The things judges say

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

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I took my 2 boys and 2 ponies (I must have been mad!) to a local show as they both wanted to go. They looked so cute, both did the child handler so I found myself trying to split myself in two. George (who is 5) took April who was very good and William (6yrs) took my 4yo, Flicka. It's the first time they've done the same class and that the ponies, who are fieldmates, were in the ring together. All went well, although Flicka is used to mummy leading her and was a little edgy. They came 5th and 6th.

In the lead rein William and April came 3rd. The judge when handing out the rosettes said to the winner, "he's an ugly pony but he looked after the rider". I actually didn't think the pony was that ugly, but poor child on top being told that your pony is!

What's the worst thing you've heard a judge say in the ring?
 
Falconers said:
I took my 2 boys and 2 ponies (I must have been mad!) to a local show as they both wanted to go. They looked so cute, both did the child handler so I found myself trying to split myself in two. George (who is 5) took April who was very good and William (6yrs) took my 4yo, Flicka. It's the first time they've done the same class and that the ponies, who are fieldmates, were in the ring together. All went well, although Flicka is used to mummy leading her and was a little edgy. They came 5th and 6th.

In the lead rein William and April came 3rd. The judge when handing out the rosettes said to the winner, "he's an ugly pony but he looked after the rider". I actually didn't think the pony was that ugly, but poor child on top being told that your pony is!

What's the worst thing you've heard a judge say in the ring?
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Good grief, that's really bad, especially infront of a child. I would have been tempted to put a complaint in about that tbh.

Can't say I've had anything particularly rude said to me about my mare. The only things ever said have been that she was a bit overweight in one show recently, henced marked down a lot, and that I didn't run her up in hand well enough to show her off properly (but being five and a half months pregnant I'm not sure what she wanted me to do about that lol!).
 
agree, a very tactless thing to say to anyone, let alone a child. if he had said it to me about my horse I would have been quite upset and I am a pensioner!!!!!!!! I think a little complaint would be in order to make the judge realise how horrible that comment is...
 
My daughter (11) who has been riding only a year has had her first pony since December went to her second local dressage competition the other weekend. The pony is an older competition pony been there and done it all but can be very forward going and a little uncooperative if you are novice when the mood takes her!! A great pony for my daughter to learn alot from as she is safe!

In the first competition they went to they won both their walk trot tests and it went very smoothly. So the idea was to do a intro and prelim in the next outing.
Unfortunately as soon as we got the pony off I could see in her face she was in a different mood as they do! So my daughter worked her in quietly with guidance and she did her walk trot tests a few mistakes and tense but not a bad test for starting out. Bearing in mind this is for beginners!

The next test unfortunately was on grass which I hadn't noticed when booking but working in was busy with horses loose in the distance young horses calling out, young BYRDS riders cantering round endlessly on their pony. This was enough to make the pony whizzy and my daughter worried and tense they went in the arena but on the edge of control and so my daughter found it too much and exited before the canter in tears!
Obviously I told her not to worry there was alot going on and it just wasnt the day for us and next time we will make sure it is in a arena not on grass.

The judge came out telling my daughter how wonderful the pony was (we know) and when she learns to stop riding from the hand and she needs to practise more at home before coming out! Really wish the Judge had just stayed in the car not helpful!

She has regular lesson 1 or 2 a week and has really come on so we do plenty of training at home just need to get out and about for more experience it will come
 
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Ugly is perhaps a little too honest.
I remember when my eldest was 11 she did a local level WHP with her PC/hunting type pony. He beat some much more conformationally correct ponies and the judge said to my daughter 'he's not going to win any beauty contests but I'd love to take him hunting' - I wasn't offended at all, and neither was my daughter, at the time the judge was completely correct.
A couple of years later he bodied up a bit and went on to be a successful county level WHP!
 
I once went to a local show, was placed last and was told my pony was a "very poor example of a section D".

Said pony was a county show winning purebred connemara, we were at a local show because we needed to work on an issue that only presented itself at shows.

My response to the judge was " I should jolly well hope so since he is a connemara!" her face went red and she walked away!
 
If you know your pony/horse is the best that is going to be there, regardless of what the judge says or thinks, then perhaps you should stay at home and buy yourself a rosette! If, for whatever reason you cannot show your horse to it's full advantage, accept that today isn't your day, or get someone else to do the job.
 
Not a judge - though she likes to think she is ... But the Area Co-Ordinator for the ROR in Scotland was quite happily having a conversation in the ring with another competitor about shooting racehorses that were not suitable for retraining - 'Like that grey horse over there!' meaning my horse who, no, was not on his best behaviour that day but 9/10 is and most certainly does not deserve to be shot thank you very much! A complaint was put into the ROR about her over this and their response was to offer me a free lesson with one of 3 instructors whilst the woman got a slap on the wrist.

I now refuse to compete in ROR classes because of this woman and so do many, many others.
 
The judge is there to judge what s/he sees in front of them on the day.

If my health meant that I could not show my horse competently enough to do it justice, I would either stay at home or get someone else to show it.

And whilst I wouldn't have called the pony ugly in front of the chid (I would probably have said plain), the pony won, which was the salient factor here - it sounds as if the judge was talking to the handler not the rider and as it wasn't OP's pony, I don't think she is really in a position to complain.
 
I got told that I should pick my horse up and carry him home! Pony was an extremely well behaved older fjord pony who was behaving whilst everything else doing acrobatics.
 
I once had a fellow competitor in my class tell me my one of my ponies was ugly because after the individual show the judge moved mine above hers in the line up :D

A judge once told me I was in the wrong class (I was in large M+M in hand with my reg New Forest). He told me I should be in the small M+M class because my pony is branded with the letter B in a circle on her saddle area (the brand of the Mockbeggar line of NFs); apparently the letter B meant she was a Welsh sec B and the judge knew this because he bred Welsh sec Bs ???

Another show I was at the judge did not know that miniature horses and Shetties were not the same thing. Luckily I had not taken my Shettie that day.

On the other hand I have had some good comments from very knowledgeable judges. One judge saw my old mare in veterans classes a few times and always said 'it's in right good nick, that' :) My favourite one though is a judge at Ponies UK a few years ago who said to me 'Brilliant, just brilliant.' :)
 
Many years ago, a friend of mine was in a lead rein show pony class with her son, who has Down's syndrome, Pony was placed 6th out of 6. Judge told her pony would have been placed higher if she had had a "normal" rider....
 
zigzag said:
Many years ago, a friend of mine was in a lead rein show pony class with her son, who has Down's syndrome, Pony was placed 6th out of 6. Judge told her pony would have been placed higher if she had had a "normal" rider....
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:eek3: :confused3: :mad3: :eek3: Words fail me!
 
zigzag said:
Many years ago, a friend of mine was in a lead rein show pony class with her son, who has Down's syndrome, Pony was placed 6th out of 6. Judge told her pony would have been placed higher if she had had a "normal" rider....
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Christ now that really IS out of order. I really hope they complained, that has made me so sad :(

A judge was once rather rude about my old boy, but to be fair it was the Ridden Hunter and my boy was a tad excited - fine for me as he was my horse but not so for the poor judge. He quite fairly made a disparaging comment about his behaviour while exiting the ring to which my unhorsey Dad replied "well my daughter didn't seem to have any trouble". I died of shame/laughter.
 
A novice WH judge said of my horse , 'He's got a very kissable muzzle'.

Fine, if I had been 8; but was nearer 48, and felt jolly patronised
 
Pearlsasinger said:
The judge is there to judge what s/he sees in front of them on the day.

If my health meant that I could not show my horse competently enough to do it justice, I would either stay at home or get someone else to show it.

And whilst I wouldn't have called the pony ugly in front of the chid (I would probably have said plain), the pony won, which was the salient factor here - it sounds as if the judge was talking to the handler not the rider and as it wasn't OP's pony, I don't think she is really in a position to complain.
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I assume both you and YorksG are aiming your comments at me, given I am the only one who mentioned the judge saying I did not trot her up as well as I should have. I was NOT remotely moaning at what the judge said - if you read my comment properly I said I have NEVER had any rude comments made by a judge, and that was one of the only negative comments made to me. I didn't say remotely that the judge is wrong, and I expected any different. I was purely at the show with my mare because I enjoy it, and she got placed very well anyway, just not as highly as she would have done if I hadn't been fat and pregnant. I found the comment she made highly amusing in actual fact, as I looked like Mr Greedy waddling around the ring. But I enjoyed it. Though I appreciate many of you wouldn't be if you didn't get placed.
 
Zig zag , that is horrifying . I would not have been able to let that go , disgusting .
We dont do showing , I know my ponies are the best really :)
 
that is horrible. At that age you do not care if your pony is ugly it is your pride and joy. Think this judge may need to engage brain before mouth in future
 
zigzag said:
Many years ago, a friend of mine was in a lead rein show pony class with her son, who has Down's syndrome, Pony was placed 6th out of 6. Judge told her pony would have been placed higher if she had had a "normal" rider....
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That would have totally warranted a complaint from the competitor.
 
Not at showing but my 2 friends took one pony and one horse to a SJ clinic a professional SJ who is actually brilliant. They did the clinic at the end he said I wouldn't bother jumping these any more you are wasting your time!!!! but he was so right neither could jump and were on loan. Fast forward 2 years they both now are jumping i meter on good horses! so if he hadn't have said that they might still have been not jumping 2 ft!!! glad he was honest!
 
zigzag said:
Many years ago, a friend of mine was in a lead rein show pony class with her son, who has Down's syndrome, Pony was placed 6th out of 6. Judge told her pony would have been placed higher if she had had a "normal" rider....
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OMG that is complete discrimination
 
abes mum said:
I got told that I should pick my horse up and carry him home! Pony was an extremely well behaved older fjord pony who was behaving whilst everything else doing acrobatics.
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Funny you say that as I was just about to say similar. Last week at a show, I'd waited 2 hours for a class (honestly, it was a joke, we kept getting told "10 mins" and then no judge!) and only 4 of us hung about. Went in, judge didn't even glance at my horse, put her last below some awful types who totally pissed about. I got told "she's obviously tired from the wait" - well yeah probably, but no she trotted up beautifully and just happened to behave very well and not piss about like the ones you've placed above her!! But the fact the judge literally looked at her for 2 seconds drove me nuts, I've paid my money same as everyone else and you stick a horse in 1st just because its a pure bred... I don't mind losing, don't get me wrong but that class really annoyed me.

I also got told by the judge once that I was in the wrong class because I was in a M&M Pony class. Well just because my pure bred Welsh D was 15.2hh, he was still very much a M&M I pointed out! He was a horse I won a lot with in M&M, but in that class she stuck us very last beneath plaited ponies who couldn't canter... bizarre.
 
zigzag said:
Many years ago, a friend of mine was in a lead rein show pony class with her son, who has Down's syndrome, Pony was placed 6th out of 6. Judge told her pony would have been placed higher if she had had a "normal" rider....
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I feel rather cross on your friend's behalf. I would have reported, I think my OH would have been a lot more "direct".
 
OMG zigzag, that's disgusting. I'm sure the pony would have been placed higher if it hadn't had such *&$£*& for a 'Judge'.

Not show based but I let a friend borrow my horse for a lesson. Apparently very experienced instructor said she doubted he'd (horse) have the talent/scope for Novice eventing...... He was Open Advanced and valued at 6 figures. I nearly died laughing when my friend told me what instructor said.
 
EKW said:
Not a judge - though she likes to think she is ... But the Area Co-Ordinator for the ROR in Scotland was quite happily having a conversation in the ring with another competitor about shooting racehorses that were not suitable for retraining - 'Like that grey horse over there!' meaning my horse who, no, was not on his best behaviour that day but 9/10 is and most certainly does not deserve to be shot thank you very much! A complaint was put into the ROR about her over this and their response was to offer me a free lesson with one of 3 instructors whilst the woman got a slap on the wrist.

I now refuse to compete in ROR classes because of this woman and so do many, many others.
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I think this might just be the area co-ordinators that stables her horse just along from me! She's a complete cow! Apparently I know nothing about finer horses as I have a sec D! Hmmm..... She missed the (albeit aged) tb standing in the field that I used to sj to a high level, oh and the finer (unsure of breeding) horse I was riding in MY arena (the one she wants to borrow foc after hurling insults at me for owning native/native crosses). All this and various other jibes from the woman who can't even catch her own horse coz he hates her (vet, farrier and instructors words!) but me, knowing nothing about a proper horse, can catch without issue! (Feel free to pm me the name just to be sure but I'm 99.9% sure there's only 1 area coordinator that is a cow bag! God imagine if there's 2!!!!!)

Zigzag. That's horrific, I hope to god a complaint was made against that judge. That's just beyond belief that ANYONE would say that especially to a child.

When I was showing I've had no end of comments. The best one being a chaps judge who forgot to call me into the lineup (5in class) and when her steward pointed it out pulled me in made me stand away from the other horses and threw my 5th place rosette at me and stated I. A very loud voice 'I HATE brown and white horses they shouldn't be allowed!' Before I even got a chance to complain the rest if the class went mental at her the winner of the class refused her rosette and walked out and all the class put in official complaints to both the show sec and chaps (all upheld) judge was suspended and only started back this year.... And I had to steward with her!

Most recent one was 'your horse is too fast and forward going for this cob class' yup I agree. She's slso sound, not overweight and confirmationaly superior to the horses you placed above her. Not to worry tho I burst out laughing and in the next class same judge had to ride her and admitted her error!
 
conniegirl said:
I once went to a local show, was placed last and was told my pony was a "very poor example of a section D".

Said pony was a county show winning purebred connemara, we were at a local show because we needed to work on an issue that only presented itself at shows.

My response to the judge was " I should jolly well hope so since he is a connemara!" her face went red and she walked away!
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I was told mine did not have a knee action in trot as all good section Ds should.. Its a highland pony... Amazing how Ds can look...
 
Highlands said:
I was told mine did not have a knee action in trot as all good section Ds should.. Its a highland pony... Amazing how Ds can look...
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yup a child was told by a panel PUK judge that my highland was a poor example of a welsh section b that could be because she has 9 inches of very flat strong bone and has the body of an 18hh hunter on 13hh legs. Kid just said "that would be because she is a Highland pony then"
Judge said sorry but she wasn't sure of her breeds well why did she accept the job then
 
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