• Thursday-What'sUP June 27 - 06:51 pm

Today's photos come to us courtesy of Taana Kalliainen, who also gave the explanation of what this horse show was all about.

This is our local Timber Trails Riding Club and the first Speed Show this year. There will be a number of other events, including several additional Speed Shows and a couple Jumping Shows, all taking place before the fair activities begin for the summer.

During a Speed Show, there are a variety of classes, such as running various barrel patterns, weaving poles and a surprise class at the end. During this show, it was a ribbon race, where two riders have to weave around the barrels while holding a ribbon between them and do it all without breaking the ribbon.

The competition can be a little tough and it all comes down to who has the fastest horse in each division that day. No problem if you don't really have a fast horse, though, because there's even a "Jack Benny" class for the "old folks".

Very nice pics...JT is gonna love this.

I was thinking the same thing, Alex. Where is she? She's going to be in heaven when she sees these pics.

Magnificent photos, Taana! Thank you for letting me join JT :) The horse is truly a heavenly being!!

I've always shared my Mama's love of horses! One of the most beautiful creatures given to us by God!! Thank you for sharing, Taana.

I'm here, just finished with my own horse chores. I did the speed events at horse shows growing up. My horse, Envy, was 1/4 Arabian and 3/4 Thoroughbred, stood 17.2 hands tall and she had the speed! These pictures bring back wonderful memories for me! Thank You!

A side note here our Jack Benny classes are for the rider 45 years old and older. You know that's ancient when you're 14,15, 16, years old... lol!

Beautiful action photos of horse and rider! I haven't been around horses as an adult; as a child I developed a severe allergy to them and can't even walk downwind of a horse. I noticed that the Arabian in the last photo wears a bridle without bit. Is this a kinder, gentler way of controlling the horse, and is it becoming the norm?

The Jack Benny class sounds about right, because I'm starting to feel like I was rode hard and put away wet. :-(

You're very observant, Therese, I didn't notice that. A bit is the one part of tack that I've never liked even though I know it's necessary in most cases.

The bit is not what is harmful. It's the hands of the rider. Gentle hands, gentle response in the horse's mouth. Heavy, jerky hands, severe reaction and pain in the mouth. Very hard for the inexperienced horse riders to understand this.

The pictures today are awesome! They bring back memories of watching barrel racing as I grew up. They sometimes had competition at the carnival grounds right outside of Lake Linden. My cousin, Bob Barrette jr. was a competitor and won many prizes on his champion horse-Dude!

Yeah, Janie, having seen the mishandling by reckless riders is what makes me feel the way that I do about bits. Most horses are beautiful and gentle animals and should always be treated as such.

Nice photos! When I was younger I had a horse named Winchester and we did show jumping together. The photos brought back some great memories of a great horse. Thanks!

Janie and Shirley, you are right about bits. There are many styles of bits, some gentler than others, but the most important thing is how the rider treats their horse. Winchester always wore a bit, but I remember being taught to keep my hands still while riding. In fact, I remember lessons when I was not allowed to touch the reins, but guided my horse using leg pressure.

Thanks everybody! I have fun taking pictures for the club and they enjoy having photos of themselves! Now Mary, I wasn't insinuating anything with the Jack Benny comment. ;-)

My daughter showed our horses in pleasure, halter, and showmanship. In both english and western pleasure classes cuing by leg pressure was all she used to ride to show. Any movement by her hands seen by the judge was either a dock in points or disqualified. Her pleasure horses are also known as push button pleasure horses. The bit is basically part of the dress code to go with her saddle in which ever style she was showing pleasure.

I grew up around, trained, and raced Standardberds - trotters & pacers. Never gave bits a second thought since they are essential for a driving horse. We actually used two bits, a check bit to keep their heads up and THE bit. These came in varying degrees of severity - depending on the horse. I never did much riding since my dad, although a horseman all his life, did not believe in "pleasure horses". He loved them dearly, but they had to have the ability to pay their way, after that we assured that they had good retirement. I worked as a stallioneer for awhile and that, along with the years with race horses, led me to the conclusion that many of you have reached: there are people who own and/or ride horses, and then there are true horsemen (horsewomen if you prefer). Would it be that every horse belonged to a horseman! Excellent head study in the last photo