I like to look at show proofs at www.kcmontgomery.com to get an idea of what colors look good with certain coat colors. If you go by the Hobby Horse color wheel, the blues and greens would look good with a sorrel. There's nothing wrong with being "loud" in the show pen! When you're in a sea of sorrels and bays, don't you want to stand out a little? :)

A blemish has no bearing on a performance-based class, as long as it doesn't impede his ability to do his job. As far as groundwork, you can do the basics like training him for any other discipline. Get him used to the idea of lunging, wearing a saddle, giving to pressure, etc. It's not until you get past the basics under saddle (like, whoa, go, and turn) that the training starts to get discipline specific.

In my experience, that really varies depending on the trainer! Some want only your horse and whatever halter/sheet/blanket. Others want you to purchase your horse's clothes in their stable colors and send supplements only in SmartPacks. I've never had a trainer ask me to send my horse's tack. They typically have everything they need to train with as far as equipment goes.

2) I could care less what color his eyes are, as long as he can see! I have a very nice paint gelding currently with 2 glass eyes. And I knew that he would have them when I bred my mare to his sire.

Lots of rollbacks, stopping and backing (HARD), lots and lots of counter-cantering, two-tracking, lope-over poles. It's a matter of getting his body strong enough over his topline and through his butt to keep his shoulders up AND reminding him that it's the correct way for him to move.

I have a stall with NOTHING in it (no feeder, hayrack, hooks, etc. The colts will wear a snaffle bridle (with a browband and throatlatch) while in that stall. After they have breakfast and I'm starting in on my chores, they go in that stall and wear their bridle. That way I'm in the barn with them. They wear it while I groom them lunge them, etc. Definitely don't leave a horse unattended, but just wearing it and getting used to it on their own without any rein pressure can be helpful

I was born at the very tail end of that decade, but I love to look back at my sister and mother's show pictures! LOL! LOVED that hats that matched the clothes (puke green anyone? maybe canary yellow?) and the saddle pads with the color-coordinated pompom trim. Reins with the fake silver ferrules (splits, not rommels-we're too far east for that). Polyester showmanship outfits with the big floppy ties and snakeskin boots. Not that some of my clothes from the 80's/90's are much better

[quote user="RopinReins"] It's a toss up for me between 3 and 1. The showing I do, they have to be registered... so I tend to look for ones with papers. With today's horse market, you can get some pretty nice registered horses for the $$. Another thing to consider, with the genetic issues out there, I'd be wary on those non registered horses - wondering if their papers had been pulled based on their bloodlines or status and then not knowing just what I may have purchased based

1) I will only breed registered horses. I think it's a better thing for the horse in the long run. I can put a show record on them and market them to a much larger crowd than one without proof of registration. Plus, there is a greater chance that I can keep track of them of the years. 3) I have bought a few unregistered horses for very specific purposes (mainly trail riding or 4-H kids) but I knew they were likely staying in a permanent home and resale wasn't an issue. While the papers don't

Like with ANY discipline, you're going to see a huge discrepancy between the upper echolons and your local weekend warriors. Go to a big show with highly respected judges and you're going to see exactly what you expect--horses who fall within the requirements for the class because they're bred that way (which makes the training sooooo much easier). Then if you go to a lot of your small club shows, you're going to see horses that just aren't suited to the discipline being forced