CTHJA June at Manor Equestrian Center
Our local show circuit is called CenTX, which stands for Central Texas Hunter Jumper Association. Austin is different from what I was used to in Raleigh as far as the show scene goes. In Raleigh, you could take your pick in any given month from a selection of open shows, hunter/jumper schooling shows, and C or A hunter/jumper shows in the surrounding area. In Austin while we are lucky to have a good hunter/jumper scene, the choice is TSSA (classy schooling shows) and CenTX.
CenTX shows are really competitive. Even though only a handful of them are C rated, each show has large divisions with lots of great competitors. Basically, I need to step up my game this summer in order to be competitive 🙂
I’ll stop boring you with the details of our show circuits and show you what everyone loves… Pictures! This past weekend I went to watch riders from my new and former barn compete in the jumper divisions at Manor Equestrian Center.
This gray had a beautiful canter. He was fun to photograph.
Turn out at these shows is just as nice as any AA show I’ve been to.
This pinto pony was adooooooorable!
This mare from my barn swept all three of her classes and totally loved her job that day!
Bubba, a horse from my old barn, shows off his OTTB gear.
This horse from my barn is pretty special to me but I’ll have to explain why in another post!
My favorite photo of the day.
Love a pretty monogram!
Go pony, go!
The show was a lot of fun to watch and made me want to get back out in the ring… But the jumpers looked scary. Think we’ll stick to hunters for now 🙂 What’s your local show circuit that you aspire to?
18 thoughts on “CTHJA June at Manor Equestrian Center”
I had a similar experience — where I’m from had a ton of different options to choose from. Where I live now has less options, but several show circuits. Two are at local farms (neither rated), but one of them runs multiple rings throughout the weekend. I’ve never been, but our next show in mid-June is there, so I’m pretty excited to check it out.
The other is a B-Rated series, and sounds a lot like CenTx — tough competition, great turnout and bigger divisions.
Hope you enjoy the show! I’ve yet to check out the TSSA (more schooling show series), and would like to see how that differs. Even if there aren’t a lot of choices, we’re lucky to have a big thriving show circuit in our area.
Great pics!
Great pictures! I miss showing so much!
That pinto pony is super adorable!
Great pics! I love the pony and the first gray 🙂 Well, really I loved them all!
Awesome photos. Can I just say that they OTTB Fly Veil is so classy/amazing! I didn’t know they made those.
They just added them recently! You can see the selection at ottbdesigns.com
I live very close to Raleigh and I can attest that there are a LOT of horse shows around here. Most of them are hunter/jumper and dressage, but we do have quite a few open shows as well. Nearly every weekend there’s a show somewhere, and that’s pretty cool!
Love the pictures!!
That’s where I’m from! Do you ever show at Johnston County? That was Elvis’ and my stomping grounds for years 🙂
Love the pictures! Henry and I hope to embark on some shows this year… schooling shows sound great for ring time but most of our schooling shows go up to 2’3″ for hunter and then 2’6″ and above is jumpers so we shall see what happens 🙂
Wonderful pics. Almost makes e want to get out there again. Almost but not quite. Good luck with your shows!
Beautiful photos! Love that gray.
Gorgeous photos, what type of camera/lens do you use?
Sorry – I’m in need of a new lens as I’m a SLR newbie and the lens that came with my camera isn’t doing what I want it to do! 🙁
I used to SJ in Ireland, where there was loads of shows & venues near where I was living, spring/summer was great for outdoor events and 45-60minutes away from us there was a venue that ran leagues all year around. SJ was simple, you went in jumped your course of fences if you went clear you did a second round and earned points for a double clear – the horse earned the points, every round recorded on the SJI database when you’re registered…not registered = no points.
I have not ventured into competition since moving here for multiple reasons;
(1) we have to take out a license to compete – to obtain the license we must pass a ridden & written exam.
(2) jumping classes at the level I’d be riding at are either speed classes or style classes, which from what i understand of H/J sound similar – where you the rider is judged as much as the horse and the smoothest round with all the right lead changes, approach to fences etc is rewarded with scores out of 10. I think, although I have only ever heard up to and around 7s awarded.
(3) As I am over-age for young-riders, fence heights start at 90-95cms – i think. And although I jumped tracks of 1m a couple times before I left Ireland – my confidence in my riding and the horse have taken a hammering since then + the focus on rider style makes me nervous, so I’m on the fence about competing out here just yet.
Still warming up to the idea – so plenty research being done in accompanying yard friend whenever she goes competing. 🙂
Yikes – sorry for the essay!
All those horses and riders look very spick and span and they are only enhanced by your beautiful photos 🙂
I L.O.V.E. jumpers. If I had five horses, I’d make one of them a hunter just for the variety, but jumpers are where it’s at for me. (Note: I also played roller derby for a long time and I was an eventer, so I’ve got faulty brain wiring.) That said, Lex will show in the hunters for a year, at least, because that’s the kindest way to start greenies. I probably won’t spend the money going to A shows with her in the hunters, though, so we’ll just find whatever local stuff we can to do.
I grew up on the HITS circuit, and I live just down the road from HITS Ocala, so I really want to take Lex to one of those shows someday. I have no doubt she can do it, I just have to scrape the funds together. 🙂 The good news is, I can live in lots of different places and still do HITS. In the more immediate future, there’s the First Coast Hunter Jumper Association – I’m hoping we can hit up a hunter division there by the fall.
Love the photos. I prefer jumpers personally but thats nothing against hunter riders at all 🙂