Show Horses

Bring Your Show Horse To Our Program! Show horse owners seem rarely to get their horses out of the competition context and onto an equestrian trail, beach, fire road, or mountain trail. I have been riding horses all my life, but did not begin breeding and competing horses until well into my adulthood. In the show ring, I have often seen the unexpected sounds from a skateboard ruin a horse’s performance on the rail; the barking dog cause a horse to veer off course, or an unexpected movement in the gallery cause a horse to refuse the jump.
	Photo Left to Right: Lisa Eshman on Scarlet, a former ranch horse; Tess Lee on her mustang gelding, Diabolito; Willa Chapman riding her APHA, show stock bred mare, Assata, and Leanna Young on Chocolate, a retired thoroughbred race horse.
My entire background with horses led me to believe if I wanted a steady, good-minded and reliable show horse, I needed to let that horse experience a wide range of challenges and opportunities, such as busy and congested trails, roads, beaches, multi-use mountain trails and water crossings. The wider the range of challenges, the greater the confidence and calm in my horses, and thus in the show ring. I have very successfully competed American Paint Horses on the APHA circuit, utilizing this philosophy. I have tuned up my horses for both competition and breeding by riding them on well-used equestrian trails, in the mountains, on the beaches. One of my geldings, ‘Boomer’ , who became an APHA reserve world champion, grew up on public horseback riding trails and on the beach, around dogs, kids, kites, skateboards, all those things which are the undoing of so many competitive show horses. Boomer’s dam is a running quarter horse from racing stock, and his sire an half thoroughbred hunter. This gelding has plenty of hot blood in him. Yet, when he went to his trainers as a three year old, they soon not only discovered his ‘cool’ , but told me many times over, he was their most dependable horse in the show ring, and they show large numbers of APHA horses on the circuit. My competitive rein horse was, and remains to this day, the very best trail horse I have ever ridden.
It was this concept, along with what we knew to be the undeniable benefit to a green trail horse of being surrounded by other calm, seasoned trail horses, which gave rise to our Coastal Horseback Adventures. The broader the range of successful experiences your show horse has outside of the show ring, the more that horse will improve in the show arena, whether it is inside or outside, dressage court, over fences, or around barrels. That is common sense. So why don’t we see more show horses on the trails? Because the owners are worried, or afraid, the horses will blow up, are too high strung, too hot, worry too much, or some variety off that theme. Owners are often afraid to expand their comfort zone, or their horse’s comfort zone. The team at Coastal Horseback Adventures has accompanied all kinds of horses, from 18h Hunter/Jumpers, to Paints and Quarters, Morgans, Thoroughbreds and grades, on challenging and well-used equestrian trails which parallel popular campgrounds, with all the associated noise and activity of campers and guests. We take them onto bluffs which overlook the ocean, with pounding surf and plenty of noise, and onto the beach below. Each and every one managed the challenges successfully, not to our surprise, but often to the surprise and delight of the owners! This success repeats itself every time we take new horses into our program. What we have seen time and again is that from this experience, BOTH the horse and rider are empowered and are subsequently able to manage the challenges themselves. BOTH horse and rider come away with expanded self-confidence. Come and ride with us. It will be both enjoyable and beneficial to you and your horse - Willa Chapman