The Welsh Pony and Cob Society
Cymdeithas y Merlod a'r Cobiau Cymreig

Judges Conference 2007

Responses from Evaluation Form

NFU Mutual Conference, Stratford-upon-Avon
27 January 2007

The Welsh Pony and Cob Society held its biennial Judges Conference at the NFU Mutual Conference Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday, 27 January when 126 judges attended, including one who had flown over specially from the USA.

After a welcome from the chairperson of the Judges Administration Committee Jocelyn Price, four distinguished breeders outlined how the various sections had developed over the years and resulted in the present-day variation of type within the breed standard.

The speakers were Alison Mountain (Twyford Stud, section A), Elizabeth Mansfield (Rotherwood, B), Peter Jones (Menai, C) and William Lloyd (Geler, D). The delegates were then divided into discussion groups which dealt with ten separate topics related to type such as the variation of heights within sections and whether type was more important than conformation and movement. The groups were then given an opportunity to discuss their findings with the guest speakers.

Veterinarian Jenny East talked on conformation focussing on limbs. Jenny has many years experience in equine stud medicine, she has been successful with her own horses in Affiliated Dressage competitions and was one of a team of Veterinary Inspectors invited to Jordan by Princess Alia in connection with desert endurance rides. Jenny’s talk sparked off a lively discussion on density of bone within the native breeds.

Chris McGrann and Kathleen James followed with talks on “ways of going”. Chris is a British Eventing Accredited Trainer and had recently returned from South Africa where he coached the International gold medal winning team and pleased Welsh breeders when he referred to successful “Welsh” performance animals. Kathleen James has run the WPCS Performance Competition for many years and is a senior judge on many Society panels and concentrated on the unique movement of the Welsh breeds.

David Blair has used the marks system successfully when judging at major shows including HOYS, Olympia and the Royal Welsh and his views were backed up by some interesting statistics of results where the marks systems have been adopted.

The judges then returned to their discussion groups where the theme was “Dealing with dilemmas” which included both in-hand and ridden disciplines. Before leaving the judges had an opportunity to complete questionnaires where they unanimously had found the event educational and productive and wished to thank the organisers and Susan Barley, Chief Marketing Executive NFU Mutual for providing the excellent facilities.

Wynne Davies

Mrs Alison Mountain - Section A Type

Mrs Elizabeth Mansfield - Section B Type

Mr Peter Jones - Section C Type

Mr William Lloyd - Section D Type

Ms Jenny East MRCVS - Conformation - A focus on Limbs

Mr Chris McGrann - Correct way of going

Mrs Kathleen James - Way of going of the Welsh Breeds with Mr Tom Best - organising committee

Mr David Blair - Using marks: Conformation and Performance

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