Following on HOYS supreme - FMM et al...

Weezy

Weezy

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I know absolutely nothing about showing and am really interested in knowing the following:

As I said on the other thread, I take umbrage to the fact that So Smart had his mouth wide open and looked incredibly resistant - now possibly when riding him you dont get that feel, but from a snapshot that is how he appears to me!

So, say you have the most perfectly put together horse in the world - stunning confo, fantastic movement, great coat, non fidgety, nice mannered etc - BUT he went round showing resistance in the manner that was pictured (mouth open, what looks like a rather forced shape etc) - but wasnt tanking off - would that be OK? Would you stand a good chance of winning? Or say you had a horse who lolled its tongue out when being ridden - would that be OK? Or one that ground its teeth?

Jst curious!
 
Ooh - tricky question there! Speaking from personal experience, we had a successful riding horse that sometimes waggled its tongue out, but only on the left side, so the judges never saw it. Went in a lovely outline (was trained by Michel Assouline!). Bob (the cob) gets his tongue over the bit whwen he is bored and goes with his mouth open sometimes. He pulls like a train when he feels like it and occasionally buggers off with the judge in gallop. On a good day he is perfect and gives a lovely ride.

A lot of it depends on the judge. WHen people like David Hunt and Judy Bradwell are judging, they want the horse to go very correctly - some of the old fashioned hunter judges want a forward going, comfortable ride, and will forgive something like a hanging out tongue.

Usual no nos are fidgeting in line, defects like curbs, poor conformation, running away with the judge, napping etc.

We try to ensure that all of our top horses have the best conformation possible and work on the ride. It is harder to improve conformation - a horse with a poor foreleg will always have a poor foreleg - although it can be disguised, it may mean your horse will never reach the top level. Equally, a horse with an appalling temperament will never finish a class no matter how beautiful it is. We think (naturally!) that our horses are the best in the country - but the baby ones just did not give the rides that the judges wanted and were therefore not winners on the day. We know next year they will be more mature and will give more educated rides - just got to stop them getting too many lumps and bumps which is hard when they are turned out every day to have some fun and free time. But we DO know that conformation wise they are very correct and therefore it will be sheer hard work that will ensure they give the judge a better ride than the other horses in the ring.

The pic of Rob on So Smart was not representative of how the horse usually goes. I suspect that it was when he was called forward as Supreme in the middle of a whole arena of people cheering and clapping and the horse was probably a little startled by this. Rob's horses usually give very good rides and are extremely well mannered.

It is basically a shiny pony competition, where the horses are expected to be able to walk, trot and canter. Sounds really easy, but in reality is not that straightforward. Particularly somewhere like HOYS where the atmosphere is difficult to recreate - many horses were completely overawed by it and behaved very badly.

This is a subject that can be debated for hours. It basically boils down to the fact that the judge's decision is final!!!
 
Thanks for that - I find the whole thing really interesting - especially after going to your sisters yard and seeing that the horses all go out and are taken off to go hacking and everything - I think before I thought that in the whole show horses lived a life of stable-arena-stable!

Personally I do think your lot are the best and all of them having stunning conformation!

Another thing - you said that a horse of yours put his tongue out to the left but the jdges never saw it - do horses only work on the right rein then?
 
Pleased you like our horses - thanks!
Re the tongue business, in the show ring, horses enter the ring on the right rein, and do their walk, trot and canter on the right rein (therefore a hanging left tongue is not seen). The change of rein has the horses continuing with the canter and then gallop. Hunters tend not to change rein in their classes at all.

Therefore, if your horse hangs a tongue out, make sure it is on the left hand side only!
 
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Sounds really easy, but in reality is not that straightforward. Particularly somewhere like HOYS where the atmosphere is difficult to recreate - many horses were completely overawed by it and behaved very badly.


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Yah we can win then, has mouth wide open, but nothing phases her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.esphotography.co.uk/events/2006/day30/cleveland/pages/T59_5143.php
 
no to me that would not be ok.
it is the over all picture of the horse and rider and if it gots its moth right open it looks a bit minging!
But a photo can make any thing look bad, as it is literly showing you a 2nd of the performance, but he was really ''jabbing'' the poor horsey in the moth, poor horse.
Nothing wrong with a coloured cob winning though, ok not my cup of T .... but we all have opinions:D
 
Ooh, interesting topic. I've never really thought that much about showing and the work that goes into it.
smile.gif
 
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Nothing wrong with a coloured cob winning though, ok not my cup of T .... but we all have opinions:D

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Strange comment as in your signature you are sat on a coloured cob
 
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