This is the Scrabble jump, that Pongo was unsure of
I love scribing because it is a chance to see inside the judge's mind. And also if you know the judge well you can ask questions. Word of warning some judges just want their scribe to sit there and write. The judge I was working with this weekend is someone I have ridden with in clinics many times and she has stayed at my house on a couple of occasions, so we are on very friendly terms.
This is the "eyelash" jump. It is built in a curve which is kind of hard to see
Overall, I thought she was very generous with her scores compared to the other judges I have scribed for. All the scores were very consistent, she just didn't slam the pairs like some. For example, one judge if the horse went behind the vertical the score was not going to be above a 5. This judge would comment on it but not drop the score as much. Also youthful exuberance was not dinged as much. This was nice to see, since I am sure we will have some exuberance our first few outings.
The hardest stretch was about an hour after lunch (2:30-3:30ish), we had a string of Into A and B. There was a lack of energy in these tests that made it rough. The free walk across the diagional seemed to last an eternity. There are only so many ways you can say "needs more energy"/"use your leg" and I am pretty sure I wrote all of them at least ten times.
The biggest take away from the day was you can always have more bend and suppleness. Keep in mind the highest level test I saw was training level eventing. That is roughly first level, without the lateral work. So everything was very basic, but it is good to see where there are holes in the basics.
It was a very long but fun weekend. I had a lesson with the judge on Stinker which I will write about later.
Titan's Tavern (I haven't jumped this. It is a novice jump)
The hardest stretch was about an hour after lunch (2:30-3:30ish), we had a string of Into A and B. There was a lack of energy in these tests that made it rough. The free walk across the diagional seemed to last an eternity. There are only so many ways you can say "needs more energy"/"use your leg" and I am pretty sure I wrote all of them at least ten times.
Close up of Titan's Tavern.
The biggest take away from the day was you can always have more bend and suppleness. Keep in mind the highest level test I saw was training level eventing. That is roughly first level, without the lateral work. So everything was very basic, but it is good to see where there are holes in the basics.
This is the novice bench, but the beginner novice bench I jumped looks just like it...well smaller
There are so many horses that lacked in bend and suppleness, which some of that is due to the riders being beginners. It takes a pretty talented child/a very kind horse to create the bend and suppleness desired. There were some very lovely pairs. One was a very young girl and she is a very good rider. I have seen her at other shows on a very dirty pony. That pony gave some of the dirtiest stops I had ever seen and she stuck with him. She was now riding an adorable palomino pony and a very nice gray horse. I can't wait to see how these partnerships develop.
I love the breast cancer jump. A's (barn owner/manager) wife passed from breast cancer ~7 years ago.
It was a very long but fun weekend. I had a lesson with the judge on Stinker which I will write about later.
Stadium all set up for the show.
omg that 'titans tavern' jump is adorable - and i love the scrabble letters!!! also scribing is definitely on the list of things i want to do. seems like a great way to get a better sense for what judges look for in a ride. glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteAll the girls are wanting jumps for their ponies, since Titan got one. I told A that he needed to make Gatsby's Nuthouse for Stinker.
DeleteYou should scribe! It's is like a sneak peek of the dark side.