A friendly reminder when you attend your horse show. Sometimes it is apparent why you haven’t won a ribbon. But sometimes we forget why. It could be the small things that separate you from the competition or sometimes it may be the usual reasons.
Why do you think you haven’t placed when other people have. Please comment below.

When competing at a horse show there may be so many horses and riders that only the top few horses make the cut. This means that ANY, and I mean ANY quirk, tail swish or ear twitch may knock you out of the placings (I’m exaggerating BTW) but there have been classes where the first place horse will get a score of 90 and the 6th place horse with a score of 80 so if your horse has a late change, bobble or hiccup you could be out of the placings. At these shows EVERYTHING counts.

At regional shows, local shows and training shows the ear twitches and tail swishes are less likely to cause you a lost placing and it is more likely that a refusal, dropped rail or cross canter which will knock you out of the placings. Either way it is good to be reminded what the judge is looking for.