Whats The Worst Comment A Judge Has Ever Made To You In A Showing Class?

ester said:
mini shetties are always fun as those that normally judge m and m end up with them and tend to fully admit they have no idea what they are looking at! :)
Click to expand...

Ah yes you gotta love the mini shetties...I took my mini to a show earlier this year, the judge freely admitted she knew nothing about them but asked if she could take mine home cos she would fit perfectly on the end of her bed :D
 
The first and last time I showed Fleur, the judge placed her last because "she didn't put her ears forward when I asked". I'm sorry, I didn't realise my horse was supposed to be fluent in English.
 
I totally agree with you Teagreen, this judge couldn't judge to save his life!!! And the judge thought that a fat horse was thin and a perfect weight horse was fat!! But i don't care what he said my boy is perfect to me and everyone who knows my boy knows how good he looks :D

I would have love to seen the judge who judged me again tho as the next weekend went to another show and thought i do Best Turned Out again and guess what i cam 1st :D I was so proud of my boy!!!!!
 
(In a county M&M class, competing HC as horse is an unregistered Welsh D, 16 horses in class.)

Judge: Right, we'll have you here. *pulls us in sixth*

Me: *super pleased as it's only our third show* :D

Judge: *looks at schedule* Oh, wait, are you hors concours? Right, can I have you here, please...

*moves seventh placed horse to the other side of us, shifting us down a spot*

Totally gutting - yes, we were HC but there was no prize money involved, just a rosette that was snatched away. Funnily enough we were pulled in fourth after the first go-round, wonder what she'd have done if we were still fourth in the final line-up - knocked us back down to seventh anyway? :rolleyes:
 
After being pulled in last behind an obviously very lame pony, was told by the judge that my horse was "very gangley".

He is 16.3HH, but at least he is sound!

TBH I was far more outraged for the owner of the stupendously beautiful friesien that was pulled in second behind a pony that wasn't even clean! That was a travesty!

Strangely, I have never had any inclination to show again!
 
I've had it all!!
I've been placed last out of 20 in working hunters, dispite being only one of 4 clear - reason?? .. my 'pony' (15hh) ''isn't the right type'' and ''you cantered a circle in your show'' - news to me if circles are 'banned'!? - yet have come 4th out of 21 at a county show.
I've been told that my horse was too dirty to be placed higher than 5th - 'look at all that grease' - umm, no, its her colouring as she has white hairs throughout her dark coat, almost a roan.
As for leading rein, me and my daughter won a class last year, but far from deserved it!! Pony was being a little tit, generally not being fluent or easy. We beat some top lead rein QUIET ponies that day, and it didn't make sense! Best turned out is also a farce on many occassions too.
I wonder why I still do show a bit? Crazy 'eh?
 
I took my ex racer to a local show last Sunday, we entered the in hand ex racehorse class, not really expecting anything ;it was just a good opportunity to take him out to a non racing party.
He was in training for 11 years, raced for 9 years and had over 50 starts.He's been with me now for 15 months.

The judge just sneered at him, he is very big and chestnut, all the rest of the horses in his class were smaller bays.

She thought he was still in training,and was so totally dissinterested in my responses to her banal questions( "who trained him" and "who is he by") When she asked us to trot up ,she said "just walk him over there and trot back; do try your best to keep him straight"

The owners of the other horses in his class were asked much more pertinent questions such as how old is he/she; how long was he/she in training; when did he/she last race; what is he/she doing now ?

I should have registerd a complaint at the time but quite frankly if she couldn't differentiate between a horse in racing condition and one out of training I wasn't going to waste my breath and the £10.00 fee for lodging a complaint.

What is the point of entering these classes if the judges appointed are incapable of judging to prescribed criteria.
 
The worst For me was I had a sec a on loan and took him into a local show class just to get a feel of him at shows as he had been competing bsps I had never done in hand classes. He was a complete star turned out well the other horses spooked reared and one was not turned out at all with poo stains on it's White markings.:( my sec a came last so I asked for comments as I said I never done it before so thought it was me :(. I was told thAt the stallion will always win regardless of behaviour or turnout and she really disliked a spindly sec a and would never place them :( I think that comment put me off showing.
 
ecarylloh said:
The first and last time I showed Fleur, the judge placed her last because "she didn't put her ears forward when I asked". I'm sorry, I didn't realise my horse was supposed to be fluent in English.
Click to expand...

I just choked on my drink after reading that! What a stupid judge!
 
I have been informed that my unclipped, full feathered, well covered (bordering porky) clyde X mare wasn't suitable for a traditional cob class at a local show because she was too 'light' I thought they might have meant bone because she was a little gangly despite huge feet but was then told I would do better if I fed her up. Wasn't surprised to be down the line as she wasn't the best example in the world and I was there for fun but was a little miffed to be told that obese she might have placed.

On the other side though I was informed another competitor that arab I rode placed badly 'because the judge likes the part breds' (local show, arab and part bred class) which may have been true but personaly I think it had more to do with her tanking off and trying to trample him as I desperately hung on squeaking woah.
 
I've been pulled in second last in Novice Horse behind two horses that bucked round their entire show (one of whom was lame) and a fell cross type who grunted like Stephi Graph every time his owner BOOTED THE CR*P out of him to get him to move up from trot to a grudging canter. I must add that my boy was foot perfect the entire way round.

On a different note though, I witnessed some fantastic judging a few months ago. A rider had her very nervous and young WH in a class that was probably a bit big for him and the horse was refusing and snorting all over the place, rearing, napping - obviously very upset. The judge called the steward to put down some of the jumps really low and proceeded to give this girl a really encouraging 'lesson' - after about 5 minutes she had the horse flying over the tiny jumps, so she then put them up to just lower than what the class had been and had the pair of them flying over those too. I'm sure the people waiting to go in after her were a bit annoyed, but it did this pair's confidence the world of good and I've seen them out competing since and doing very well.
 
I've often wondered about judges and their abilities too. Like an earlier comment, I saw a class with 3 chestnuts in that were all placed at the end of the line at a local small show and the judge openly said that he didn't like chestnuts - one had been a WHP winner at HOYS! In another riding club show one young girl was reduced to tears in a ridden veteran class when the judge announced very loudly (everyone around the outside of the ring could hear) that she was a rubbish rider. The poor kid had genuinely only been riding for a couple of months and she actually did quite a good show. On the plus side though, I took my old girl in the ring at a riding club show a couple of years ago, having been "off the circuit" for 2 years. I took her in the in-hand welsh for a change, so had her au naturel and the judge smiled when we came up to be inspected, and said he hadn't recognised her at first because she'd always been plaited before, but it was nice to see us again!
 
blackcob said:
(In a county M&M class, competing HC as horse is an unregistered Welsh D, 16 horses in class.)

Judge: Right, we'll have you here. *pulls us in sixth*

Me: *super pleased as it's only our third show* :D

Judge: *looks at schedule* Oh, wait, are you hors concours? Right, can I have you here, please...

*moves seventh placed horse to the other side of us, shifting us down a spot*

Totally gutting - yes, we were HC but there was no prize money involved, just a rosette that was snatched away. Funnily enough we were pulled in fourth after the first go-round, wonder what she'd have done if we were still fourth in the final line-up - knocked us back down to seventh anyway? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Sorry, I think the judge was correct here - HC means 'hors concours' which means 'out of competition' ie you are not actually competing (usually because you are not eligible for the class, as in your case) but just there for the experience. I wouldn't expect to be placed or win a rosette if I was competing HC. (I'm presumably places went down to sixth only).
 
My daughter took her cob to a very small local show just to gain more experience in ridden classes. I have never known a judge to ride the horses at this show and i think it sent shock waves round when the very arrogant woman judge announced that she would be riding all the entries in the coloured class. Given that it was a mixed bunch of mostly ponies from the riding school and all sizes we thought it a bit odd at that level. We were'nt too bothered about her riding our boy as he's a good sort and well behaved. She mounted yanked his reins and booted him round and the poor boy went round with this awful woman as best he could though he was clearly unhappy with her. She ended the ride, through the reins back and announced quite loudly that he was like riding a lump of dead meat!! My daughter (who is a grown up) was almost in tears with this humiliating critisism and left the ring. We complained and had our entry fee refunded with an apology from the oganiser.
 
TelH said:
I have a forest bred New Forest pony, she is branded with the letter B in a circle on her saddle area, she has been placed in hand at county level and Ponies UK numerous times so one would think she is a fairly reasonable example of the breed. I took her to a smaller show a few years ago, took her in in hand M+M large breeds...judge said to me that pony shouldn't be in this class...I'm thinking wtf...try to politely explain that although she is only 13.2hh and so can look like a bit of a tiddler stood next to an up to height Sec D or whatever she is in fact a reg New Forest pony which is a large breed...Judge says to me no thats not a New Forest pony thats a Welsh sec B, thats what that letter on her back means, I should know, I breed sec B's...errrm okaaaayyyy :o :o I offered to get her passport from the trailer to show him but he just wandered off muttering about Sec B's to himself...needless to say we were at the bottom of the line up :D
Click to expand...

I showed my Reg forest bred NF also 13.2 and judge thought he was a Sec D , they are supposed to be judges aren't they supposed to know? lol
 
Last edited:
The best comment I had was when I took my coloured (gypsy) cob mare - Fully feathered and maned - into the Coloured Cob Class at a local show (clue in the title there! :p )
There were 3 other entries apart from me... A chestnut Arab with a bit of white on his belly, a flea bitten grey, and a palomino....the Chestnut won the class...I wass told that Daizy was 'too hairy'.......!!!!!!! :? Pardon???

I have also been aske to take my 'arab' out of the ring as 'this is a M&M Class'....Sunny was a Welsh Sec B, ex HOYS WHP!!!!

And Im thinking of taking my girls to the show next weekend?? I must be mad!!!! xxx
 
I remembered one!!

Lead rein class at RC show. Everyone knows everyone, though it's a new judge, which is nice. The class is the first one of the day, held in the hunter ring, though it's a proper 'tiddlers on ponies' class.

There's my daughter (4) and two 3 yo children on their shetties, and about four 5 or 6 yo's on bigger ponies (12hh-13hh ish - it's local, as long as the animal's safe they don't care how big it is).

We do the walk round, individual shows, and get pulled into line. Judge looks up and down the line up and announces "Okay kids! strip your ponies! " :eek:

So we help our children strip their ponies, imagine... you can't exactly get a 3yo child to hold a pony for you, so trying to untack, whilst holding onto a pony and stopping loose children being mown down by loose ponies...

The judge then says "aaaand, one at a time - trot them up" :eek::eek::mad:

Dangerous was an understatement. The Children were expected to do this themselves and those that couldn't had to run with mums and ponies.

me? I've got a greedy shetland suddenly loose of his grass reins, me trying to run with child between us.... :rolleyes:

LOTS of disgruntled p*$$ed off parents....

Though we did come 3rd... how, I'll never know!

Had it been young handler, fair enough, but lead rein ponies aren't always the BEST at being handled on busy show grounds by very small children.

As far as I'm aware the judge wasn't invited to judge again.
 
TGM said:
Sorry, I think the judge was correct here - HC means 'hors concours' which means 'out of competition' ie you are not actually competing (usually because you are not eligible for the class, as in your case) but just there for the experience. I wouldn't expect to be placed or win a rosette if I was competing HC. (I'm presumably places went down to sixth only).
Click to expand...

TGM, that's what I thought too :rolleyes:
 
TGM said:
Sorry, I think the judge was correct here - HC means 'hors concours' which means 'out of competition' ie you are not actually competing (usually because you are not eligible for the class, as in your case) but just there for the experience. I wouldn't expect to be placed or win a rosette if I was competing HC. (I'm presumably places went down to sixth only).
Click to expand...

I do agree with you to an extent, I was certainly not expecting to take home prize money or a championship place, I was just surprised at being placed and then abruptly booted back down the line, particularly as the judge didn't give anybody any feedback - not even to point out why we went from fourth to sixth/seventh - so it turned out to be a total waste of an entry fee and horsebox hire for the day as I came out none the wiser. :(

Just seemed a little insensitive, why not just skip over to the next person with the rosette? Meant we couldn't do the lap of honour either.

Eh, I'm just bitter that her breeder never bothered to register her, hence this whole stupid HC song and dance in the first place. :rolleyes:
 
At a riding club show I was told - as was everyone else within earshot - that my pony was a perfect example of a connemara. Flattering - except my pony was a new forest.

The same judge then went on to place my gelding, second in the prettiest mare line up. And then proceeded to argue with me when I told her he was a boy :rolleyes:
 
We were pulled in behind a LAME horse because it was a grey, and the judge said she deserved to be there because she had spent more time cleaning it. Well obviously, my chap is DUN. That is the only time I have been proper annoyed, IMO anything lame should be asked to leave the class.
 
I took my old boy into a working hunter class. He had the most amazing large Roman Nose and was a perfect hunter (in his day!) I was told that he was not suitable for showing by the judge. We went on to jump the only clear and won the class. I did rather enjoy that one!
 
I had had my horse for 5 days and I decided to take her out to a local show to do the jumping. I was there a bit early, and there wern't many people there. A call came across they tannoy saying there was only 1 in the novice ridden mare class, so if anybody else wanted to enter they would keep entries open for an extra 10 mins. So I entered on my mare, and there were 2 of us in the class. All was fine until the judge asked me to do an individual show containing rein back, leg yield and a flying change!!! I told the judge I had only had the horse a few days, and therefore rein back, flying change and leg yield may not actually happen. To which the judge told me that if I couldn't do those movements with my horse I shouldn't be at a competition!!!! I did my individual show, including a good simple change instead of a flying change, a reasonable leg yield and ok rein back. The other rider then did their show, all the canter was disunited, and they never attempted to rein back or leg yield. I was placed last (well second) and the judge told me my horse was badly schooled and would never be a good horse as I had obviously spent time trying to school which hadnt worked! And she told me I should take note of the rider who won as she had only had that horse 6 months, and had been so brave to bring a horse to a show after only having it 6 months!!!!! She then proceeded to tell me I had qualified for the championship, but not to bother going in for it as I would be laughed at!!!!!

I went on to win the show jumping!!!!!!!!
 
My mum was in an inhand class with her little welsh B. The judge said to her "She is far too thin, she needs to be turned out into a field of lush grass". She gets laminitis at the very sight of grass and lives in the sand school with a big pile of hay and everyone else at the show was commenting how good she looked. She was the only sec B in the class the rest were A's so whether she thought misty was a very thin A or what I dont know!
 
I did have one judge ask me how long I had had my 'Connie', I politely said that I had bred her and she was an Andalusian actually :rolleyes:

I have also been asked by one particular affiliated dressage judge, whether Sirena is a Gelderlander! On another ocasion he asked if she was a Haflinger! :confused::confused:

I made a comment to a competitor this week in a Foreign Breeds class:

'I am sorry your horse (a Fresian) would be higher but she is just much too overweight'

I once made the same comment to a lady with a lovely coloured youngster, I placed her last because she was obese. I judged her a year later and she had really worked on her, she was no longer fat, just beautifully muscled - I placed her first.
 
Judge: "B or C?"
Me: "Errr.... no, Connemara."

The judge was extremely apologetic and kept saying how awful it was that she had mistaken him for a welsh. We won the class!!
 
It works both ways!
One time I judged I put a very smart hunter down the line in tack & turnout.( first class of the day)
From across the ring it was a sure winner, rider and horse were immaculate, but the saddle was filthy and the double bridle wrongly fitted with the curb pulling the lips up and the snaffle below.
It was a very mixed class and the winner was a sparkling strawberry roan with everything clean and well fitting albeit not the brand names of the hunter's tack.
I gave the hunter a low placing and commented that he would have been placed higher if his tack had been better fitted and cleaned.
I got a bit of a mouthful back -that saddle had been hunted in all season and was cleaned after every hunt, any dirt must have been from the ring on the day and didn't I know that was how double bridles were supposed to be used?
I just said have a look at the saddle name plate - you were one of the first to be judged and aren't those my initials in the dirt on the maker's plate.

She was rather sheepish as she accepted her rosette & prize -a tub of saddle soap :)
The horse wore a kimblewick, correctly fitted, for the rest of the day.

I try to be fair when judging and have often had to put up an animal I don't like but is the best in the class on the other hand I have sometimes wrong classed an animal when it clearly doesn't fit as per schedule -this includes anything with a red ribbon in the tail coming in for a family pony class as well as the sabino Arab above if it came under me in a coloured cob class.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top