4-H is a national organization, which saw its bicentennial year in 2002, and includes many diverse projects. The 4-H horse program has many of its own aspects, including the Horse Judging contest. These contests are held at county fairs and also at the state level. Winning horse judging teams at the state level are invited to compete at the national level as well.
The contests have classes of horses for the 4-H’ers to judge. An official judge also places the classes, and the 4-H’ers placings are compared to the judges and scored. The 4-H’er with the placings that most closely resemble the official’s is the winner of the contest.
Classes of Horses
Each class to be judged is made up of four similar horses. They are either “performance” classes, which are riding classes, or “conformation” classes, which are in-hand. The four handlers (or riders) wear a number (1, 2, 3, or 4) so they can be placed by the judges.
- Performance classes are judged on how well the horse and rider pair performs. A performance class could be Huntseat Equitation, Western Pleasure, Dressage Suitability, Western Horsemanship, or any class that could be seen at a regular horse show.
- Conformation classes are judged on the horse’s conformation only, and includes aspects such as the horse’s balance, muscling, skeletal structure, and breed and sex characteristics. Conformation classes include Aged Quarter Horse geldings, Morgan broodmares, Hunters In Hand, or any class that could be seen at a horse show.
A class can be judged “as-is,” which means that any lack of soundness or illegal tack must be penalized accordingly. On the contrary, a class may be judged “as sound,” which means that any unsound movement should be overlooked. This latter case is often seen when a small competition cannot find enough horses to complete a class, so competitors are asked to pretend that a horse is sound even if it is lame. The officials will tell the contestants how to judge the class.
How the Contest Proceeds
In a conformation class, the four horses are lined up head to toe, and the judging competitors are given a side view. Then the horses are turned 90 degrees, for a front or hind view; turned for the opposite side view; then turned for the final view. The judging competitors are given two minutes for each view to make their notes and observations. The horses are then “moved” individually. The competitors use this time to watch how the horse travels. Lastly, the competitors are given a two-minute time frame for “close inspection,” where they can move in close enough to the horses to see small details such as blemishes, or if that gelding really is a gelding. They are not allowed to touch the horses.
In performance classes, the competitors judge from outside the ring. The horses are put through their paces like a regular horse show class.
At the end of the class, competitors mark their scorecards that are handed out at the start of the competition. The card will ask for the competitor's ID number, the name of the class, the placings: 1st___ 2nd___ 3rd___ 4th___, and the date. The contestant fills in the horse’s number next to the placing.
Tips for Horse Judging Success
4-H’ers should always be armed with paper, a clipboard, and a pen for horse judging contests. In performance classes, the horses often get mixed up and out of order because they are moving, so a good idea would be to write down the distinguishing features of each horse/rider pair in case their number is hidden (i.e. “blue shirt on bay” or “green helmet palomino pony”). A horse judging contest is a very quiet event due to the “no talking” rule, so make sure to know where the volunteers are in case of questions.
How Scores are Determined
The official judge turns in his scorecards at the same time as they contestants. He also issues “cuts” between the placings. Cuts range from seven to one, and stand for the amount of difference between two horses. A cut of seven indicates a world-class difference, and a cut of one means barely any difference. For instance, a placing of 4-3-1-2 with cuts of 4, 1, 7 means that there was a substantial difference between horses 4 and 3, barely any difference between horses 3 and 1, and a huge difference between horses 1 and 2. The cuts determine how many points a contestant loses from placing the class differently than the official. Points are deducted from a perfect score of 50. For instance, the official placing was 4-3-1-2 with cuts of 4, 1, 7. A 4-H’er places the class 4-1-3-2, which means she switched the middle pair. The cut for the middle pair is one, so the contestant only loses one point. Her score for this class would be a 49. This is sensible because in the class, the two middle horses were very similar, so she is only slightly penalized for switching them in her placing.
Oral Reasons
The toughest part of horse judging for young people is those couple of classes that call for oral reasons. Not only does the 4-H’er have to correctly judge a class of horses, but she has to prepare a two-minute set of reasons for placing them the way she did! In a state competition, about eight classes are judged, and about three classes are deemed “reasons” classes. 4-H’ers should take significantly better and more notes on these classes, as they will need them to prepare reasons later. Often the contest official will preside on these small speeches, and each set will be scored out of a possible 50.
As long as the contestant knows the reasons format, she should be fine in the reasons room if she is confident in her placings.
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