Multiple flashbacks Friday

I was two lines into a post about the basics of performance showing, when I thought, "I think I've already written this." I clicked on the search box in the top left corner of my screen, and typed in the obvious title. Sure enough, there it was. I read the post and found it solid. "No need to rewrite that," I told myself. "I'll just post a link."

I moved on to the next obvious topic, and realized I'd already written that post, too. In the past sixteen plus years, I have written so many words on performance showing. It occurred to me that ,rather than a new post, what we really needed was a recap.

So this is that. Multiple flashback Friday. Onward!

To show performance, you need - at a minimum - one horse and one set of tack. The horse itself is the most important piece of the entry.

I have written a lot of words to that effect .

So many.

It goes without saying, but maybe not, before you start planning your entries you need to know what gait your horse is doing.

No surprise, this is another well traveled topic.

Confused by canter leads? Now worries. There's a post for that!

After the horse is chosen and its gait has been identified, it's time to talk about tack. In 2018, I wrote a pair of posts discussing the basics of fit and function. This one covers saddles.

And here's bridles.

On to dolls! This topic is tricky. Rider/handler dolls aren't strictly required, at least not in this country.

Also, they can be hard to work with, even for experienced showers.

Because of this, I've written multiple posts about choosing...

and posing dolls.

All of these posts have an English slant, but the principles are the same regardless of discipline.

So far, most of these linked posts were written with beginners in mind. For people who are already showing performance but want to get better, I recommend Mindful performance...

and Progressive performance.

For those who want to get really, really good, I recommend Degree of difficulty (a guest post by Hanna Bear)...

and The Wow Factor. Actually, I recommend this one to everyone. The pictures in it are amazing.

These are, by no means, the only posts I've written about performance showing, but this post is long enough. Enjoy the flashbacks. Tomorrow - hopefully! - we'll tackle something new!