I never thought of it as scoring as opposed to judging and that makes a world more sense.
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Hmmm…as someone who has judged the 2’6" and below at schooling shows, I can assure you, it is more difficult to judge those ‘step over’ horses, especially after you’ve scored the bottom (fairly easy) and the top (usually obvious). The middle is HARD! You have to be very observant, use a clear numerical system, organized, just like the big AA shows. I’ve had 15 or more in a trot a pole…OMG… how to differentiate the average lesson horse and beginner or green bean and ammy on a horse who just does his job??
Back to braiding: do it or don’t. There, done.
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I judge these shows and it’s hard. You can pick your winner and then cry when they make a huge mistake. In the very beginners classes you could end up placing riders on the basis of how many strides it takes them to sit a beat. It’s much easier to pretend judge at Devon when a tie breaker is a tiny rub.
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Moment of silence for those dark ages when the earth was still cooling and T rexes roamed, when we had enough conformation horses at any given A show to split the years.
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I think it would be cool if those lower level classes gave out ribbons based on scoring bands, like blue for 85-100, red for 75-85, yellow for 65-75. Easier for the judges, useful for the riders, and incentive to move up when it gets boring.
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I have been to schooling dressage shows that do this. Both were indoor winter shows. I think they call it Danish scoring or something like that.
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We have a big local show on Labor Day weekend. Most local shows are no braiding but most hunters at this show braided at least manes and many tails. I did not do my own braiding since my trainer was a pro braider. Only one year did she braid my horse’s tail. He hated it so much it was stuck straight out behind him.
Thankfully I rode him in jumpers and then a junior rode him in an eq class.
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Yep – Danish system. It particularly helps because competitors can get their ribbons right after their test is scored.
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I know they do it in the hunters for schooling classes (just red/blue).
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I did 4-H as a kid and our production shows for young horses were allegedly “Danish scoring.” All I can foggily recall was that there was more than one first.
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Or when there would be A and B sections of first years.
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I remember when there were 100 in the first year division in Wellington.
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I disagree that there’s not standouts even in the 2’6” local shows. It’s not just about being super impressive over the jumps, which a lot of 2’6” horses are, it’s about quality and consistency. Even at local shows there’s some funky looking horses that are really incredible. That doesn’t mean they’re over jumping or nailing every lead change, but they are consistently going in, getting the strides, keeping pace, and even making below average distances look smooth and nice. I think when the judges who come from A rated backgrounds come to the local shows these types of horses place well. I think when you get the newish amateur judges the placings are all over the place.
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Now all those horses are spread across 47 divisions so everyone can get a ribbon. In 2005, the middle adult division had 86. It was split one time. Now there are two separate adult divisions in all three age groups, two separate 2’6" adult divisions, 2’9" adults, and 3’3" amateurs.
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Agree!
Oh I absolutely agree with you there are some very lovely horses showing at the local level. My point, and I’m sure I didn’t explain myself well, is that it can be hard to be a jumping competition when the jumps are 2’6” and below. As in, just judging the quality of the horse’s jump. So everything else becomes more impactful to the score.
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Not to mention they have different sections for people who want to show on weekdays instead of on the weekend. Or they want to do both so they can do different horses in each section.
Very much this and I have a prime example. I was looking at photos from a local A show recently that several horses from our barn attended, including one of our best lesson horses to do the 2’6 low adults. And for as lovely a horse as he is, canter like a metronome, auto lead change, anyone can find a distance, it is almost impossible to take a good picture of him at 2’6 because he just doesn’t put a big effort. So in motion, as long as his rider can find 8 jumps, he’s going to get a good ribbon because it is smooth. But if you’re going to judge all on jumping style, he’s kind of mediocre.
Oh I owned one!! He won everything at the local level, a legitimate 10 mover especially at the canter, perfect rhythm, the best expression going around, but he was an admittedly just mediocre jumper. Nothing dangerous, but very meh over the jump. But it didn’t matter because at that level, his overall impression was so good that he was always incredibly competitive unless I biffed a jump or there was another horse with the same “look” but better form.
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I mostly event and rarely cross over into the hunters, and when I do it’s typically just little local stuff. But I have to say I love the look of a braided mane, whether it’s tiny professional hunter braids, or button braids, or big fluffy dressage braids. And while I’m no professional braider and don’t have the skill or patience to do 50 perfectly even hunter braids down my horse’s neck, I can braid well enough that the braids stay in, look reasonably tidy, and aren’t a sloppy distracting mess. I’d be kind of disappointed if I paid the money to travel to somewhere like WEC to do a “bigger” unrated show (I get it that it’s a whole lot cheaper than a rated show, but it’s not like it’s some backyard schooling show 10 minutes down the road that you can go to for <$100) and was “discouraged” from even doing my own amateur braid job… mostly because of the show photos! I would want my pictures to show the equine half of the partnership looking like he’d dressed up for the party too, instead of looking like he’s out for a schooling day. Why not just say “braiding optional and will not affect placing”? Do they think judges are still going to be subliminally swayed by the prettiest braiding job over the better trip?
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