“I love Horse Agility and I also love Shetland ponies, so what better combination could there be other than, Shetland Pony Agility!”
I
have been teaching Horse Agility since 2011 and running competitions for about the last 6 years. It was at these competitions that I noticed that whenever we had a Shetland ponies competing, they invariably won or were placed high in the results.
Shetland ponies love a challenge. They are courageous by nature and though small in size, they have big personalities. This got me thinking, they are so clever they need their own separate
competition and hence Shetland Pony Agility was created. Our novice course, the level that everyone starts at,
comprises of ten different obstacles. These obstacles have been designed to correlate directly to everyday handling situations.
The scoring system that we use for the competitions is based on 40% of the marks scored are for “effectiveness”, performed to the given requirements at each obstacle, and the other 60% are for your horsemanship.
So you see it is more about your performance than it is the pony’s. We expect our horses and ponies to want to join us in participating in horse sports, but it is a sad fact that probably given a choice, many would choose not to. So with this in mind, if we do want to compete with them, it must become our responsibility to protect their physical and mental welfare.
Shetland Pony Agility and it’s big brother Horse Agility Challenge puts the welfare of the horse/pony as paramount above all else.
We don’t advocate using any particular training method. It should not be about trick training or using any form of coercion to complete the obstacles, but about the building of an equal partnership, based on communication and trust. It is this partnership, your relationship with your pony, that is being put to the test when you compete.
A competition can be won or lost by your ability to work together and maintain the ideal leading position. This is keeping the pony’s nose level with your shoulder, neither of you should be too far in front, pulling, or too far behind, dragging along, the rope should remain relaxed and your right arm, soft.
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
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