Here is the back of the horse card. As it says at the top, it is "suggested" scoring. Judges can pretty much do what they want.
Looking at these cards, LOL, I'm even more aggravated at myself because there was NOTHING hard about any of these observations. I just chocked:) I've had to do a lot harder stuff in the past. It just wasn't a good weekend for me. But gives me things to work on before the next one in Sept.
Oh, and I forgot to add that on the log step over thing, the Open riders had to walk up to right in front of the log and stop and stand, not straddle it, to the count of 5. And on the counting, the riders do the counting, and I've seen some of them count really fast, and other count slower....IMO, the judge should count.
Becky
I can’t read most of the score card stuff, but that may just be my eyes.
The difference in log obstacle between Novice and Open is interesting. I can see where the Open would be more challenging, because most horses when asked to approach a log are going to be thinking about getting OVER it, not stopping in front of it and waiting. I know that all of mine would be prone to fidget if asked to stop for a count of 5 before stepping over. Bob has the log straddle down pretty good though because that’s how I remount when I’m out on the trail. There’s a lot of 2’ high pine logs down at the break area and I make him straddle them so I can get on. Not that I really need to, but I just figured it was a good training exercise. But one time it really came in handy when I somehow managed to sprain my ankle really bad right before a ride and could barely put any weight on my left foot by lunchtime. So you never know when a seemingly useless activity might come in handy.