Question for any showing judges on here?

[MurphysMinder]

I don't want this to sound like a moan about judges but would be really interested to hear opinions on the following.
My daughters old pony is now ridden by a friends little girl on the lead rein. She is 21 , and looks very fit for her age, in fact had her flu jab today and vet couldn't believe her age

Anyway this year she has gone in quite a few veteran classes on the lead rein , usually only lr in it, and has been pretty successful. This weekend she was placed near the bottom of the line, and whilst I am not saying she should have won, there were horses in front of her who didn't look nearly as good and were only in late teens

When the judge came down the line she said to friend (who was leading the pony) that she found it hard to judge as pony was on lead rein therefore couldn't canter. Just interested if this would be a generally held view, as it is the first time we have encountered it.

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

this is sometimes a problem with some judges wanting to see all 3 paces to assess a horse fully. However, being a lead rein pony this shoudl have been taken into consideration! hmm...... maybe its just the judges opinion regarding that class!

sorry, glad you have a fit healthy horse though!

 

[Neddy13]

Like you say you have been successful at other shows and this type of class is certainly down to the judges opinion on the day. Your judge on this occassion wanted all entrants to do the same amount of work, which as a LR is quite impossible. On occasions when you have done well, I am sure some down the line who have had to "show more" than your LR probably felt as you feel about the latest result.

As with all showing - it would be boring if the same people won all the time!

 

[MurphysMinder]

Yeh, you are right of course. It is all down to judges opinion, think thats why I prefer jumping

And you are right Lucy, the main thing is she is fit and well, particularly as she had a star fracture of her tibia a few years ago and we had a few anxious weeks with her.

 

[shadowboy]

I judge RC level showing (did so weekend just gone) and although slightly different- I had a condition class where a lovely coloured came first- nicely toned, not fat, but nicely covered, paces were free and loose. When it came into the Coloured class it came 5th- why? because I didnt feel it moved as nicely this time round- it didnt track up and in my opinion was 'over -ridden' but I did tell the girl this. In showing the judge can only take what they see in front of them to make their decision, and obviously your judge felt that it was unfair to place the horse higher because she could not evaluate the canter. I imagine those who rode all three paces would have been unpset to have come last to one who only rode through two paces.

 

[Maesfen]

While it would annoy me no end, I do appreciate the judge is always right!

But I wouldn't be going under that judge again if she can not see the well-being in your pony even although it is only allowed to walk and trot. Veteran classes are there mainly for the best condition on the day in comparison to other ages in that class, so if she/he can't see what is in front of their nose then I would be thinking they don't know as much as they think they know to put it bluntly. Schedules should also say LR not allowed or something because if the judge is not going to judge all entrants the same, the others have a very unfair advantage. I might be making a point of asking when entering in future as it's not fair if they are penalised like that and it's not very encouraging for a young rider either IMV; why waste the entry fee?

 

[MurphysMinder]

We have noted the judge MFH.

That was my point really, the fact she had paid an entry fee and the judge felt she couldn't really judge her properly. In actual fact if need be she could have shown a canter, would just have meant little girls mum having to sprint

Last year she was shown in veteran by an older girl, we were told dutch gag was not good for showing so we put her in an eggbutt snaffle. She ran away with her when they cantered round together, but still came first, obviously manners didn't count for that judge

And I used to judge dogs, so know the judge is always right