Insights from an Australian Stock Horse Judge: Expert Perspectives and Judging Criteria with Adam Wellington

Adam Wellington has been an accredited Australian Stock Horse judge since 2009 and is one of approximately 30 judges across Australia who are accredited Level 2 judges.

Adam has a wealth of knowledge from judging at events like the ASH Nationals, Toowoomba, Adelaide, and Bathurst Royals, Victorian State Championships, and many state branch shows.

As a Stock Horse competitor himself, for the past 25 years, Adam has successfully competed at all major events around Australia, including the ASH Nationals, Royal shows and various Branch Shows across NSW. Adam’s most recent success was breeding, owning and competing the Champion and Reserve Champion Yearlings at the 2023 ASH National Show.

What are the types of classes you would officiate at an Australian Stock Horse event? The judging requirements depend on the size of the event.

A judge would normally be required to judge led, hack and working classes at a minimum, for the smaller events such as agricultural shows; however, they could be expected to judge additional events such as ASHLA (Australian Stock Horse and Lady Rider), pleasure hack, time trial, station horse etc at the larger events.

Are there levels within those events? There are normally both junior (three years and under) plus senior (four years and over) led classes at most events. The largest ASH specialty show in Australia, the ASH National Show, caters for led yearlings, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, four-year-olds, and then the senior class, which is for horses five years and over.

Royal Shows and ASH Branch Shows would normally split the junior horses into their respective age groups and then have one senior class for horses four years and over. These classes are normally split into each sex ie. filly/mare, colt/stallion and gelding.

In recent years, agricultural shows have put a lot more ASH classes into their programmes as the ASH classes are often the best attended of all the breeds. Normally, both junior and senior classes would be on offer.

In regards to the ridden classes, this will depend on the size of the event. The most common classes which are held at all shows are the hack and working classes. The larger events will include ASHLA, time trial, station horse, and stockmans turnout, and then on top of these classes, the ASH National Show will include additional events such as pleasure hack, dressage, campdrafting plus the highly prestigious national two-year-old snaffle bit futurity, three-year-old futurity, four-year-old maturity, five-year-old challenge and the open challenge for horses six years and over.

What are your expectations as a judge for the different events led and ridden? There are many factors to consider when judging led junior and senior horses. It is imperative, as a judge, that you have a thorough understanding of the numerous growth stages youngstock go through. For example, yearlings will be what is known as “bum high” (hind quarter higher than the wither) when they are shown at around 12 months of age, which is what is expected of a youngster of this age. Whereas the senior horses should not be “bum high”.

As a judge, I don’t want to see fat/round/over mature youngstock as there is only one way that they will go at maturity, which is heavy and coarse. I would much prefer to see a youngster that is in normal condition and maturity for its age, as it then has the potential to mature beautifully as a senior horse.

Another important consideration when judging the different age groups in led classes is temperament. A judge should be far more forgiving if a young horse throws in a little bit of “exuberance” during their workout, whereas the senior horse should be much more obedient. As judges, we must remember that we shouldn’t select the horse that performs a foot-perfect workout if it is not the ideal type for the ASH standard. I will always reward the quality halter animal if its manners/workout are not perfect, provided it is the ideal type and provided it “showed” in an acceptable way.

When judging the ridden classes it is important as a judge to set workouts which take into account the level of the show/event and also the age of the horses.

If I were judging at an agricultural show, the workouts given to the riders would be less challenging than if I was judging at, say, a Royal Show or National Show, as these events consist of the very best horses/riders from around the country.

Many agricultural shows contain a large number of “green” horses who are competing for experience, plus novice riders who are competing for enjoyment and to gain experience.
I will always set easier workouts for junior horses three years and under than the senior horses, who have far more experience and education.

The challenge for a judge is when they are asked to set a championship ridden workout, which consists of both junior and senior horses. In this instance, I often set a “free” workout and allow the rider to show me their horse’s true capabilities without setting workout restrictions.

Conformation versus performance versus presentation - how much weight applies to these three areas? The type of class I am judging will determine what factors I will put the most emphasis on. For example, in a led class, conformation is critical. Presentation is important; however, if the horse has a conformational fault that I consider unacceptable, it won’t matter how well it’s presented; it’s not going to do well.

Performance is the most important factor of a ridden class, and depending on the type of class I am judging, conformation and presentation will have varying degrees of importance. For example, if I were judging a hack class, I would be looking for a quality, well-conformed type that is also well presented. Whereas if I were judging a station horse class or time trial, the performance is critical, and the conformation and presentation are not so.

What are the difficult decisions you have to make as a judge? For me, the difficulty lies in the tough decisions that need to be made in literally seconds when often I have to weigh up mistakes made in ridden classes or extra exuberance shown in led classes by possibly my favourite horse in the class against the foot-perfect horse that may lack quality or its way of going etc isn’t my ideal.

At the end of the day, horses are not robots, and the judge needs to make a call within a few seconds with many factors to weigh up.

How can competitors improve? I think ringcraft is an area that many competitors could improve. So many competitors don’t do the simple tasks asked by the judge as well as they could, including such things as standing horses up better when presenting in a led class. Also, not using the arena to its full capacity (circles too small in ridden classes and led workouts too tight/small) - just small things like that which really highlight the difference between the best and the rest.

There has been a big improvement in presentation over the last five or so years; however, there is still room for improvement in many instances.

There are many training days available and good instructors ready to help, the opportunities for improvement are endless.

What is your pet hate as a judge? Probably number one for me is when I am judging a hack class and give the competitors the option to do a canter lead change transition of their choice, and they opt for a flying change in lieu of a neat, simple change and often lose the class due to a messy change.

As a judge, I am conscious of setting a workout that rewards my best hack and not my best-educated horse. Often, there are horses of varying ages in the same class, and many senior classes even have four-year-olds who may not be up to a perfect flying change.

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