Education Is Key

Regardless of your discipline, breed that you show your horse in, or even if you’ve watched a horse show, we have all wondered why judges have made the calls they have. Scoresheets are one way to see where you might have misjudged the pattern, or where you can better improve. Because let’s face it, we all have areas we can improve on. Our horses will have off days and the show pen truly shows where we need to work more on. Well our prayers have been answered, APHA has tried to solve these issues through their new video learning platform, Horse IQ.

The features of this new education platform aim to help each rider, trainer, and even judge improve our performances and understanding. The platform offers something we all seek, reasons for why we got the score that we did. Often times as riders, we think our ride might have gone one way but the score card may show a very different story. Horse IQ seeks to close that gap between the scorecard and placings. How does it work? It offers educational modules on each discipline you will see in an APHA approved show. Essentially you watch the go and then are quizzed on the different maneuvers and penalties that might be attributed to each maneuver. By knowing why you were marked higher or lower for certain maneuvers will increase your knowledge. The platform compares your score to an APHA judge’s scorecard and you will receive feedback and the same knowledge that judges are taught at their seminars.

Here is a screen shot of what the learning platform looks like.

This is really a great tool that the APHA has provided to members and non-members alike. I think that education is truly the gateway to greatness. Just because you’ve rode 100 horses, does not mean that they do not ride the same or even learn the same. Any good horsemen understand that horse 1-100 are all individuals and will ride and show as so. During my college years I had a professor that would tell us that the reason we had 5 instructors was because they all would train the same horse differently but all using the tools from their toolbox. Horse IQ is now another tool that we can have in our back pocket. How lucky are we to live in an age where tools like this are available to us?

Happy Studying!

-Emily Bomgardner

Picture Courtesy of: American Paint Horse Association (APHA)

Lifestyle

October 11, 2016