Judging

Well yesterday I made my judging debut at St. Charles Farm Schooling Show. It was SUCH a blast! I absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure how I would like judging, but this was such a perfect first experience, I cannot wait to judge again in a few weeks.

I only had to speak with one trainer on the side about her student's behavior. It was the sweetest little pony who was SUCH a gem, he took wonderful care of his girl and she seemed to give less than the deserving amount of respect back to him, so I took the opportunity to speak with the trainer on the subject. I feel especially at such a young age, it's very important that we educate the future equestrians of this world that our horses are good to us, we need to always be good back to them.

The overall feedback for the day was that I was extremely fair in all of my pinning which was the best compliment anyone could have given me. I truly judged each round individually and gave them the score they deserved. The only time "favorites" came into play was when two horses had equal amount of faux pas in the over fences (refusals, rails, chips, etc.) and I would choose the safer ride, or the more brilliant horse, situation pending. Most of all, I chose safe rides all day, which made me feel great that everyone agreed that I was fair. Some of the over fences rounds had big, beautiful horses that would be perfectly suited for the 3'6" jumpers, but doing the 2'9" hunters they were buzzing around breathing fire – and that doesn't get far in my hunter ring, folks. Yes, your horse is beautiful, no I don't consider you the most brilliant ride of the bunch.

I'm so happy, this is such a new and exciting thing for me to get involved in. If anyone knows of any schooling or open horse shows that need judges, please pass my name and information along!!! I was asked to judge a horse show up in Eagle River, Wisconsin next summer, so Bill and I are going to try and plan a vacation around it :-)