AQHA Magazine January / February 2019 Jan_Feb_2019_WEBSITE | Page 32

Degree of Difficulty
... and Accuracy
The highest scores are reserved for the rider who is
both daring – attacking the pattern – yet correct. Holly
looks for a rider that can “take a 70’s horse and make
him a 90’s horse through the use of their aids.”
Exhibitors can be effective in their aids, have a fault
with the horse’s footwork and still have positive
maneuver score.
Holly does not plus the rider whose horse makes a
mistake, but she does plus the rider who prevents the
mistake from happening. She says, “If I start thinking
‘you better collect your horse before the corner’ and
the rider does not, that rider is going to get a minus for
that portion of their pattern.” At the same time, if the
rider responds by gathering, collecting and executing
the maneuver correctly, she credits the rider.
“Many patterns today are slanted toward the high-
ly trained horse. You can’t allow the pattern to beat
the rider,” Holly says. “A nice broke horse that is just
learning and gets the footwork correct but is not fancy
should not be prohibited from earning high marks.
Riders who can teach their horse while showing are
doing uncommon good work and should be rewarded.”
For instance, Rider A comes out of a square corner on
the left lead and does not ride a straight line in prepa-
ration for the upcoming lead change. Rider A’s horse
remains incorrectly arced for the lead change but be-
cause the horse is so well trained, the horse gives
the rider a quality lead change even though the horse
is clearly out of position.
Rider B helps the horse but the horse’s footwork was
not nearly so perfected. Rider B clearly guides the
horse, makes decisions and produces a lead change
albeit without the fancy footwork of Rider A’s horse.
Rider B created a maneuver by using their skill on
top of a horse versus Rider A’s very broke horse that
changed leads without help from Rider A. In this case,
Rider B should be given more credit than Rider A, who
did not make an attempt to get the horse in the correct
position.
“Exhibitors must understand that a good rider who
prevents a misstep can beat the rider who does
everything correctly,” Holly says. She also reminds
people that she is just one judge – one opinion – and
that other judges may have a different opinion.
Holly indicated that exhibitors “are surprised that
we (judges) are not looking for the bad – we are
looking for the good. Judges look for the good but
must assess and report the faults.” Holly tries to
acknowledge what riders do well but still has to
record what they do wrong. “It is hard to describe
positive feedback based on the patterns, time and
score sheets.”
Holly’s positive approach to judging is the reason
she is so popular in the center of the pen. She truly
enjoys judging, assessing riders and their horses.
The fact that her work helps riders achieve a greater
understanding of riding through her assessment is
proof that Holly Hover has achieved “uncommon
good” as a judge and as a AQHA Professional Horse-
woman.
32 • The Australian Quarter Horse Magazine • January • February • 2019