Why don't riders like to be judged?

[Mickie Newnam <akelakhan@earthlink.net>]

Jim,
It's not that I mind being judged.  When our club was giving horsemanship awards
(and also "best trail horse" awards), they were interesting and I liked seeing
the judge's comments because it did help me learn.  I just feel, as do all of the
other riders in my club who I've talked to about it -- our club sanctions both
CTR and endurance-- that it should be separate from the horse's score!   I want
my horse judged on his condition, not how well we can do what someone thinks we
should.
Mickie

Jim Ferris x223 wrote:

> Why is "being judged" such a big problem? I fail to understand why most
> endurance riders have a fetish against "being judged". CTR, particularly
> NATRC, teaches you how to best care for your horse. Look at the results
> at the Tevis over the past many years. NATRC riders completion rate is
> over 90% whereas the average completion rate for the Tevis is around 50%
> (all horses included). What does riding LD rides teach you? The horsemanship
> judging in NATRC is designed to teach you how to take your horse cross
> country and really learn how to take care of the horse. As for the judging
> of the rider, this is meaningles unless it is to the benefit of the horse.
> I will admit that our rules do not permit riding bareback (how would you
> judge bareback riders?). As to the backing between two trees, this is a
> necessary capability that a horse must learn (at least you admit you can
> do it!).
>
> Sorry for the soapbox, but it really irks me that most endurance riders
> won't even try CTR (NATRC). It is still the best learning place for
> young horses, even if you want to do endurance. You will learn how to
> take care of your horse so that he/she will continue to be usable even
> into late age (read high 20's).
>
> -Jim
>
> > Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 14:01:29 -0400
> > From: "April" <adlee@bigfoot.com>
> > To: <SANDYSROB@aol.com>
> > Cc: "ridecamp" <ridecamp@endurance.net>
> > Subject: RC:  Re: Re:Looking for a horse
> > Message-ID: <007d01beb822$445c96b0$b3a58ed1@comsoft.org>
> > Content-Type: text/plain;
> >       charset="iso-8859-1"
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >
> > Hey, Sandy,
> >
> >   I'm new to endurance riding, but I'll say I will probably not do a CTR
> > ride.  (Never say never).  For one thing, I ride bareback and many CTRs
> > won't allow me to ride bareback.  Second, you get judged in CTRs.  I don't
> > like that.  I'd rather get from point A to point B with a healthy horse and
> > who cares if I can make him back up between two trees?  (We CAN, but that's
> > not that point here!  :)  ).
> >
> > Third, a good place to start is LD (limited distance) rides.  Defined by
> > AERC as "at least 25 miles but must not exceed 35 miles" (so that 5 mile LD
> > is out, right guys???  :)  LOL).  They're held on the same day and from the
> > same base camp as endurance rides (over 50 miles).
> >
> > Check out www.aerc.org if you haven't already.
> >
> > April & Apache (why can't she just shut up for once?)
> > Chattanooga, TN
>
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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
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