2 minute read
Understanding Event Judging
PERSONAL BEST
Understanding Event Judging
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Your goal for each ride should be achieving your personal best.
by Annalisa Hall, Contributor
Judging has many components. It can be hard for kids and their parents to figure out how these components come together when ribbons are awarded at a horse show.
It would seem that if you had a really good ride, you would get a really good ribbon, and if you had a poor ride, “ you would get a low ribbon or even no ribbon. But the thing is, it’s not just about how you perform, it’s also about your competition’s performance. You could have a fabulous ride, say a 9.5 on a scale of 10, but others in the class have a 9.7, 9.8, or 9.9. So you can be really good, but they can still be better. Other times, you may have a poor ride, like maybe a 4.0 on a scale of 10. But it is possible that the other riders have even poorer rides, and you could still win the blue ribbon with your 4.0. This is one of the hardest things to wrap your head around - that a blue ribbon does not
always mean you rode well, and a low ribbon does NOT automatically mean you rode poorly.
I teach kids that their goal each time they show is a PERSONAL BEST, as you can only control your own performance, and not how others ride. Remember this – you
You can have a great ride and be last or a poor ride and still win. In the long
up, you will succeed. And yes, it is perfectly fine to be disappointed, and perfectly fine to cry. Then we’d like to see you come back, determined to keep improving and fighting! The next challenge you’ll have is when you finally win that first blue ribbon and you think you’ve “arrived,” and that you’ll term, you will experience both. Experience makes a BIG difference. But in order to gain show ring experience, you just have to keep on going out always win from that point on. But the competition is also working hard to improve, and there are always newcomers working hard, nipping at the heels of the champions. Every competitor has to learn not to rest on past successes, but to keep on training hard. For sustained success, you have to love what you are doing and enjoy the practices and the process as much as the ” Photo: Karen Robertson You can’t judge your success by the color of the ribbon. there and trying. It may successes. So work hard, seem like it takes forev- and good luck! n er, but if you don’t give
