From: tracy@scoraz.resp-sci.arizona.edu (Tracy Scheinkman)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: re: showing my filly in dressage show (was:grooming for show)
Date: 2 Oct 92 07:11:43 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

In Article 9053 in rec.equestrian kyle@hpspdla.spd.HP.COM (Kyle Karnosh)
writes:

>Congratulations on your show, Tracy. Sounds like Mithril made a good
>impression.

	Thank you!  Yes according to my dressage teacher, who was scribing
for him at the time, he was very favorably impressed with her and would 
have given her a higher score if not for her height.  In a breeding class that 
wouldn't have mattered so much but this was suitability.

>Your post raises an interesting issue regarding sporthorse breed shows.
>There are many people who think that the judge really has no business
>asking the competitors about their horse's breed and bloodlines, at least not
>until after the horse has been judged. At most of the breed shows in CA
>the show management purposely waits until after the horse is judged
>before announcing which horse and handler are currently in the ring.
>The idea is that the horse should be judged by it's merits, not by 
>which registry it belongs to. One of the judges at a big breed show
>in CA did exactly what you described, even asking handlers what the 
>specific bloodlines were. Many of the exhibitors were upset by this and
>complained to the management. Any views on this subject from netland?

	Well I must admit, our show didn't have any announcement of
anybody, we didn't use the PA system because the two rings were too
close together and a ride in one arena might have been upset by the
announcements in the other (the PA system announced to both rings
simultaneously and could not be separately adjusted).  So unless a
person watching read the program they didn't know who we were or
who are horses were.  No announcements of the winners was made either,
we just picked up our ribbons at the awards table a half hour later.

	When the judge asked about her breeding I was somewhat confused 
by the question, I thought that he Was asking who her sire and dam
were or what breeding line of Arabian she came from.  It was only when
I remembered that she had been mistaken for half-Quarter Horse before that
I knew he wanted her breed.
	Interestingly, a friend of mine, in fact the woman who trailered
my filly and me out to the show and who happens to own the dam of the
horse Mithril placed ahead of (Tucson is in some ways a very small town),
said to me today that she felt that the judge should not be allowed to
ask about breeding as it is somewhat prejudicial.  I don't think it would
have made that much difference in my case, both because of the obviously
Arabian characteristics of my filly and because of her height.  However
for many American bred horses whose origins are mixed it might make some
difference.  I think though that any judge with a really good eye can
take some pretty good guesses about a horse in dim light in a dark alley
and probably hit the mark.   
 
>Of course some breed prejudice is unavoidable, since judges are only
>human. Especially since warmbloods wear their registry on their left
>hip :-)

	You're right.  I think more exposure to quality horses of all breeds 
will help. 

>Kyle Karnosh
>Con Brio Farms
>Quality Warmblood Sporthorses
>Gilroy, CA
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian