The Walking Horse Report has interviewed both Celebration CEO Dr. Doyle Meadows and SHOW Director of Judges Rollie Beard regarding the judging at the 72nd Annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.  Both Meadows and Beard commented on the performance of the judging panel collectively as well as Beard commenting on the criticism received by the judging panel in the World Grand Championship class on Saturday night September 4, 2010.

SHOW Director of Judges Rollie Beard commented:

“I thought that the overall performance of the judges out of 202 classes was very good.  They did not work them too long , they knew the rules, and placed the horses accordingly.  I thought the last class could have went either to The Coach or to Star, however three judges placed Coach first and two of them placed him second.  Star on the other hand got two first and three seconds.  I felt the judges did their job. Judges can only place what they see in front of them. 

As for the criticism of the tie of The Coach, from what I have seen from the videos of the class and as a witness to the class, it was evident that the Coach made a few mistakes but he did not quit (quit means to bring to end or to give up for good ).  A horse can make a mistake and still win if he has outperformed the other horses. It is up to the judge to decide the severity of the mistake. Only in equitation do judges score the rider on mistakes.”

Celebration CEO Dr. Doyle Meadows commented:

“I think the judges did a great job.  The panel got along extremely well throughout The Celebration®.  The panel took on a unique cohesiveness and respect for each other’s ability to judge each class of horses.  I have a tremendous amount of respect for each judge both personally and professionally.  I assure you that it was not just another job or judging event for all the judges.  If all the trainers, owners and fans could have worked with each member of this year’s judging panel during The Celebration®, they would come away from the show with a different perspective.

I am absolutely amazed about the number of people who can evaluate and criticize a judge when they have never judged the first horse.  I would encourage those people to go through the years of training to become a AAA Judge and perhaps they would have more respect for the efforts of a horse show judge.

I thought the workout on Thursday night as well as the World Championship Class provided extra excitement to the fans.  As a judging panel, they selected four (4) horses they felt could be the next World Grand Champion® for the final workout.  The judges tied the horses in this class no differently than they had the previous 201 classes.  The results, as one would expect, had a variation of the judges preference, position in the show ring and performance of the horse in front of each judge.”