COMPETITIVE HORSE JUDGING Contest and Reasons Guide A

COMPETITIVE HORSE JUDGING Contest and Reasons Guide

A successful judge. . • CLEAR mental picture of the ideal type • Deductive reasoning • Logical decision under pressure • Defend your placing of a class • You may have bombed it, but don’t show it!

How a Contests Works • Judge live or video classes • Halter and Performance Classes • Classes will have 4 horses in them • You will be in arena for Halter • You will be in stands for Performance • Place horses 1 -4 based on the criteria for the class • Turn in card after each class • Specific Classes will be chosen to given reasons on • Essentially defending WHY you placed a class a certain way

Scoring • Placing • There will be an official placing that will have “cuts” assigned to it Cuts are how close or how different the horses are • Larger cut—bigger difference in horses • Smaller cut– smaller difference in horses • From there, placings are scored on how close the contestant placing matches the official • 50 is a perfect score • Reasons • How well contestant is able to speak and use terminology to defend the placing of a class • 50 is a perfect score • Notes cannot be used

How to use a Judging Card YES NO

A Good Set of Reasons. . • Absorb and RETAIN a mental image of the good and bad points of the horse • Scored 0 -50 • 75% based upon accuracy • 25% based on oral interpretation • 3 critical points for obtaining a high score • Speak with CONVICTION, truly communicate that your placing’s are CORRECT • Grammatically correct! • Pauses and periods • Two minutes or less!

5 Basic Parts of a Reasons Set 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Opening Statement Comparisons Grants Criticisms Transitions

Opening Statement • FIRST IMPRESSION • Say something obvious, summarize the class briefly • Use colors of horses to help you • Mistake free and accurate • “Ma’am, I placed this class of Western Pleasure 1 -2 -3 -4, with my top two individuals being the most desirable and consistent movers, I preferred 1 over 2 as…” • “Ma’am I placed this class of Western Pleasure 1 -2 -3 -4. Starting with my initial pair of more broke individuals that also displayed a higher quality of movement, I • “Ma’am I placed this western Pleasure class 1 -2 -3 -4 with consistency and higher quality of movement being my major criteria for the placings in this class. In my initial pair of higher quality movers of 1 the bay and 2 the sorrel, I preferred 1 over 2 as…. ”

Comparisons • Bulk of set of reasons • POSITIVE evaluation • 3 -5 main points • Keep it fundamental

Grants • Give credit to the inferior animal in an area where it surpassed the higher placing animal • Desirable synonyms • NEVER use the same comparisons and grants

Criticism • Faults • Last place animal heavily criticized, but not overly critical • Undesirable traits

Transitions • What makes the reasons flow • Furthermore, in addition to, moving on, looking at my, when evaluating. . • UNIQUE to set you apart

Taking Notes on a Class • ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY • Help you visualize the class • Develop your own short hand • Enough information to remember the class later

Presenting Oral Reasons • ORGANIZATION!!!!!!! • Comparative terms • DO NOT use better, good, best • Louder than normal voice • Confidence and enthusiastic • Facial Expressions add to your voice • Start by giving your placing and then go into pair comparison • Give placing’s at end and say Thank You.

Sample Sets • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=M 9 r. Br_Kun 1 Y • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ofufr-C-Xlg • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=n. BZTd. LYC 9 u. E • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=qp. TQS-cyvsc • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Pyv. Uxas. C 2 t. Y • Mixes up her numbers at the end

Practice Judging