Elf On A Shelf
...
I know we have all had bad judges over the years and normally I just laugh it off knowing that showing is what it is but the judge I had today really took the biscuit.
Ridden racehorse class and we all head in. One is jogging sideways, spooking, napping and generally being a complete pain in the bum. The rest are ok. Trotting on - same horse is still being a pillock only it's cantering sideways now, and still spooking, another is trotting off with it's rider. The class is then split into 2 to canter. My horse wrong legs it, the previous person who got trotted off with proceeds to get properly tanked with, pain in the bum horse then goes ok. All of the others are generaly ok and behaving. So we come to stand in the middle whilst the other half canter and most stand ok, pain in the bum horse is crashing sideways, taking out my horse at one stage, and kicking out. The ones cantering were generally ok, though another did get tanked with - good job they split those 2 up!
So we all go walking and she pulls in the pain in the bum horse and the 2 tankers then the rest. I automatically think that because they aren't the best at standing or being ridden she was getting them out of the way first.
So judgey lady hops onto the first horse - pain the bum horse - and he promptly shoots sideways and backwards to the other end of the ring before she can get it to go forward where it promptly just canters on the spot. 5mins later she gets it trotting and cantering, with it's head between it's knees. One of the tankers she was ok with as it was on it's own, the other she also got tanked with in trot and then in canter - to the extent that she only did one rein and then brought it back (after a circuit of trying to stop it!).
The rest go ok, nothing special. She hops on my horse, who by this point is bored, and he didn't instantly go forwards but he went after a few seconds and did everything asked of him in a mannerly, if not slightly backwards way. Now every single horse she sat on she spent her whole time sawing it's mouth - each and every one of them! She really wasn't any great shakes as a rider to be perfectly honest.
Trot up in-hand et al then out to walk again. 1st goes to a horse that was generally ok but had a bit of a head shake every so often. 2nd to the tanker that she was ok on. 3rd to the pain in the bum horse. 4th Nice horse. 5th the one she got properly tanked with on. 6th a lovely sweet mare that did nothing wrong, despite only having one eye. 7th a grand horse who is just a bit ring crafty. 8th my wrong legger and 9th a horse that did everything it was asked, when it was asked it just had it's head in the air.
So whilst she was placing badly behaved horses (I'm not saying mine should have won, far from it!) There were others far more deserving of the places.
Now I can appreciate that I didn't ride all of the horses or feel what she felt and if that was the end of it I wouldn't be so bothered but what I draw the line to her calling each of the top 5 by first name, having the pain in the bums horse's owner as one of her stewards, not bothering to watch the horses on the go round, and to take the bullet - when she was riding each horse she was giving a running commentary one each one to someone outside of the ring! Who also happened to be the other half of the pain in the bum horses owner. My mother happened to be standing next to said Outside of the ring person and the judge slagged off each and every horse bar his, calling one a kids kick along donkey.
As we left the ring I told the other steward that I wouldn't be returning for my next 2 classes as I didn't see the point. The judge looked very embarrassed and walked away. She knew she was well in the wrong and she had pissed alot of people off. Half of the other competitors also pulled out of the following 2 classes as there was absolutely no point in going in the ring. She was so blatently obviosuly face judging it was unreal. I have been showing for 19years - showing natives which are probably some of the worst for faceyness - but this judge goes right to the top of worst judges!
On the plus side my shetland won her in-hand and went reserve champion
A Shetland always saves the day!
Ridden racehorse class and we all head in. One is jogging sideways, spooking, napping and generally being a complete pain in the bum. The rest are ok. Trotting on - same horse is still being a pillock only it's cantering sideways now, and still spooking, another is trotting off with it's rider. The class is then split into 2 to canter. My horse wrong legs it, the previous person who got trotted off with proceeds to get properly tanked with, pain in the bum horse then goes ok. All of the others are generaly ok and behaving. So we come to stand in the middle whilst the other half canter and most stand ok, pain in the bum horse is crashing sideways, taking out my horse at one stage, and kicking out. The ones cantering were generally ok, though another did get tanked with - good job they split those 2 up!
So we all go walking and she pulls in the pain in the bum horse and the 2 tankers then the rest. I automatically think that because they aren't the best at standing or being ridden she was getting them out of the way first.
So judgey lady hops onto the first horse - pain the bum horse - and he promptly shoots sideways and backwards to the other end of the ring before she can get it to go forward where it promptly just canters on the spot. 5mins later she gets it trotting and cantering, with it's head between it's knees. One of the tankers she was ok with as it was on it's own, the other she also got tanked with in trot and then in canter - to the extent that she only did one rein and then brought it back (after a circuit of trying to stop it!).
The rest go ok, nothing special. She hops on my horse, who by this point is bored, and he didn't instantly go forwards but he went after a few seconds and did everything asked of him in a mannerly, if not slightly backwards way. Now every single horse she sat on she spent her whole time sawing it's mouth - each and every one of them! She really wasn't any great shakes as a rider to be perfectly honest.
Trot up in-hand et al then out to walk again. 1st goes to a horse that was generally ok but had a bit of a head shake every so often. 2nd to the tanker that she was ok on. 3rd to the pain in the bum horse. 4th Nice horse. 5th the one she got properly tanked with on. 6th a lovely sweet mare that did nothing wrong, despite only having one eye. 7th a grand horse who is just a bit ring crafty. 8th my wrong legger and 9th a horse that did everything it was asked, when it was asked it just had it's head in the air.
So whilst she was placing badly behaved horses (I'm not saying mine should have won, far from it!) There were others far more deserving of the places.
Now I can appreciate that I didn't ride all of the horses or feel what she felt and if that was the end of it I wouldn't be so bothered but what I draw the line to her calling each of the top 5 by first name, having the pain in the bums horse's owner as one of her stewards, not bothering to watch the horses on the go round, and to take the bullet - when she was riding each horse she was giving a running commentary one each one to someone outside of the ring! Who also happened to be the other half of the pain in the bum horses owner. My mother happened to be standing next to said Outside of the ring person and the judge slagged off each and every horse bar his, calling one a kids kick along donkey.
As we left the ring I told the other steward that I wouldn't be returning for my next 2 classes as I didn't see the point. The judge looked very embarrassed and walked away. She knew she was well in the wrong and she had pissed alot of people off. Half of the other competitors also pulled out of the following 2 classes as there was absolutely no point in going in the ring. She was so blatently obviosuly face judging it was unreal. I have been showing for 19years - showing natives which are probably some of the worst for faceyness - but this judge goes right to the top of worst judges!
On the plus side my shetland won her in-hand and went reserve champion
A Shetland always saves the day!
