“How do you judge a horse?” my mother-in-law asked. I was shopping for a horse for my daughter and was showing her a video of a chestnut TB mare for consideration. Her response, “She’s cute, but…” I explained to my non-horsey family, “Based on their conformation and movement, kind of like a dog show, and their training. Then, you try to ride them and see if they’re a good fit.” All of it was accurate, but it got me thinking, “How do we really judge a horse?”
Of course there are entire education programs, myriad books, breed and competition guidelines, and centuries of wisdom on what makes a good horse. Horse judging is a science, an art, and a career for many professionals. Our youth take part in judging competitions so they can test their evaluations skills against professional judges. It is important to be able to identify good horses--for the soundness and quality of breeding programs and to choose a good competition prospect. Every weekend, equestrians pay our hard-earned money for our beloved partners to be evaluated--even if we don't win. While packing up our trailer after a particularly frustrating day of horse showing, my mom used to grumble, “We must be crazy to pay this much money and go to this much trouble so some guy can tell us he doesn’t like our horse.” Of course, when we won, it was all worth it, and we kept paying to be judged.
So how do you judge a horse? We all know the gorgeous beasts whose symmetry, muscular definition, floating stride, and sculpted profiles stir our hearts. A few of us are lucky enough to ride, or even own a horse like that. I have had a few, whose outlines made me stop and stare. My husband, a baseball coach, used to lavish love on his field, raking, and seeding, and watering--always evaluating and considering. One of his buddies saw him staring at it one day and said, “Imma tell your wife-- You’re in love with that field.” He said, “You haven’t seen the way she looks at her horse, man--trust me, she understands.”
We all love the beautiful horses, and, truth be told, horses are too expensive to spend our time and money on ones who do not move our souls. However, it isn’t all in the suppleness, shoulder, and stride. I have loved some horses that looked like cart-horse nags in the cross-ties, whose crooked legged stance caused my farrier to want to test my eyesight. Or, whose swaybacked ewe necks were "giving camel" vibes. Those are the ones who win us over with their heart--with their try, their patience, and their smarts. For the funny-looking, crooked-legged, misfits, how do we judge them?
One particular Lipizzan stallion, who no one in their right mind would choose as a mate to their mare, stood ewe-necked, bug-eyed, and splay-footed. But he caught tossed carrots in his open maw, greeting me with a 6 inch wide-mouthed smile every morning. And under saddle, that back lifted, that neck arched, those eyes softened, those haunches lowered, and he piaffed like a marble statue, and turned pirouettes on a dinner plate. For that one, no one could come close to judging him.
The yellow pony who raised one of my daughters was a sassy, adorably spotted fluffy, crooked-legged joy. She would wing around at the canter with all the enthusiasm of my own kid, who, although she was learning the principles of balance and collection, has never been a fan of “going slow”. This pony was pretty much always last place in a halter class, but her heart and pluck won her share of high-point Pony of the Day ( as long as the kids could up with her). For that one, judging falls short.
They say life is too short to ride bad horses, and we all want well-proportioned mounts. But, in the end, it’s by more than just their conformation that we judge a horse. When we sit in the saddle and pick up the reins and the horse comes to attention underneath us. When we add the leg and they increase their stride. When we sit deep and hold and they coil their loins and halt. And when those of us on the ground see these miracles and the light on the rider’s face, the judgement is clear. What one rider overlooks, another develops. We don’t really judge, we ride.
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