The Horse Show

Over the weekend, I had the honor and pleasure of judging 8 trail classes at a local horse show. When I aggreed to judge these classes, I assumed I would arrive at the show, be given judging cards, and just sit in my wheelchair, and watch riders ride their horses through an obstacle course. A small club was managing the show, with few volunteers. I quickly learned that I also was required to design the course, make copies of the course for riders, set-up the course, post copies of the course around the show grounds, and a few other time consuming tasks. I am still using a wheelchair, so had plenty of time to do all these tasks. I volunteered Tom to set-up the course, with me barking orders, like "move that log 3 inches to the left". I went on-line to read up on judging this type of class, and course designs. The #1 problem I had was deciding between 2 riders that scored equally. This was especially true with the kids participating in the lead-line and WT age 11 and under. The riders are so cute, and in my opinion should all receive ribbons, but it is what it is. The only way I could think of making the decision in the lower levels of classes was what I called "appearance and suitability". Was the child confident, dressed appropriately, and fit the horse. For example: Two riders complete the course perfectly, but one isn't wearing proper attire, is 5 years old and riding a 17 hand horse, and is hanging on for "dear life". The same thing occured in the upper level classes. Open English Trail, may be open, but wearing a polo shirt, or no suit jacket, is going to earn you a slighty lower score, even if your horse completes all of the obstacles. What is the rider's attitude. I'm sorry, but it is a real turn-off when you need to use a crop to get your horse over the bridge! To parents and trainers, please don't critize the judge. I'm sorry if you think the magazine in the mailbox is too big, or you can't reach the raincoat because you horse is too tall, or too small. If your horse would stand still, and listen to your cues, these obstacles would probably not be a problem! All in all it was a successful day. I couldn't have managed without Tom's help. He was a real trooper throughout the day, even though he keep saying "I don't remember volunteering for this job"! Thank you, Tom. We are already on the list of judges for next year! BTW The horse in the photo is my "Fancy" This is a photo of her and her previous owner, Jen. It was taken 2 summers ago. Fancy was 26 years old! Aren't they beautiful?