Anybody that has ever shown a horse in any discipline other than speed events has had their horse or their performance evaluated by a living breathing human or a group of so called “Judges”.  Being a Judge is not an easy thing to do, and not all people have the makeup to be one.   Regardless of how much money you have won or how many World Champions you have shown-It takes a special individual to be able to enforce the rules, evaluate the performance, and add in a tiny bit of personal preference to come up with a Winner.

Being a Judge is sometimes a very trying thing to say the least; you are usually isolated from the contestants and you will NEVER make everyone happy. You need to be thick skinned to be able to place the horses as you see fit and take the criticism from the contestants that may not agree with your decisions.  If a Judge will always approach a show with the attitude that the contestants are there to please him and that he is not there to please the contestants, it will make things easier in the end.

Judging is not a perfect Science and never will be as long as the human opinion is involved, but if we can continue to educate ourselves as Judges, keep up with the ever changing equine world, and know that there is always room for improvement, we can be confident we are doing our best to choose the right Winner!

See you down the road,
Bobby Hunt

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