Blemishes on show horses

[isilme]

Hello, I have a lovely 15.1hh mare who would make a lovely riding horse i think at 8.5inch bone shenis too light to be a small hunter.
A few years ago she tore her nostril and now has a permanent cut. I had hoped to have shown her, she is home breed and a cracking little horse but i never have with her having this injury but recently i have been considering seeing what happens as its a injury not a conformation fault. Ita hard to expect horses to live a full horse life if we keep them boxed up and this was actually done in her stable on a clip on bucket!
Anyway your views would be interesting especially as i hided away from the horse scene for a long time after a Successful career.
Thanks for reading
??

 

[conniegirl]

It is hard to tell without a photo however I think if it is clearly an injury most judges wouldn’t have a problem with it unless it is hugely disfiguring.

 

[isilme]

I took some just got side tracked they are not the best as she kept trying to eat the phone lol just working out how to a put them up as its saying they are too big?

 

[isilme]

 

[isilme]

 

[isilme]

Had to chop them right down so it's hard to see the size against the full head but hope this helps give people an idea on how big it is

 

[AmyMay]

I’d just go ahead and do it, and have some fun.

 

[J&S]

I'm not a real showing person, or a show judge, but I can't see how that would be too detremental. Certainly not if you did WH. If it came to a choice of yours and another without a tiny flaw, then you might have to put up with 2nd place!! Goog luck any way.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

You won't know how judges will take it if you don't try. It wouldn't bother me. Yes it's a blemish and you won't go to HOYS with it but you should have plenty of fun if your horse has good conformation, movement and performs well under saddle regardless. It might cost you a place against a horse of equal quality and ride if it is blemish free. Remember the judge will ride Riding Horses, Hacks and Hunters so she will need to be schooled to be anyone's ride. You may also be surprised at how many judged don't notice it because they aren't looking for it.

 

[humblepie]

As above, go for it. Probably won't even get noticed on the whole.

 

[silv]

It is not that prominent, I would carry on regardless, they may not even notice it and it is not that bad looking.

 

[minesadouble]

It's definitely worth a go. Judges would always rather see an acquired blemish than a confirmation fault.

 

[windand rain]

Aquired blemishes are only considered if two horses are equally well made and have equally good ridden marks in most cases. We very successfully showed a pony with a scar on it's pastern even went county champion in hand

 

[dominobrown]

Think you could do fairly well if everything else is in place. Had a friend show a cob very successfully and it had a mark and Dent across it’s nose from where a headcoller had been left on too long as a youngster.

 

[jnb]

There was a show cob that was placed (may even have won! I can't remember) at HOYS that only had one eye! Tony Walker rode it - Raffles I think.
Go for it (I know of a HOYs RH that had a club foot and got away with it as well)

 

[Leandy]

I'm out of date in the showing scene, but my view is there are blemishes and blemishes. There are ones which are signs of strain or a heredity issue or which indicated damage which may cause soundness issues or come from conformational defects. I would expect a judge to take those into account and mark down for them. There are those which are purely cosmetic and should not impact performance, future soundness or inherited issues. The latter should in my view be overlooked, particularly in a working/performance class where performance and way of going are far more important. I really can't see any sensible judge seeing the blemish in your photo as an issue at all save possibly if everything else is equal, which it rarely is. Long ago a I had a nice hack/riding horse type which had a small capped hock due to an injury sustained loading one day. She was often (but not always) placed down for it when shown in hand, but never once under saddle, where ride and way of going is added into the mix.

 

[isilme]

Thank you everyone. Ive been out of the loop for so long but use to show WHP and natives at top level but thats many moons ago now. My daughter is growing up and off eventing etc on her super little cob so decided its my time to enjoy my horses now. Will see how she gets on at the moment im torn with hack or small RH with her having 8.5inch of bone and flasher movement then her mum.

Thank you i knew there would be people on here with more knowledge x

 

[RachelFerd]

?Why not take part in something that is less randomly judgemental than the world of showing? It seems fairly tragic to be placed down based on a totally unimportant blemish and random measurements of bone when you could do something where these things will have no impact (ie. every other discipline)??

 

[silv]

?Why not take part in something that is less randomly judgemental than the world of showing? It seems fairly tragic to be placed down based on a totally unimportant blemish and random measurements of bone when you could do something where these things will have no impact (ie. every other discipline)??

Despite this, many people enjoy showing and producing a horse to a high standard, myself included, each to their own.

 

[conniegirl]

?Why not take part in something that is less randomly judgemental than the world of showing? It seems fairly tragic to be placed down based on a totally unimportant blemish and random measurements of bone when you could do something where these things will have no impact (ie. every other discipline)??

Many people enjoy showing.
Many like myself have no desire to throw our treasured friends at jumps that could kill both them and us.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

?Why not take part in something that is less randomly judgemental than the world of showing? It seems fairly tragic to be placed down based on a totally unimportant blemish and random measurements of bone when you could do something where these things will have no impact (ie. every other discipline)??

Why not take part in a beauty pageant? Surely Dressage is just as judgemental? Someone else is judging you compared to their opinion of what they like. Not everyone wants to launch themselves into the air over obstacles. Not everyone has the stomach or the horse to trot and canter for hours upon end in an endurance ride.

I personally love showing. I like producing my youngsters for the inhand ring, I like reschooling my racehorses to ponce about looking pretty, I even occasionally like watching loads take my ponies in the ring ridden and enjoy themselves. It's not always about getting a red rosette and sometimes you go out for the experience knowing full well the judge does not like your type of animal but the day out, the bath, the primping and preening does the horse and human good.