From the Judge’s Chair

Learn to understand and assess one-point penalties for better scoring.

PRIMO MORALES

One year (a long time ago), during the finals of the reined work at the Snaffle Bit Futurity®, a rider’s horse changed leads in the front two strides before it changed leads behind.The three judges on the rider’s left side view assessed a one-point lead change penalty, but the two judges on the rider’s right side were more directly in front of the horse and didn’t see the lead penalty.Consequently, one of the judge’s scores missed the lead penalty counted on the five-judgesystem (throw out the high and low scores). The rider with the missed lead ended up third by a half of a point and earned something like $40,000.Fourth place paid $25,000. Themissed lead actually cost the fourth-place rider $15,000!

This example shows that one-point penalties can be just as important as a major two-, three- or five-point reviewable penalty. The key for the judges is focus and knowledge of the one-point penalty rules for our three disciplines.

Defining the most common one-point penalties and attempting to make them clearer is the object of this article. A good rule of thumb: a judge is duty-bound to call all penalties. If a penalty occurs, call it. If a judge must ask himself if something was a penalty, the benefit goes to the rider.

Note: Something must have happened for a penalty to be considered. In this situation, where a penalty is not clear, a reduction in run content could be warranted.

Let’s discuss the herd work penalties. The two most common penalties in the herd work are: “A” (miss) losing working advantage and “C” working out of position. A miss is defined as:a response of the horse to the action of the cow being worked, resulting in a loss of working advantage or being out of position.Loss of working advantage is defined as when a horse goes by a cow to the degree that he loses its position to maintain control of the cow.There are varying degrees of loss of control of the animal being worked. For example, the horse is just a little late responding to the cow during the turn, but immediately assumes a working advantage.

As a judge, it’s important to note penalties accurately.

In this case a one-point penalty might not clearly reflect what happened, probably a slight reduction in run content (in the control box) would more accurately balance what happened. If the horse regains working advantage within two strides, using run content is recommended. Beyond two strides, a one-point penalty is probably warranted. There is also such a thing as a “two-point miss,” which is an extreme loss of working advantage. This is recorded as a one-point A and a minus in the control box.

Working out of position is the position of the horse in relation to the cow being worked, being consistently either too short or too long in working to control the cow.Staying even on both sides while working a cow is a basic covenant for credit in herd work.If the horse is consistently short on one side and long on the other, a working out of position penalty is probably warranted. If this situation is brief before the rider evens up on the cow, either the control box or the eye appeal box could reflect what happened accurately.

As a judge, it is important not to call “phantom” penalties. These are perceived penalties that the video fails to support. Call the penalties if they are obvious, use the run content to get the score accurate if a perceived penalty cannot be successfully defended.

TO BE CONTINUED … .

Until Next Time,

Bill Enk NRCHA Director of Judges