Beginning Horse Judging: Conformation

When I was in high school, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a horse judging team. In college, I got to judge competitions! Now, I love sharing my knowledge gained from this experience with students interested in judging, whether it be for fun or to compete! Caution: you’ll never look at horses the same way again!  

Horse judging is a competition where contestants express their opinion of a class of horses by ranking them based on conformation. They also explain their reasoning for placing the horses in that order. 

Class 1: Students will learn what conformation means and why it is important. We will identify the parts of a horse and their function in relation to body conformation and soundness. We will end the class discussing body condition scoring and examining what each value looks like. 

Class 2: Students will become familiar with hoof angles and front and back leg conformation. We will use slides with photos of different horses to distinguish which leg structure they best represent. 

Class 3: Students will analyze body proportions. We will practice explaining to each other what the horses we look at have working for and against them by relating everything we've gone over in class to these horses' conformations.

Class 4: By the last meeting of this course, students will be able to judge a conformation class of horses and present a “set “ of reasons as to why each horse is ranked accordingly. 

This is a beginning level introductory course.