UNL Horse Judging: Evaluating Western Pleasure

Kathy Anderson Author

08/19/2024 Added

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Narrated PPT lecture on the criteria used to evaluate and judge a Western Pleasure class

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[00:00:00.920]In this PowerPoint today, I'm going to go through some of the various things that
[00:00:04.680]we're going to look at when we're judging the Western Pleasure class.
[00:00:07.080]Naturally, you cannot really evaluate it from still pictures, but the main purpose
[00:00:11.700]of this is to give you some insight on some of the different categories that
[00:00:14.820]we're going to use and also how you would use these to build a potential set
[00:00:18.180]of oral reasons. So the various categories we're going to look at and
[00:00:22.080]use in evaluating Western Pleasure horses include first their functional
[00:00:26.100]correctness, are they meeting the requirements of the class, following the
[00:00:29.360]rules, the different regulations of the class and we'll go through some each of
[00:00:33.080]these in a few more minutes. Another area is their quality of movement and this is
[00:00:38.860]probably one of the most important. I would say both functional correctness
[00:00:42.320]and quality of movement are the two most important ones. In quality of movement
[00:00:46.600]we're looking to see if they're performing the gates according to the
[00:00:49.940]standards that are described for what the class is. Some other things we're
[00:00:54.680]going to use to evaluate them on are their attitude, meaning how responsive
[00:00:58.720]is the horse to the rider's cues, their general mannerisms. I use kind of a
[00:01:03.820]phrase in a lot of classes of autopilot, meaning that the horse looks like he's
[00:01:08.260]magically doing things on his own and is extremely responsive to the rider
[00:01:12.040]without the rider having to do very much to cue and ask the horse to do a variety
[00:01:15.840]of different things. Headset and head carriage are important aspects of the
[00:01:20.520]class but we really do not want to overemphasize it. Over the years headset
[00:01:24.640]and head carriage has probably had a lot of controversy with it and for the
[00:01:28.560]most part it's pretty much taken care of itself. However, you do need to be
[00:01:32.340]familiar with the difference between headset and head carriage and
[00:01:36.000]we'll talk about that and show you some illustrations of that as we move through
[00:01:39.780]the presentation. Manners also is another area looking at their mouth, their ears,
[00:01:45.240]their tail. Are they quiet? Are they positive? Are they grumpy? Are they mad? So
[00:01:49.820]those are all things that we'll look and evaluate the overall manners of a horse.
[00:01:53.480]Alright, to talk just a little bit about headset and head carriage and again I don't want to
[00:01:58.400]put too much emphasis on it, but remember head carriage is basically do they carry their
[00:02:03.800]head up and down. The neck should be parallel or slightly above parallel to the ground.
[00:02:08.600]We used to use the tip of the ears in relationship to the horse's withers. It's gone through
[00:02:13.160]a lot of changes and most of the time if a horse is a good mover and going at a correct
[00:02:17.600]pace the headset and head carriage more or less take care of themselves. But remember
[00:02:21.940]head carriage is how they carry their head up or down. Headset is how they set their
[00:02:28.240]nose. In front of, behind the vertical or up and down. So slightly in front of the vertical
[00:02:33.680]or up and down really is just fine. We really don't want them to set their nose behind
[00:02:38.280]the vertical. So be sure you know the difference of head carriage and headset and use those
[00:02:43.260]for correct terminology. Alright here's a few illustrations of some different head positions
[00:02:48.340]and again we're not going to spend an overabundance of time on this. But acceptable head carriage
[00:02:53.320]is this. It could even be a little bit lower than that. Remember head carriage and headset
[00:02:58.080]carrying the head up and down. We're setting the nose in and out. Here is what we consider
[00:03:02.900]a high head carriage where it is quite elevated. In the western pleasure class this head would
[00:03:08.020]be carried too high. Some of the horsemanship riders they do carry their head higher but
[00:03:12.160]in this presentation we're really addressing western pleasure. In C. over here the head
[00:03:18.400]carriage is too low. We're looking at this up and down and the tip of the ears would
[00:03:22.880]really be below the point of his wither so he is carrying his head too low.
[00:03:27.920]This illustration shows a head set looking at the flexion of the nose and this nose is
[00:03:34.160]going to be behind the vertical so that would be a negative. Too far in front of the vertical
[00:03:39.600]is this and we want the nose bumped out a little bit. This is excessively rooting his
[00:03:44.160]nose and so this would be a negative where his head set is too far in front, excuse me
[00:03:48.200]yes, his head set is too far in front of the vertical. So here's a couple horses to look
[00:03:53.660]at as far as head set and head carriage. The horse over here is a very
[00:03:57.760]fine head carriage and head set. The head's very level, it's in a very natural
[00:04:01.720]position, the nose is bumped out just a tad, not behind the vertical, so both this
[00:04:07.360]horse's head set and head carriage is just fine. This horse, if he would remain
[00:04:12.200]this way throughout the class, you should see that his head carriage, if we look at
[00:04:16.380]this line here, is too low. If he's just walking many times we don't really
[00:04:21.280]aren't, we are not really that concerned about it.
[00:04:23.620]If he remains there through the jog and the lope, then we really
[00:04:27.600]would would take this into consideration in our evaluation of this horse. His head
[00:04:31.940]set, where he sets his nose, is just fine, but he is carrying his head at this way
[00:04:36.940]gate, I believe it's at the walk, of being too low, lower than what we would like. A
[00:04:40.840]couple other examples of head set and head carriage, the carriage of this horse
[00:04:45.460]is just fine. This horse has a head set that is more
[00:04:48.720]nearly perpendicular, which is just fine. He's not behind the vertical, up and down
[00:04:53.280]where he is is just fine. This is an Arabian type horse and so his frame
[00:04:57.440]is going to be just slightly different to show you some differences. His head
[00:05:01.220]carriage is still okay. He carries his head with more of an arc. His head set is
[00:05:05.600]a little bit slightly behind the vertical, which is something you might
[00:05:08.720]see in Arabians, but I still would prefer the head set to be a little bit more up
[00:05:12.800]and down. Next we also have to evaluate functional correctness. Are they doing
[00:05:19.000]the correct gaits? Are they doing the classes that's prescribed by the
[00:05:21.860]association? So the requirements, the rules, and regulations of the class. So a
[00:05:27.280]functionally correct horse basically is going to travel at whatever the gait is
[00:05:30.680]called at a walk or jog or lope. It's important in Western pleasure that we
[00:05:35.500]use the correct terminology. So they walk, they jog, we do not trot in Western
[00:05:40.540]pleasure, we jog or we extend the jog, and then we lope. In English, hunt seat, we
[00:05:46.720]will trot and canter, but remember in Western correct terminology it's a jog
[00:05:51.380]and a lope. And also they have to be on the correct lead. One of the first things
[00:05:56.040]I do when I judge a class is I judge a class
[00:05:57.120]and call for the lope is I glance around and make sure everyone's on the correct
[00:06:00.880]lead because you would be surprised at times they're not. Also they have to
[00:06:06.580]reverse to the inside of the arena, come off the rail and make either a half
[00:06:11.700]circle back to the rail, they can pivot, it really is not specified which way is
[00:06:15.840]correct. Also there's a backup in the class and so sometimes this is done on
[00:06:19.940]the rail, sometimes it's done in the middle of the pen, depending on however
[00:06:22.940]the class is conducted. Okay, another very important portion
[00:06:26.960]of the class is the quality of movement. Again we can't really evaluate this from
[00:06:31.580]slides, we'll watch a variety of horses track and move when we want to evaluate
[00:06:35.600]their quality of movement. Two of the big things in the industry right now and big
[00:06:40.700]buzzwords when we're talking quality of movement is cadence and rhythm. Okay,
[00:06:45.640]cadence is actually the accuracy of the footfall pattern and we'll talk about
[00:06:50.060]and show you what the correct footfall
[00:06:51.540]fall pattern are for each of the different gates and we're looking to see which horse is the most
[00:06:56.350]cadence. Rhythm refers to the speed of the legs. Are they slow-legged? Are they quick-legged? And so
[00:07:02.110]these are the kinds of phrases and kinds of terminology you'll want to use when you're
[00:07:07.450]talking and judging the western pleasure horses. So the walk should be a four-beat gate. You should
[00:07:12.570]be able to count it out as that horse walks. He should be traveling in somewhat of a medium speed.
[00:07:18.050]There are horses right now that are too slow, and that, as we judge, is supposed to be a criticism
[00:07:23.070]of the class. The jog is a two-beat diagonal gate where the right front and left hind strike the
[00:07:29.070]ground together, left front and right hind strike the ground together, and it should be relatively
[00:07:34.070]slow, but it needs to be this two-beat diagonal gate. The lope is a three-beat gate where the outside
[00:07:39.990]hind foot strikes the ground, the diagonal legs come down, and then the inside front foot comes
[00:07:45.230]down, depending on what lead he's on, and it should be a slow.
[00:07:48.030]It should be a relatively slow pace, however, we want to make sure that he is doing a true
[00:07:53.530]three-beat lope. Again, we can't really evaluate quality on slides, but some things to think
[00:08:01.050]about and ways to look at it are, number one, you're really going to address and look at
[00:08:04.950]the horse's legs. The top line over here, the head and neck, generally will be all part
[00:08:11.630]of the picture, okay? The only way you can tell if this horse is truly doing the correct
[00:08:16.630]gates is look at the legs.
[00:08:17.750]One of the first things I'll do is to watch that horse jog and count 1, 2, 1, 2, is he
[00:08:23.950]hitting his 2-beat diagonals, then go and evaluate how pretty and how the quality is.
[00:08:28.830]So you have to look at the legs. We're going to look at them from the bottom up, from the
[00:08:32.590]ground up, and from the rear forward, all right? As a horse trots, particularly when
[00:08:38.250]they lope, we'll talk a lot about how they use their hocks, how they drive their hocks
[00:08:42.650]underneath themselves and propel them forward, or the negative is to leave those hocks out
[00:08:46.990]too far behind them.
[00:08:47.750]All of this falls into a phrase that you'll see a lot and should use a lot of self-carriage.
[00:08:53.590]We're looking to see what horse carries himself the best and which horse has the most self-carriage.
[00:08:59.330]Is he driving with his hocks? Is he hitting his two-beat diagonals? Is he truly doing
[00:09:03.310]that three-beat lope?
[00:09:08.170]Some other things as far as quality of movement, we're looking for a horse that's relatively
[00:09:12.850]collected. Is he pulled up underneath himself or is he very, very strung out?
[00:09:17.650]One old horseman, his definition of collection was the imprisonment of a horse's head between
[00:09:23.270]the rider's hands and his legs. And you'll hear some people talk about a pleasure horse
[00:09:27.470]acting as a ballerina where everything comes and it looks like he's lifting from the center,
[00:09:31.810]lifting up from the back, and that's also going to be a horse that is relatively well
[00:09:35.590]collected. Impulsion and drive from the hawk, this talks about also how they push and looking
[00:09:41.370]at those horses, how they use themselves from behind. The length of the stride is another
[00:09:46.750]important aspect of this.
[00:09:47.550]We'll talk a lot of big length of stride in the hunt seat horses, but also in our western
[00:09:53.850]horses, we want it to be an equal distance of here and here on the inside and the outside,
[00:10:00.170]which makes him for a better quality of mover, which also ensures that he's probably a sounder
[00:10:04.510]horse as he's going down the rail. So we will look at their length of stride. Cadence we
[00:10:09.750]already talked about is the way the footfall pattern and how correct he is in that aspect.
[00:10:15.450]A symmetrical stride that they're even on both sides is also another element.
[00:10:17.450]Quality of movement again we're not really going to be able to look at this but we'll
[00:10:24.070]look for a drive of the hock. We'll also look through the shoulder and how those horses
[00:10:27.850]are flat and reach out. This horse as you can see is very flat in his front leg and
[00:10:33.830]so that is very much of a positive. You think that you don't want to look to see the bottom
[00:10:38.450]of the horse's foot very much. If he's flippy in front, flippy with his feet, he's going
[00:10:43.130]to flex those ankles a lot more and we want the horse to just kind of swing those ankles
[00:10:47.350]and swing those legs out forward without a lot of animation and flexion.
[00:10:51.350]Okay, attitude is another one. We're looking to see how responsive they are. Are they smooth?
[00:10:56.350]Do they have prompt gait transitions? Are they a positive horse? Do they reverse and
[00:11:00.350]back? All of these things are, they look very willful when they do all of those things.
[00:11:05.350]Mannerisms also is important. Do they look straight for the bridle? Are they willing
[00:11:09.350]to perform? Do they chomp at the bit? Are they up and down with their head? All of those
[00:11:14.350]types of things are things to look at and address in mannerisms.
[00:11:17.250]In Western Pleasure, bit contact and the length of rein is somewhat of a factor. You'll see
[00:11:23.250]some variation and some differences of it. The Western Pleasure horse should travel on
[00:11:27.250]a reasonably loose rein and have very light contact. You will see differences of style
[00:11:32.250]with some of the bit contact, and I think I have a few pictures here, of ways that different
[00:11:36.250]people will present their horses. This horse here is a very light rein contact. It's fine.
[00:11:44.150]His head carriage is fine. It's not.
[00:11:47.150]It could be longer, but it's showing that he can go on a reasonably loose rein with a little bit of a drape.
[00:11:52.050]This horse's headset is a little bit different. He's more up and down with the vertical.
[00:11:56.050]He's been being ridden with a little bit more drape of a rein, and provided that he can perform fine,
[00:12:01.050]this rein length is okay. This horse down here, I know the picture's not very good,
[00:12:06.050]but it's a picture of a horse that really has--is ridden on quite a bit tighter rein.
[00:12:11.050]She's riding with contact on that horse, and that would be a negative on her. We would really like to see
[00:12:17.050]a little bit more drape of rein. Probably on this horse up here is probably the minimum that we would really ideally like to see.
[00:12:23.950]If you look down here at the black horse, he's probably the one being ridden on the most rein, on the loosest rein.
[00:12:29.950]And we'll talk about giving credit to high degree of difficulty or increasing degree of difficulty.
[00:12:35.950]And if this horse can perform on a loose rein at a high level and go through the class correctly,
[00:12:41.950]then you're probably going to award him some credit for being able to do it that way
[00:12:46.950]because it is a very high degree of difficulty to be able to form and go through the class on this much length of rein.
[00:12:52.850]If this horse is a runoff and doesn't stay collected, then his rein length is going to be a negative.
[00:12:58.850]This particular horse is a sidebar. I'll tell you, you could do this.
[00:13:02.850]This is Harley Dezipped and he probably has more world championships and pleasure points than any horse that there's ever been.
[00:13:08.850]So he obviously can perform on a rein length of that type.
[00:13:12.850]If I was a judge and I had a horse walk in the pen like this,
[00:13:16.850]I'm going to look at him twice and say okay, I'm going to assume you're really good
[00:13:20.850]and I'm going to make sure that you can perform up to the level of what you first indicated and show me that you can.
[00:13:27.850]So those are just some things about judging the Western Pleasure Class and different criteria
[00:13:31.850]that hopefully you can use and put together as we're designing the class or we're evaluating classes
[00:13:38.850]and look to do some reasons on them.

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UNL Horse Judging: Evaluating Western Pleasure

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