Ask Cherry
Road
to the Horse Results - 2005
Hi Cherry
Several of us attended the Road to the Horse in Murfreesboro this past weekend.
As one of the judges could you explain to us why the competition was placed the
way it was? Thank you.
JMC
Dear
JMC,
You pose a good question. I've asked the management of the event
if I could explain a bit about the judging system and they were glad for me to
do so.
The judging criteria was developed by the 2004 judges and the
management.
Each of the 5 judges gave scores for many individual
categories of each of the following segments. Our score sheets were picked up
after each segment and a running total was kept by management over the two days
but we never knew how our individual points were adding up.
Saturday
- 1 hour round pen work - 5 categories
Sunday - 2 hour round
pen work - 5 categories
Then in the arena, when
working individually, when the trainer indicates that he wants the judging to
start, he was judged on:
Rail
work - 5 categories
Obstacle Course - 5 categories
Freestyle
- 1 category
Total possible points 160
The
highest and lowest judges' scores were thrown out and the remaining 3 scores were
averaged and used to place the competition. So this means that the scores of three
judges were used; the scores of two judges were not used.
When
the winner was announced, that was the first time the judges knew who won.
The
scores were so close in this particular competition that only a few points separated
each of the 3 contestants.
I can't discuss how I placed the
participants, but I can say that I watched each and every thing that the clinicians
did and marked my scores on the sheets according to the assigned judging criteria.
My scores recognized the best of the three horsemen that day as they worked with
those three particular horses.
I hope this helps you understand
how the Road to the Horse was judged.
Best Regards, 
2.jpg){kind=small}
