Some riders get very confused by judges comments and terminology. This I can relate to as I have seen some very interesting and conflicting statements. This section of Competition Corner is to hopefully explain some of the comments used by judges and to show that some are just not explainable!!!!!
If you have received any comments on your test sheets recently that you would like an explanation for then e-mail Simon and I will try and give a possible meaning.
1.'Halt not square' - The horse did not halt with both the front and back pairs of legs side by side.
2. 'Head tilting' - Looking at the horse from the front the nose should be directly underneath the ears. If the rider has his/her hands at a different height then the bit action will change and cause the horse to tilt their head to the left or right.
3. 'Coming behind vertical' - When looking from the side a vertical line is dropped down from the ears of the horse towards the ground. At no point should the nose come behind this line, i.e. closer to the chest of the horse.
4. 'Tight through neck' - This basically means that the horses neck has shortened too much. This could have happened because of tension in the horse or because the rider is pulling the nose in to achieve the outline as opposed to allowing the neck to stretch out to the hand.
5. 'Some loss of balance but pleasing steps' - This to me is very interesting. If there was a loss of balance then there would have been a loss of rhythm. This would indicate that at this point a loss of engagement - so how could the steps be pleasing??
6. 'Reins not clearly given' - This comment refers to the canter movement when the rider is asked to 'give and retake the reins'. The idea is that the rider pushes the hands forward towards the horses mouth, stays there for at least two strides, clearly showing the horse in self carriage, and then retakes the reins and continues. BOTH hands must be pushed forwards together, the judge should clearly see NO rein contact, min. 2 strides, then the retake. Sometimes the rider only gives one rein, does not hold then away for long enough or simply doesn't show a release of the contact. The rule book states that this movement should happen in one continuos movement. To show clear moments of self carriage the reins must be slack, if a continuos movement is tried then I do not believe that the judge has enough time to view the movement. I personally give the reins away softly and fluently, hold them away clearly then gently retake.
7. 'Comes behind vertical but good lengthening' - If the horse comes behind the vertical but has a 'flicky' toe action then he will show a change of front leg action but this will not be a true lengthening of the stride. If the horse is overbent, the contact lost then he will not be coming through from behind i.e. on the forehand. This cannot therefore show any good steps.
8. 'On shoulders' - This means the same as on the forehand.
9. 'Needs to lower more behind' - The judge has seen that the croup is high, i.e. a stiffening of the joints of the hindleg. The horse that has a raised croup is therefore on the forehand.
10. 'Canter rather earthbound' - This canter has given the judge the impression of being croup high, and therefore on the forehand.