Welcome back to another Friday judging clinic! We're looking at a traditional breed class today. I'm in a bit of a stock horse mood, so let's take a look at a Paint class.
As always, my personal judging history and credentials can be found on my About Me page.
Before we can judge the class, we have to know what we're looking for. The breed standard according to the American Paint Horse Association is as follows (taken from the 2025 Rule Book, pages 96-97):
- The ideal standard is a balanced and structurally correct horse of stock type
- Attractive head, refined throat latch, well-proportioned trim neck
- Long sloping shoulder, deep heart girth, short strong back, long hip and croup
- Straight, structurally correct legs
 |
| Paint mare |
 |
| Paint stallion |
 |
| Paint mare |
The Placings:
🥇1st: Horse C - Bobby Jo
In first place, I've pinned Bobby Jo. You may remember from my Quarter Horse judging clinic that I'm a fan of Bobby Jo as a stock horse. Paints and Quarter Horses have a lot of crossover and interbreeding, and the two breed standards are just about identical. Therefore, if a horse conforms well to the Quarter Horse standard, they'll work well for a Paint as well. Bobby Jo is still balanced and structurally correct. She has an attractive head, a refined throat latch, and a long sloping shoulder. She aligns very well with the Paint breed standard, plus she has lovely depth of color. All these factors make her the first place pin.
🥈2nd: Horse A - Roxy
In second, I've pinned the Roxy. She follows the Paint breed standard fairly well - she's pretty well balanced, with an attractive head and refined throat latch. Her neck does appear a touch long, but that's mostly because of the nature of her gait. She has the long sloping shoulder and the short strong back. That being said, in comparison to Bobby Jo her face is softer and slightly more cartoonish due to the difference in sculpting styles. Additionally, she has less detail and depth in her finishwork. Because of this, she is second behind Bobby Jo, but a different horse on either mold could make these placings flip flop, as could personal preference on the part of a judge. I acknowledge my own bias here, as I personally think Bobby Jo is the better, more accurate sculpt.
🥉3rd: Horse B - Geronimo
The Geronimo is the third place pin for me. I actually don't mind him too much structurally. He's fairly balanced, his shoulder slopes nicely, and he has a long hip and croup. His back may be a touch too short, but he's a nice sculpt overall. That being said, he has one glaring issue that immediately knocks him out of the breed placings for me. As we know, we judge breed classes on anatomy, biomechanics, and conformation. Geronimo has a very subtle anatomy fail: his ears are placed too far back on his head. Unfortunately, it's a flaw that once I had it pointed out to me, I've never been able to unsee it, and it's enough for me to have him at the bottom of my placings compared to nearly every other stock type sculpt in Breyer's current line.
How did you place this class? What made you pick one horse over another?
Can't say that I see the ear flaw on Geronimo: he was third in my placings because overall, that mold isn't as 'stock breed' to me as the other two are. Bobby Jo was first and Roxy was 2nd. To me, Bobby Jo is an all around good 'stock' type of body, just a bit better than Roxy.
ReplyDeleteI would pin the class the same as you mostly for the same reasons. I placed horse C first as she exhibits all the characteristics of the breed and her movement is proper. Where as horse A, my second place horse is on the forehand and hollow through the back for the movement, otherwise a very nice representation for the breed. Horse B my 3rd place horse does not represent a stock breed (to me). Love the mold just not as a stock horse (unless being shown and documented as “Hunter Type” or Appendix QH) due to the leaner build.
ReplyDelete