Versatility Ranch Horse

Over the weekend I was introduced to the National Versatility Ranch Horse Association by way of attending a clinic and schooling show.

The clinicians were fantastic, very good teachers and specialists in their fields. There were three which was really great.

When working towards and entering in a NVRHA show, here are the classes:

Ranch Conformation - no big overmuscled bodies atop post legged little feet that look like hockey pucks here! Your horse must actually have a wither as well (what a novelty).

Ranch Cutting - I think basically the same as a regular cutting class. You have 2.5 minutes to present your skills at cutting and holding a cow out of the herd. You do this twice in 2.5 minutes.

Ranch Riding - This is a class where you demonstrate all the gaits of the horse in a pattern one at a time (much like horsemanship or equitation). They are looking for ease of "use," a natural yet collected frame and your horse actually has to be able to jog AND long trot AND lope AND hand gallop and stop and stand still. QUIETLY. Love it, love it. Silver discouraged.

Working Ranch - This is a 6 minute class. During this time you have a reining pattern and one cow that you box, run and turn down the fence and then ROPE. Whoa. The roping is what threw me off...I think that's so cool. I've decided to learn...it'll be years and years and years, I think I might have the time.

Ranch Trail - Done the same as a regular trail class with different events focused on things that would happen during the normal course of a day on a ranch. The patterns are all different but for sure you will have a) opening, walking through and closing a gate, b) dragging a log c) dismount, ground tie, pick up feet, drop bridle, rebridle and remount. It also asks for the trot and lope. The pattern at the clinc and schooling show also included a rain slicker people had to side pass to and pick up. Spades, cathedrals, twisted wires and the like are illegal equipment.

So if you want to compete here...

- You have to use the same horse for all events.
- It won't work to teach your horse to cut with a baseball bat, he might not handle the trail course very well if you do.
- You can't just have a plug of a trail horse and win, the horse actually has to have some cow.
-The horse has to be trained up enough for lateral work.
-The horse has to be collected well enough to perform the working ranch peice.

After you compete you get your scoresheets! Each event has a score sheet that a scribe fills out for the judge and each sheet is handed back to you! This gives riders things to work for and explains a judges placing. Furthermore, judges and ring people do not tally scores. That is done separately in the office.

There are 500 points total and four levels of classes. Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Open. I just love that they split up the Amateurs! After you score at a certain level, you get moved up. Also, when you change horses, you can move down to account for the horse...but if you buy a high dollar horse that has been winning versatility, you'll find yourself back in the advanced pretty quick. Which of course is fine for most people.

Given the amount of work, the horses have to be sound to do it.

I'm pretty excited for this organization and am going to work towards competing. I may have to take a "does not perform" on the roping until I am confident I'm not going to lose my thumb or get myself bucked off for the rope going the wrong places. :)