English riding- what the judges look for

Hey everybody,
I got a new appaloosa mare, and she is our first appaloosa. I have not shown english in probably 3 or 4 years, and am just now starting up again for jumping and eventing. My mare is trained in english and dressage, and she is learning jumping. I am wondering what the judges look for in the ring when you are on the rail, when you do dressage, and when you are jumping. I have gotten many answers from friends, but they tend to lean more towards other breeds and I want to know what they want for appaloosas. Thank you for your time, and thank you if you post and help me out.

Different judges have different opinions so it depends. I had a show today and one girl, her horse stopped at a jump. And I knocked down a jump. My trainer thought that stops and duck outs are worse then a knocked down pole but the other girl placed higher then me. So you never really know. And the judge own 2 of the horses that were being used in the show so she obviously showed favoritism towards them.

If you're doing eventing the only phase you'll need to wonder about the judges is really in dressage. For the most part I've never had any issues with judges marking down on colored horses, or non-TBs, etc. I ride a pinto and I've always done well. In dressage to know what the judge is looking for you'll simply have to look at a copy of the dressage test you'll memorize. It all starts with a consistent rhythm, suppleness, obedience, and precision. On a copy of the test it'll actually give you a short description of what the movement should be like. In the cross country and stadium jumping phases all that matters is getting through the course clean and safe within the time limit. If you're planning on doing hunters, though, I have heard of some judges marking down on certain breeds just for personal preference, but I don;t show in that circuit so I couldn't tell you for certain.

It depends greatly on what type of show you are going to.

If you are doing eventing they will want your appy to do the same thing the warmblood that comes into the ring after you does.

If you are going to an appy show they want you to ride Wenglish on a peanut roller that is going western in English tack.

[QUOTE=Alwaysbehind;615584]
If you are doing eventing they will want your appy to do the same thing the warmblood that comes into the ring after you does.

QUOTE]
what do they want the warmblood to do? I have never shown in dressage

Go and just watch dressage tests on YouTube you'll see some good warmbloods
Posted via Mobile Device

Do you have access to the rulebook for whatever association, club, whatever, that you're showing under? Usually they include some general guidelines as far as what's important in specific classes. If you're doing non-affiliated or schooling shows, look into your breed/discipline association's guidelines (i.e. FEI's expectations of an x Level dressage competitor) to get an idea where you're heading.

I recommend taking a couple of show-prep lessons with an instructor who trains/shows the classes that you're looking to enter, someone who shows appies in hunters/eventing. "What do the judges look for" is a really broad question with a lot of detail, and in the end will probably be answered very subjectively at the individual show.

[quote=CountryJay;616006]Are you taking dressage lessons?

There truly is no 'rail' in dressage. You are given a test and know exactly want to do at A, at X, etc. App, warmblood, QH, Arab - doesn't matter. If you are to trot at A, you trot at A.

What kind of "english" are you talking about? There are many disciplines and types of "english" shows!

Basically, hunt seat on the rail (pleasure and equitation,) dressage, and maybe some jumping.