Weekend Wrap Up: YHS Finals 2016

After showing at Tryon this summer I have been itching to get back. I considered trying to go for ATC at the AEC’s but I am glad that I didn’t as the courses were kind of a let down and the footing on XC seemed somewhat questionable.

Last year my BO brought her Berlin stallion to the YHS to participate and since then I have been wanting to go myself. As I mentioned on Friday the series has a pretty cool concept and I definitely want to participate in the future. As the date drew closer and I did more research on the series I started to experience serious FOMO. I did what any reasonable crazy horse person would do and decided to drive down to Tryon to spectate last minute. I even scored free Spy Coast Farm swag in return! There were other sponsors offering items to spectators and participants as well.

My first impression was how cool! I loved getting to see horses by stallions that I have been ogling at for months. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to meet such a diverse group of people with shared interests.

I was a bit frustrated to find out that the show was in fact open to Thoroughbreds and non warmblood breeds as I definitely would have brought Annie to participate. She also would have slayed in the Saturday Night Lights Derby – though I probably would have needed to find someone else to ride her!

Sunday morning was finals day and I was really interested to see how all of the horses would get scored. They changed the judging protocol this year and I am not sure it was for the better. In concept it sounded interesting but I still think that having each judge score independently and possibly averaging the total or the score for each movement would have been more telling.

My only complaint  would be that the judging on Sunday for the finals seemed all over the place. There were horses that were amazing getting low scores and then horses that couldn’t even get through the jump chute without creating a yard sale getting comparable scores. It seemed like mid day the judges got really generous and were handing out 9’s and 10’s left and right. Then we returned from the lunch break and everyone was getting 7’s and 8’s. I like the idea of having a variety of background in the judging but I was definitely left feeling really bewildered.

Margie Engle and I basically ride the same horses…

 

All in all I really liked the Young Horse Show series experience. I think that it gives breeders/ owners the opportunity to get their horses out there in an affordable setting while receiving input from some incredible people. Spectators and participants got to see horses from a variety of backgrounds and breeding.

I will definitely plan to return.

Did you all have fun weekends?

4 comments

  1. Heather says:

    It sounds like, if nothing else, it’s a great way to get your young horses seen and some younger stallions talked about. And it definitely sounds like it would be really interesting to spectate!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.