the World’s Championship Horse Show, Lexington’s equitation qualifying classes are divided into single ages. In today’s Senior Division there were four classes for ages 14-17 with a total of 15 riders. In contrast, there were 14 riders in the one class for pleasure equitation riders 14-17.
There have been comments made in some circles that perhaps these largest shows should consider making some adjustments in their schedules with regard to equitation. If some of the equitation age groups were combined, it could make room for new classes in faster growing divisions. Today’s classes gave some validity to that perspective.
Looking toward tonight’s show, everyone is crossing their fingers that the rain continues to hold off. So far, so good.
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