Advanced Western Pleasure Rules & Guidelines

Advanced Western Pleasure Rules & Guidelines

by Mak

:: TWO poses required per horse
:: Pose 1 - Horse must be shown walking, jogging, or loping
:: Pose 2 - Horse must be showing standing or backing up (see below)
:: Left and right facing poses are allowed
:: Galloping will be DQ
:: Number of entries per person is up to the discretion of the judge
:: Tack is optional
:: Horse may be shown wearing Western Pleasure Attire:
--- Western Saddle
--- Pad
--- Girth
--- Western Bridle (Both Bitted and Hackamores Allowed)
--- (Optional) Western Breastplate (Leather, not Nylon)
--- (Optional) Boots or Leg Wraps
:: Riders are allowed, but be aware that judges are allowed to judge if the rider helps/hurts the horse's picture.
:: Transparent backgrounds, body shading, and outlining IS allowed
:: Editing of the actual pose (moving eyes/ears/legs/etc.) IS NOT allowed
:: DRAWN Mane and Tail Edits are not allowed, as it is considered editing of the pose, however shading of the existing Mane and Tail is A-OK
:: Horse's are considered Grand Champions in Advanced once they have earned 50 points

Basic Form
Horse's Show Name:
Barn Name:
Points:
Entry ##:
Pose 1:
Pose 2:

Example Images

Pose 1 - Gaiting
Horse may be either walking, trotting (collected or extended) or cantering. Galloping is DQ'd.

Pose 2 - Standing/Backing Up
Horse may be standing or backing up, shown. To acquire a backing up pose, hold a new toy or object in front of your horse. Sometimes the horse will back up like the image above, and that's when you can snap your photos - this is the same pose that is used in our Reining shows. This represents the horse backing up per his rider's instructions.

Judging
Each entered horse will receive a score. The score is made up of two parts:

Judge's Pick- (0 - 5) /Ranking from the Judge/
Random Pick- (0 - 5) /Random # from the Generator/

The Judge will rank each pose style-wise against all the poses. Gaiting poses will be judged against gaiting poses, and standing/backing up poses will be judged against standing/backing up poses.

The Judge judges the pose from a few aspects:

Pose
:: Levelness
:: Etc.
Horse
:: Is the horse in a flattering pose?
:: Are the best features of the horse accentuated?

The importance of each of these aspects is up to the discretion of each judge. This simulates the varying opinions of judges in the real judging world.

The Judge will allot points as follows:
The second part of the horse's score is the Randomizer's points.

For example, if a horse gets a Judge's Pick of 5 and a Random number of 2 for its first pose, and a Judge's Pick of 3 and a Random number of 3 for its second pose, you would add ALL of those numbers together for the horse's total score. 7 for the first and 6 for the second pose would equal 12, which would be the horse's final score. You're pretty much just judging each pose as you would in a normal tack show - you simply add both totals together for the horse at the end and that is the horse's REAL final score.

Points from both scores are totaled together, in order to get the horse's final score. The horse with the highest amount of total points is the winner, second most is second, etc.

In the event of a tie (two horse's who's final scores are the same) the horse who has the higher Judge's Pick score places above the horse with lower Judge's Pick score.

Unless specified otherwise by the judge, horses earn points the same as all other show systems:

1st - 5 Points
2nd - 4 Points
3rd - 3 Points
4th - 2 Points
5th - 1 Point