Quite some time ago I was phoned and asked whether I would be interested in judging at Barastoc Horse of the Year Show - and I was greatly honoured to be asked to judge the newest entry, Performance Ponies.

The Performance Pony classes are a new innovation in a country which does not have pony classes for under 16 year old riders, as happens in most countries in the world so I was delighted to know that it was happening in Australia.

Then I was told that these classes were open to all ages and I was a little more than a bit surprised and wondered exactly what it was I would be judging on the day............

But first let me explain the class - there were three sections, in hand, dressage and showjumping and all three sections were judged on the horse itself and not the rider. These ponies were being judged as performance ponies and their suitability in dressage and showjumping.

Victorian dressage judge Rosemary Dalton wrote the dressage tests which were designed to show the athleticism, movement and dressage ability. Victorian Course Designer Reg Cleland built the showjumping track, which albeit on the small side, also was designed to show athelticism, technique and scope.

When I was first contacted to judge the in hand section the thoughts were that there may be around 50 or maybe 60 entries - when the final numbers were in there well over 100 which certainly proved the need for this class of competition.

Not all competitors opted to do the jumping section but all did the dressage section which required more judges to be brought in and a second judge was also brought in for the in hand section.

I was allocated the large males to judge in hand which gave me some 50+ horses. The second in hand judge comes from a background of showing horses and recently moving into showjumping while my background is very much showjumping and more recently dressage so there were going to be two very different perspectives, of that there was no doubt.

Ok so what did I see in my section? I saw some lovely ponies that would have been more suited to the show ring classes - these ponies presented with full makeup which highlighted their finely chiselled and very beautiful heads and the makeup on their legs highlighted the fine beauty of their light and elegant bone - but this is NOT what I was looking for and sadly they scored accordingly.

I felt that some people simply entered classes because "they could" and this can only lead to tears at the end of the day as the owners/handlers are going to feel that their pony has not been seen as the stunner it most probably was. This was not the case - I did not have any ponies present which I would not have been happy to see putting their heads over the stable door in the morning but this does not mean they were suitable as Performance Ponies.

Performance Ponies is a relatively new idea in Australia, but is one which has been well utilised in Europe/UK/Ireland and this is largely due to the many high level competitions for children on ponies where the competition is generally seen as 7 to 12 year olds on 12.2hh (128cm) ponies, under 14 year olds on 13.2hh (138cm) ponies and under 16 year olds on 14.2hh (148cm) ponies and they have competitions at International standard leading to things such as European Pony Championships in Showjumping, Dressage and Eventing.

Australia is a long way from that but this is a fantastic start to what hopefully will be a strong pony movement for the future and towards that end I was looking for strong limbs and quarters. I wanted to see good muscle tone rather than chubby ponies and I wanted to see elastic, fluid and straight movement. I wanted to see hocks that came well under the body of the horse, showing me strength and scope and I wanted to see horses with temperaments which suggested enthusiasm, obedience and trainability.

So how was I to do this, I asked myself? To judge muscle tone was really the easiest part of the task - I did the unthinkable and touched each and every horse which stood before me, much to the surprise of most handlers. At this point I would like to say for anywho had concerns, I disinfected my hands after every horse so there was no question of passing anything from horse to horse and I also asked permission from each of the handlers.

I was delighted at how many of the exhibits had excellent muscle tone and fine healthy skin which suggested care had been taken in preparing the ponies for this class - there were very few chubby ponies and even less that were lacking in condition for performance.

Temperament is the most difficult area to judge in these circumstances - I wanted to see ponies with high spirits but did not want to see ignornant or ill mannered ponies but I also did not want to see doughy, disinterested ponies.

From the handlers point of view I think this is the area that needs to be thought out a lot more - the ponies need to be warmed up before presenting to the judge so that they are dancing with enthusiasm and showing themselves off to their best, without running circles around their handlers... and yes it is a fine line.

Just as a dressage rider or showjumper will warm their mount up so that they display their talent to the highest degree the same must happen in an in hand class where the Judge is looking for an animal which takes the eye, which makes you believe that the pony can jump the highest and widest jump, do the most elastic and athletic passage or run the best cross country course and all this must be shown in roughly 2 minutes on the end of a lead rein. This requires a warm up like any entry to any ring with a judge in it!

I had the ponies walk out in a straight line and walk back to me and then the same in trot - some may have noticed that as the ponies went away from me I was crouched down and when they returned to me I stood up. As the ponies went away from me I wanted to see straightness of limbs and body moving straight in line with the limbs and as the ponies came towards me I wanted to see strong powerful hind quarters, swinging as they powered a strong shoulder towards me.

This is an area which let some down - many of the ponies I judged were weak behind with an artificial straightness in the front legs which did not give me confidence that they would jump a tall wide fence nor be able to collect behind and power forward on the flat.

I would say that about a quarter of the ponies presented scored well in this area - and it is something which can be improved on by working these animals for athleticism under saddle which will obviously then also improve their jumping and dressage. It is all about engagement from behind to strongly drive an athletic front - and this all has to be demonstrated in hand as well as under saddle - no small ask I do admit.

Conformation - conformation was judged for performance and not for breed and in a couple of instances this was a difficult mark to give even though it should not have been as the criteria was clear - judge for performance!

There is an important thing to remember when presenting a horse which does not have perfect conformation in a class such as this - perfect conformation does not guarantee excellent performance anymore than poor conformation excludes exceptional performance.

I have seen many a roach backed, bent legged animal that can leap tall buildings or dance a perfect pirouette but I guess at the end of the day, the job of performance is definitely easier for a horse which is well put together and this is the premise that we have to judge an in hand class from.

So for those thinking of entering for this section next year, do not shy away because of the conformation of your pony if he is a proven superstar in showjumper and/or dressage because the in hand section represents only 1/3 of the total marks.

And having said that I would ask that breeders breed with conformationally sound mares and stallions to give the ponies a better chance - as a sound bred animal will go on to compete strongly for many years whereas an unsound animal is a hard one to manage for longevity

In this discussion I am purposely staying away from discussing individual ponies for obvious reasons but I must make special mention of the three superb stallions presented to me. The chestnut Welsh lad Barnon Imperial Jack, the dark brown Welsh lad Bookra Sovereign Edition and the grey imported Highland lad Fyfedene were all delightful "men" and all three impressed me greatly.

All three stallions, crossed over small thoroughbred or finer pony mares should, without too much doubt produce exceptional future performance ponies and that is an exciting thought! I would like to hope that I might be invited back to judge this class again and would love in five years time to be judging performance bred progeny of these three stallions as all have much to give.

The final score was a mark for overall impression and in closing I would like to say that the overall impression of my in hand section at the 39th Barastoc Horse of the Year was that this is a class which will go from strength to strength. The first running of this class was sure to see some confusion about what the judges would be looking for and as time goes on people will understand what is required of a performance pony - but overall I was most impressed with the ponies presented and the attitude of the exhibitors which all went towards making my first judging experience at such a huge show a total pleasure.

I wish the performance pony industry in Australia a long and successful future where perhaps we will one day see ponies divided to height and matched with young riders as well as being there for adults to enjoy - it is the way forward for the Olympic disciplines and congratulations to Victorian "mover and shaker" Mrs Fran Cleland who conceived and gave birth to this great addition to the Barastoc classes.