Jubilee Regional Championship Morgan Horse Show Demonstration 2009

September 2, 2009
Illinois State Fairgrounds
Springfield, IL

What a beautiful day to be at the Illinois State Fairgrounds!  It wasn’t brutally hot as in times past; instead it was pleasantly cool and sunny with a few wisps of clouds trailing in the sky here and there.  Temperatures ranged in the 70’s during the day and the low 60’s at night with low humidity. I can remember a few years back, sweltering in the heat and the humidity. Those were times when you wished you were the one in the wash rack instead of the horse!  One can only imagine how the horses felt while showing in the performance classes. 
One of the welcome highlights of this exciting show was the hospitality of the exhibitors. Many of the barns sponsored breakfasts each day. There were so many friendly faces and a true willingness to help if it was needed.  The Schaumberg’s and I walked through every barn and saw so many Morgans it made our heads swim!
Mint Jacob and I performed a two-part demonstration consisting of classical dressage as well as la garrocha.  The music played for the classical dressage piece was entitled “Spirit In The Sky” by Norman Greenbaum.

Classical dressage evolved from the Calvary movements and the training for the battlefield and now has been developed into an art performed for the pleasure of audiences globally.
The rider must have a correct seat, a well-balanced body position that moves with the horse’s motion and have the ability to “give” and cue the horse with a variety of aids.
The Morgan horse has great courage, strength, a powerfully compact stature combined with a well-muscled, close coupled, clean-limbed conformation which in essence means that Jacob is perfectly suited to the collection required for high school dressage.
Much of the high schooling, which includes the “airs above the ground”, was so important to survival on the battlefield that it developed into an artistic form of equitation that culminated in the classical dressage of the finest academies.
Our second performance involved the use of the garrocha (ga-rotch-cha) pole. Our music was “Un Amor” performed by the Gipsy Kings.
When you carry the garrocha you are using a bull-working pole/spear or lance to work stock and to test bulls.  This is a strong Spanish tradition and is a very important, established practice in the Spanish stockman’s world.  The pole is wooden, has a metal point at one end, and is generally 12-14 feet long. Not only does this wooden tool get the job of working the bulls done, but the garrocha pole can also be used in artistic displays at equine demonstrations.
Jacob and I use the garrocha as an art form when performing. Most of this work is done freestyle; which means we can present any movements we so choose to show off our skill with the garrocha. Movements include lateral work, changes in leads, turns on the haunches, pirouettes as well as changes in tempo at any of the three gaits.

Deborah Siegrist
Peppercorn Morgans, Home of Mint Jacob
www.peppercornmorgans.com