A question for those w/ In-hand show experience...

[Kyzteke]

I have a 2 yr old who I think I will show In-Hand. She pawed at a fence and got a fairly obvious laceration on the front of her LF fetlock when she was 9 mos old. Luckily, it has never impaired her movement or hoof-growth, but because the scar is on a front foot and the horse has black legs, it is VERY noticeable.

Question: per the rules, are In-hand horses penalized for scars like this? Also, I would like to put some blacking on it to make it less noticeable – is this legal?

For instance, if we were showing Halter in Arab classes, I could put some chalk on a horse’s white stockings to make them stand out.

But I seem to recall hearing that it is illegal to put ANY foreign substance on a horse in the SHIH classes for WBs.

To be clear – these are DRESSAGE in-hand classes – not hunter.

I did call the local show secretary to ask; haven’t heard back. Where would I go to get a firm answer on this? A scan of the rules that come with the Omnibus don’t reveal anything.

Any answers? Thanks!

[Dance_To_Oblivion]

I do not think it would matter at a DSHB show. I have seen you horses score and place very well with noticeable blemishes as long as they did not effect soundness.

[Home_Again_Farm]

One of my mares had a severe hindleg laceration with many complications as a little foal. At one point her tendon was exposed from just below the hock to just above the pastern. She has a permanent scar on the back of a hindleg that is about 7 inches long and 2 inches wide, with a lot of proud flesh. It never effected her movement or soundness and her conformation is very correct.

She was filly champion and mare champion for our region a number of times and had many scores in the 80s. It was fun to watch the judges do a double take when they looked at her conformation from behind. :winkgrin:

[2ndyrgal]

If she is worthy of showing, I’d show her anyway.

I would NOT cover the scar up with anything, it is not from a surgical correction, it’s an “honest” scar she got by being a horse.

The judge should not mark her down for it unless it affects her way of going.

[rosebudranch]

Definitely wont affect your score a a dressage show, I find their judging the most reliable of all in hand shows.

[JackSprats_Mom]

Pretty sure (at least in the Arab sports horse in hand) that you can’t put any color on them.

And as others have said, it shouldn’t affect the scoring.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=Home Again Farm;7037052]
One of my mares had a severe hindleg laceration with many complications as a little foal. At one point her tendon was exposed from just below the hock to just above the pastern. She has a permanent scar on the back of a hindleg that is about 7 inches long and 2 inches wide, with a lot of proud flesh. It never effected her movement or soundness and her conformation is very correct.

She was filly champion and mare champion for our region a number of times and had many scores in the 80s. It was fun to watch the judges do a double take when they looked at her conformation from behind. :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]

Wow! What a great story. And how wonderful it turned out the way it did.

This filly’s scar is about 4"long & just 1/4 wide, but it is right on the front of her front pastern and goes from the bottom of the fetlock to just above (thank goodness) her coronet band.

She was sound on it just a week after it happened and her movement was never effected, but the hair never did grow back. With those black legs you can really see it.

Maybe I’ll experiment with afew substances to see if I can find something that at least doesn’t make it THAT noticeable.

She’s a lovely filly, but she is VERY “expressive” with her front feet and I’m always finding her with one of them hiked up on the gate rail or fence. I’m still not sure what her point is…

WHen she tried this as a weanling on the wire of the fence “H” she sliced herself…so now ALL my "H"s are wrapped in vet-wrap…:sigh:

Why do they DO that anyway?

[twofatnags]

For what its worth, this is the exact text of the rule:

http://www.usef.org/documents/ruleBook/2013/08-DR.pdf
DR210 Judging Specifications

6. Conformation is to be evaluated in terms of potential trainability, potential performance and predisposition to unsoundness. Function, not fashion, is to be emphasized. Weakness or conformation faults with a predisposition to unsoundness or to difficulties in training shall be penalized. Blemishes are not to count unless resulting from conformation faults.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=twofatnags;7043451]
For what its worth, this is the exact text of the rule:

http://www.usef.org/documents/ruleBook/2013/08-DR.pdf
DR210 Judging Specifications

6. Conformation is to be evaluated in terms of potential trainability, potential performance and predisposition to unsoundness. Function, not fashion, is to be emphasized. Weakness or conformation faults with a predisposition to unsoundness or to difficulties in training shall be penalized. Blemishes are not to count unless resulting from conformation faults.[/QUOTE]

Hey – thanks for that! Maybe I’ll look through and see if I can find anything on “make up”…