I'd never done an in-hand class before, but I figured it couldn't be that hard.  Fortunately, Google is an excellent teacher and I found videos of a little kid running the exercise and I just planned on emulating her.

So here's the general gist.  You walk the smaller triangle tracking right (clockwise), then you trot the larger triangle, still tracking right.  At some point, you're supposed to stop for the judge to assess the horse.  When Whiskey's paying attention, he stands pretty square, so that was easy.  You're also allowed to carry a whip in your left hand.

Mean mugging is my default facial expression.  Roar.

There were only two things I didn't love about this - Whiskey had saddle marks that I couldn't get rid of in time (I wet-brushed them as best I could) and I was super out of breath after jogging him the larger lap.  Need some more cardio in my life and maybe an oxygen tank.






Whiskey won this class against two other horses/ponies.  Sometimes I wish he were a solid bay, so I could determine if people genuinely loved his conformation (I do) or if they were swayed by his amazingly symmetrical markings (I am).

I have no idea what ossiciation is.

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