Calling equitation experts and judges - ? on executing these tests

[hillary_again]

Hi eq experts! I was watching the pony medal class at Pony Finals and had a few questions on some of the elements on the course.

1. Halting between jumps: Most of the riders were halting after the jump - keeping a straight line after the jump and halting at the wall (fence at the end of the arena, after that jump). A few of them turned, then halted. The commentator noted several times “I would have liked for her to have used the wall more to get the halt”. I was marked down in a medal once, a million years ago, for using the fence to get my horse to halt. Which is more correct - use the fence, or take more time, make the turn, and then halt?
2. After the halt, the next jump was a trot fence. Some riders picked up the canter after the halt, and then transitioned to the trot. Others picked up the trot after the halt and continued to the jump. Which is more correct?

I’ll agree with other posters on another thread: that was a challenging course. Congratulations to all of the pony medal competitors - hats off to you for making it around that tough track!

[MHM]

Generally speaking, it’s good strategy to do whatever shows off your animal and your skills the best.

So if you can get a smooth, prompt halt without using the wall, that’s great. If you need the wall to execute the halt, that’s probably a better choice than having a late, sloppy halt.

Personally, it would never occur to me in a million years to pick up the canter between a halt and a trot jump unless it was specifically asked for in the test.

[Renn_aissance]

@hillary_again

Which is more correct - use the fence, or take more time, make the turn, and then halt?

1. Optimal: halt well before the fence so it looks like your choice and not your horse’s self-preservation
2. Halt neatly and correctly shortly after the turn
3. Use the fence to halt because you had limited control, but with plausible deniability that you weren’t going to hit the rail, and hope the judge is kind and thought you just got close to the wall and not that you have no brakes
4. Halt neatly and correctly further into the turn
5. Start pulling on the reins shortly after the fence, get no response, run your pony into the wall
6. Get run off with around the turn, halt only executed thanks to bevy of trainers yelling “whoa”
7. Actually run into the fence and break it (seen in a pony medal)

My sister rode my horse in some equitation classes and once got dropped down in the workoff because she used the fence to halt. It wasn’t really that she used the fence. It was more that the concessions stand was right beyond the fence and my horse got a whiff of breakfast sandwich. He declined to halt until he was right up against the fence and stretched his neck over the concessionaire’s shoulder to beg for bacon.

The halt was performed, so this beats option 6 in the list above, but one must debate whether it was performed in a mannerly fashion, so it might not beat option 5.

Anyway, if the judge says trot you don’t canter, so 2 is clear cut.

[hillary_again]

Thanks @Renn_aissance! That’s a great primer and good for a laugh (option 6 there…). Not to mention the “halt in case of bacon” alternative!

I had never seen the “halt, canter, then trot to the fence” executed, but for me, it looked classy: you have enough control to resume the canter from the halt (already hard) and then get the canter-trot transition well before the trot jump (damn organized rider to make that work).

[supershorty628]

@hillary_again

I had never seen the “halt, canter, then trot to the fence” executed, but for me, it looked classy: you have enough control to resume the canter from the halt (already hard) and then get the canter-trot transition well before the trot jump (damn organized rider to make that work).

It’s not the test being asked for, though. If anything, the canter should be considered a break of gait, IMO.

If they weren’t asked to canter, they should be going directly to the trot. Never do something that wasn’t explicitly asked for.

[findeight]

Do we know what the judges specific instructions were, what was said when the test was read or what was on the diagram?

[Renn_aissance]

@hillary_again

I had never seen the “halt, canter, then trot to the fence” executed, but for me, it looked classy

I’m afraid you probably saw “forgot the test, but with style.”

I didn’t get to watch any of the medal outside of our kid’s trip via cell phone video two days later, but my trainer referred to the long 2 out of a short turn as child abuse. Kudos to the kids who got there, and a round of applause to everyone who executed the course!

[mroades]

One equitation judge I know will give you a 50 if you use the rail to halt.
If I didn’t specify where to halt I would not penalize someone for halting after the turn

[222orchids]

The commentators said that it was riders’ option to go trot to the fence after the halt, OR to resume the canter and then trans down to the trot, for that fence.

[hillary_again]

@222orchids, thanks for that information! That makes it more interesting.

So, I would assume if it was riders’ option to go trot to the fence after the halt, OR to resume the canter and then trans down to the trot, for that fence, then it’s more fancy to resume the canter?

[findeight]

IF it is specifically communicated to riders as their choice? Smart rider will do whatever they know they can do best. Yes, halt, resume canter, drop to trot for fence is “ fancier” since its harder and would likely be a plus. But riders executing the simpler option well would not receive any deduction. Tie breaker kind if thing.

PF riders are quite good but can be pretty young and…you know…Ponies. IIRC, this class is judged as a whole not split SML and usually has options to let them all shine. Or hang themselves.

[MHM]

There was an interesting bit about the ages of the riders in the pony medal this year. I believe the winner was 14, and the other top finishers were pretty close to her in age.

[Rel6]

On a lazier mount, going from halt to canter to trot to jump may help keep the impulsion in the trot and lead to a better trot jump vs halt to trot to jump.

[fivestrideline]

@Rel6

On a lazier mount, going from halt to canter to trot to jump may help keep the impulsion in the trot and lead to a better trot jump vs halt to trot to jump.

And keep them from thinking “we are doing a closing circle trot = time to leave!”, resulting in a stop or ugly jump. (Hard side eye at the Welsh/Arab pony mare I rode as a kid.)

The hotter ones or ones without a great downward transition when pointed at a jump you’d probably choose to trot the whole thing.