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Middlesex County 4H Horse Judging
By Steven Brackett
This is what goes on during the horse judging contest, and what a contestant needs to do and what might be expected of them. One can always come by and hang just to see what goes on, either way its not as “scary” as it might sound.
I personally think that the horse judging contest is one of the three non riding events that the county sponsors that is the best. It’s the only one where you are interacting with horses, unlike horsebowl and hippology, and I think that the opportunity alone to compare the horses and see like horses together gives one better knowledge of what to look for in a horse when going out and looking for your next horse. All three events are means by which seniors can go to competitions at the national level down in Kentucky. Horse judging can also be one of the hardest because it can be considered subjective and judgmental as a riding contest, because the contestant’s answers are being compared to the judge.
The county contest at the moment is held early fall at a Proctor Hill Farm in Littleton. They have up to 60 -70 head of horses. This allows us not to see the same horses for 2-3 years in a row.
We usually have a little refresher/newbie clinic before we start the contest. We see 12 to 16 different horses. Usually there are 3 halter classes, and 1 performance class (usually pleasure) each class has 4 horses in it. The horses depending on the class will usually be the same breed type and sex. During the class the horses are first compared to the “BREED STANDARD” to find the one who resembles the breed standard the best and then to each other.
During the halter class the 4 horses are brought into the ring, and lined up next to each other side by side. Contestants have approx 2 minutes, to look at “each” side of the horse, the 4 views (sides) of the horse, during which the horses rotate in their positions making it easier to compare them. Each handler of the 4 horses has a number on them so the contestants can remember which horse is which. Each contestant has a card on which they write the order of how they place the horses (i.e. Class: quarter horse geldings; 3, 2, 4, 1) in the class. During the class, a “judge” is also looking at the horses along side the contestants and is judging the class in the same manners as the contestants. Cards are collected and scored against how the “judge” scored the class. ( A slightly complex but fair formula was invented years ago by Hormel Foods that is still used to this day and is not readily replaced by the computer).
Horses are compared to the “breed standards’ (notes and books are encouraged) by looking at the (B, S, M ,Q ,T ,T) balance, structure, muscle, quality, travel and type of the horse. It sometimes sounds scary and most people think that they could not compare the horses to those items in the time allowed but it can be done. Even when the kids go back over the classes later they realize they actually noticed and usually know more about what a horse should look like than they think.
The performance class is judged the same as any riding performance class. The class usually is a pleasure class, which as in any pleasure class the horse is being judged and not the rider. How does the horse move? Is he/she listening to the rider’s commands? Does the horse make you want to ride it? By that I mean does he/she look like a horse you would want to get on and ride, if you had that horse? Is he behaving? Does he have smooth gates? How is his head, is he listening to the rider? The class is placed on cards just like the previous classes.
The 4 halter / performance classes make up 50% of the senior’s scores, and the total of the juniors / cloverbuds scores.
The second part of the contest for the seniors is that they have to give 1 – 2 (scary) oral presentation in front of the judge by themselves. By this I mean they will be told earlier during the classes that one or two of them will be a presentation class, so they can make some extra notes, if need be. The oral presentation is no worst than doing any presentation (much like a “visual” but without the props). There is a time frame that it needs to fall in, although we at county are a little lenient. During the presentation the contestant is providing their points of “argument” of why they judged the class the way they did, whether or not they agreed with the judge. The presentation is actually scored similar to a visual presentation as to how the material is presented, proper terminology is used, the manners by which the presenter uses to present with. How the class was scored and compares to how the judge scored the class does not matter during the presentation. However if you present a strong enough case for and noticed something the judge might have missed you can gain extra points.
Juniors are encouraged to give a presentation at the county contest although they are not scored on it. They present theirs to the county horse judging team coach. However the reason they are encouraged to do it for practice at the county contest is because it is required at the state contest.
The top ten finishers of the seniors and the juniors are invited to try out for the county horse judging team to go to the State Competition, held annually in the spring around the end of April.
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