My tips for presenting your horse for inspection - by request

Cait asked for advice on inspections. I can pass on what I’ve learned – some of which I've learned the hard way.

1. Have your horse clean, braided and well prepared.
2. If the horse to be inspected is a purebred do NOT clip the legs. The judges/inspectors note the texture, amount and location of the hair. It is tradition to keep the purebred ID’s legs clipper free at all times – showing etc.
3. Earlier in the year, have the young horse’s wolf teeth removed so that the bit can sit in the mouth correctly.
4. Make sure the bridle and bit fit properly – practice with them on. Use a noseband. If you are going to use a lead with a chain on it, practice with the chain. If you’re going to use the reins, practice with the reins. From my observations, the Irish use a bright white lunge line, when showing in hand or at inspections (and I’ve always wondered how the heck they keep those lunge lines so clean!).
5. Do NOT wear riding boots. You can’t run properly in them and will just hold the horse’s movement back. Wear something neat but comfortable to move in
6. Keep the horse between you and the judges/inspectors. That means when going down the line at a walk or trot, you will be on the left side of the horse. When you negotiate the turn at the end of the line you will remain on the left side of the horse. You will ask the horse to turn away from you to the right. Hold your hand or a whip up and out to signal the horse to turn away from you. I wear white gloves to reinforce the signal. Practice this. It’s not something you normally do so you need to practice it.
7. To a very great extent, the horse’s stride is determined by the handler’s stride. Warmblood presenters take big free strides to encourage their horse to display the stride at its best. Quarter horse presenters take short mincing steps so that the horse is barely jogging. For the ID, large free floating steps are the goal so keep that in mind. Faster is not always bigger – keep a good tempo with big steps but don’t race.
8. You should carry a whip/crop for the purpose of directing the horse’s turning. Do NOT use it to encourage the horse to trot or move out. The action of moving your arm behind you and tapping the horse behind will cause the horse to move away from the whip. When the horse moves away from the whip he becomes crooked and the judges/inspectors are looking for straight, correct movement. Instead, bring a helper – preferably one that you have practiced with beforehand. The helper can carry a whip to encourage the horse to move out when necessary. I recommend practicing because there is a fine line between encouraging the horse to lengthen stride and making the horse race away from the whip out of fright. Use the amount of encouragement needed to get the response you want and no more.
9. When traveling the line away and toward the judges/inspectors focus on something straight ahead (fence post, tree, whatever there is in the distance you can use) and keep your eyes on that thing. It will help you to remain straight.

The American Hanoverian Society has a video about preparing and presenting a horse in hand. It is excellent but may not be worth the price since so much of it is about tracking around the triangle and the Irish inspections don’t involve that. If you have a place where you can rent this video all the better. Until the 2008 flood we had a fabulous saddle shop that rented out horse videos and DVDs. They had a great collection and the AHS video was part of it. I sure miss that store. Anyway, the video is:
AHS Video – "Preparation, Presentation and Judge’s Perception" $28.00
An excellent guide for presenting horses in hand.
The AHS has the video for sale on their website. It may also be available elsewhere but I didn’t look.

Now that I’ve put my thoughts down in black and white, the next time you see me presenting a horse for inspection you can watch and decide if I practice what I preach. :-D