WD judge question

[ezduzit]

My horse goes in a very low port curb bit. I see a lot of people showing western dressage in a curb bit, using both hands. I’m kind of a purest and because the curb bit isn’t a 2-hand bit, I prefer to use one hand. I ride with romel reins, the rules say only one hand permitted with romel reins.

My question for the judges is: does it make any difference to you whether the curb is used one handed or two? Does it make any difference to you if a romel rein is held in two hands?

The reason I ask is that at the last show, as I was moving from x to leave the ring, the judge said thank you. Then she said THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I’m wondering if it was because of my reins and showing one handed or if she was just a nice judge. Maybe thought my horse was cute. No comments on my test except that our harmony was good = 8.

[Dani]

I’m not a judge, but every rule book I’ve seen says you can only use 2 hands with a bosal or snaffle. I can’t remember what they said for hacks, but curbs were one handed only.

[starrunner]

Dani–it depends on the governing organization.

Some allow two hands on the curb (ie USEF), some do not (NAWD). I don’t know about cowboy dressage. I would have to look it up. That’s a different ball of wax.

I think it’s great OP that you just used the one hand. I doubt the judge had it because of the one hand vs two thing, but rather, perhaps you best exemplified the idea of western dressage and were a joy to watch.

Or perhaps she was just a really nice judge

[Draftmare]

In WD you MUST go one handed with Rommel reins. You may go one handed or two handed with a curb when using split reins. At my local shows most people go two handed with a curb, and the judge doesn’t seem to care one way or another. Really they can’t since its legal either way.

[Tee]

So no extra points given to the rider riding one handed (either split reins or romal)? I have to think I’d be a tad biased. But I’m not a judge.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=Tee;8861634]
So no extra points given to the rider riding one handed (either split reins or romal)? I have to think I’d be a tad biased. But I’m not a judge. :)[/QUOTE]

They shouldn’t really be showing favoritism that way.

[HorseInaTARDIS]

[QUOTE=ezduzit;8860496]
The reason I ask is that at the last show, as I was moving from x to leave the ring, the judge said thank you. Then she said THANK YOU VERY MUCH.[/QUOTE]

Did you acknowledge him after he said “thank you”? Did he say “Thank you very much” in a louder, more pronounced tone? I was stewarding a judge this summer that expected all riders to acknowledge him or say something after he said thank you. If he exaggerated the “Thank you very much” perhaps he was telling you- hey, don’t forget about me, you’re not done showing until you leave the ring.
I don’t know, it was just a thought.

Also, I think it would look awkward to ride with the entire romel set with two hands. if you removed the “romel” part (the tail if you will) that would leave you with a sort of roping reins but then you would also have to remove that little piece that sort of folds them together where the tail attaches. I would say that would look better to use two handed.
I also use romel reins and will only ride one handed with them. I have split reins if I want to show two handed.

[ezduzit]

Yes, I acknowledged the judge the both times. Verbally and by looking at her and smiling.

Before I knew about the one hand/romel rule, I used 2 hands and never received a comment about it. Yes, it was quite awkward with all that stuff in my right hand and just one rein in my left when I was two handing it.

I’ve worked to get “more forward”, which is what the judges in June said I needed. Now that I have gotten more forward, using one hand effectively has become easier because there’s more coming from the hindquarters.

[ezduzit]

At first I thought “why not” then I realized that when the reins are handled according to the rules, singling one out as better than another IS favoritism.

I like to think that my scores reflected any additional degree of difficulty by using one hand. A 7.5 might become an 8 because on the 20m circle it’s obvious I’m not pulling his head around…HXK straight line is legs and seat…something like that.

I scored 69.5% in one test and 65+% in the other ( our lope transition was a bit sloppy).

[QUOTE=Draftmare;8861684]
They shouldn’t really be showing favoritism that way.[/QUOTE]