Overheight Show Horses/Ponies - how do they get away with it?

[ester]

I'm not always as daft as I sound

I am thinking a laser beam without the associated noise that occurs when they break one on a burglary!

 

[deicinmerlyn]

Unfortuately there are some very not very nice at all ways to get them under the stick.
Trim back their hooves hard and bute them. Dehydration causes loss the space to contract and the worst one I have heard of excerising till the muscles collapse.
There is an app that allows you to measure something by taking a photo, until there are spot checks and qualifications are withheld this will go on.

'Stick it on the horsewalker all night'

Bloody disgusting and they wonder why 'show people' get a bad name.

 

[misswitch2]

This is not as daft as it may sound. You could easily use a laser beam to check height as horses enter a ring, stop on a mat & a steward could do it. It would be very quick, no cavorting horses etc.If ruled overheight you could appeal to the judge for it to be checked. If overheight it would be taken into account in the judging like, say, a splint or any other fault.

it's a great idea but not sure how that would work. For a JMB measurement, they need to have shoes removed, but will have shoes on before going in to the ring.

this is my first season of showing (previously did alot of dressage). People warned me about 'facey' judging and was expecting not to do so well being such a new face.
Although i have been placed lower than well known people in some classes, i have still had a successful season. I am going to HOYS and I have gained alot of satisfaction out of the preparation and of course the fab pics of my horse looking so good. I will continue to do showing because although i agree that showing can be subjective, i really enjoy developing 'ring craft'. I've seen some great judges ride my horse beautifully, and i have met some really nice people while in the line up! After over 20 years of riding and competing in all different disciplines, i have learnt alot this season. Showing (like all equestrian disciplines) has its pros and cons....for the moment, i am still a fan!

 

[misswitch2]

oh, and my horse was comfortably within the small riding horse height limit when i got my height certificate. This was without any tricks and my horse WAS in show condition when we went to the vets. The vet was very concious of following the rules of the JMB.

I haven't been the biggest horse in the class and have felt a bit dwarfed by others at times, but i can safely say it really doesn't bother me. My horse is a bit temperamental, but generally gives a good ride for the judge, has good conformation and i have put a serious amount of elbow grease in to hers and my turnout. if that's not enough to get me placed, then i am still happy that i have done all i can to get the best result. What others do to try and win does not concern me

 

[nikCscott]

I remember standing next to a "14.2" show jumping pony, which was huge. It must have been measured as a 2 year old! It was a long time ago though.

It is a tricky one, because here are undoubtedly "tricks" to get horses measured to the required height. I read in a book written between the wars about a dealer that had a stretch of concret that was apparently level, but depending which end the horse stood it was either bigger or smaller! So he would show the horse to the client and put a measuring stick on it to "prove" that it was the required height.

I had a 14.1hh that won enough that he needed a height cert so we had the shoes off trimmed short then measured over and over until he came in at 13.3 i think, we were a bit confused as if he'd been 14.3 and needed to come under yes, but there seemed no point in our situation, but the farrier and vet seemed to want him so come in as small as possible.

 

[shaskeen]

Us amateurs are the bread and butter of showing even though the well known horse and hound show columnist never fails to moan about us amateurs moaning but without us there would only be 3 or 4 in a class, yes it pisses us off when our 15.1 or 15.2 is dwarfed and even worse when you lose out a fairly decent prize money place

We still carry on and do it and bite our tongues, I once made the mistake of complaining and didnt get placed for a full season, so as hard as it is we have to keep quiet, and we will never get away from judges judging judges unless there is a panel of non competing judges who arent going to worry about that face judging them next week

I love my horses no matter what but just enjoy showing as well