Horse Conformation/ Evaluation

What you need to know before you can judge Before you start judging horses you need to know some basic information before you start: 1. parts of the horse 2. skeletal structure 3. common blemishes and unsoundness

Balance The overall symmetry of the animal, the parts of the horse should blend smoothly together. There are multiple ways to evaluate balance but the easiest ways are to divide the parts of the horse into sections. A A = B B

Structural Correctness The legs are the most important thing when looking at the bone structure of the horse. If a horse doesn’t have good legs, it won’t be able to preform as well as one that does

Weighing the pros and cons When judging horses, you’ll have to rank how important each fault is compared to other faults. Going in order of the most important of the 5 categories of equine conformation are: balance structural correctness way of going muscling breed type

Oral Reasons Oral reasons are verbally explaining why you placed the class the way you did to one or more judges. An easy way to do reasons is grouping the class in a top pair, a middle pair, and a bottom pair You have to be confident in your placing, maintain eye contact with the judge(s), and have overall good public speaking skills

Example Class

Example Class This class is placed: 1st place- C 2nd place- A 3rd place- B