Judging 101:

I’ve had a few complaints from some judges. They think I’m picking on them. Quit complaining—I’m trying to help MY EVENT.  Ranch Headquarters is only spending three billion dollars evaluating officials—heck—I’m doing it for free.   Actually, doing it at a big loss.  

I don’t mean to offend you, but then if you are easily offended then you probably have an attitude problem.  You may be great horse judges, wonderful flaggers, know the rule book, passed your written exams with a perfect scores. You may have figured out how to sound intelligent when watching films at the judging seminars, or get along great with the stock contractors and secretaries and get $10,000-$25,000 worth of rodeos to judge every year—even some of the biggies. You may even have ridden bulls for 15 years... but when it comes to JUDGING THE BULL RIDING—you aren’t doing it right.  

That doesn’t mean that you aren’t a good guy, that you aren’t honest and impartial, that you don’t work hard, that you don’t have some back bone; it doesn’t mean any of those things.   I’m just here to tell you that YOU don’t understand the basics.  You can watch all the film you want at seminars and judge 100 performances every year but until you learn how to make your 50 points work to the event’s advantage—you’re just writing down numbers.  And writing down numbers IS NOT JUDGING.

I’m not the world’s greatest bull riding judge but I know the people who have been or are and this is how their thought processes worked/work and the techniques they used/use.   They can help ANY judge; if he or she wants to be helped.  Certainly you don’t have to change; it doesn’t appear that anyone in high places gives a rat’s patootie.   

Ranch Headquarters is flying guys all over to evaluate reserves or sending them to seminars where I guess they figure there is more safety in numbers.   If they've made ANY improvements in the bull riding judging, I’ve yet to see it materialize.  I get sheets from rodeos where evaluators were present and I see the same ol’ 18-19 point bulls and 37/38/39 sub totals coming in.  Winning scores in the high 70’s, 75% of the herd scrunched into the 17-19 point range, splits up the wazoo.   And those same judges just keep on getting assigned and judging the event the same way.  The things I’m going to explain here won’t change that type of rodeo OFFICIAL… he/she/it knows too much.  But maybe it will help some of the non experts who really want to do better.  They are out there.  I think there are people who really try and are frustrated at the way the danged rodeos end up going.  This will help them.    

I know LOTS of timed event guys who are rodeoing for a living who watch the event and they could do a better job than many of our often assigned X bull rider reserves.  At the NFR back when there used to be a moat… they’d stand along the fence by me and they’d come awfully close.  They wouldn’t know how to do the 18-19-20-21 stuff but they’d would say… “That guy needs to be 88-90.” The next guy… 80… the next... 86.    You give those guys 100 points to work with, tell them not to worry about sub totals or marking the animals, and tell them to just place people—and they’d do pretty good.   I even think the X bull rider/experts would do better.  Here’s 100 points…. you are the guy judging the event—place 'em.   Just give us a total score.  The other judge could run the watch and look for DQ’s and fines.  Even the pro officials would do better.  The two judge system seldom works unless you get two people who see things about the same and work together.

Even the better full time pros manage to screw up some of our biggest rodeos.   Early on they don’t pay attention or don’t sit down and try to get their first likely to place rides scored so they can judge the remainder of the rodeo and get the money going where it should.   I know they care, but they sentence themselves to a week or two of misery by not getting things set up to start off with.  

I also see instances where I know one judge doesn’t like or respect the opinion of the other and he just writes down his numbers and heads back to his free room to eat his free meal.   If we’re going to pay salaries and expenses and insurance and retirement on guys—I expect more out of them.  Since I know those judges don’t judge well together I’m sure that Ranch Headquarters knows it too.   When guys don’t speak for a week at a time, or throw waffles at the I Hop—you have to suspect their MIGHT be a problem.

If they didn’t throw like girls those waffles could be lethal weapons.  At least the kind my wife makes could be.   Drop one on your foot and you’d be out for 6 months.

The Blue Print to Success:

In most herds if they ride anything decent at all the first performance you need to have the leading score around 82-84 and have left holes to fit people in.  If that high marked ride from the first perf ends up winning the rodeo—it is high enough to benefit the rodeo business.   If they go to riding lots of better bulls, you still have room to get them placed without having to give away a world record.   But, if you come out of the first performance with 84-83-82 total scores you’re still screwed.  There needs to be some holes between your total scores where IF NECESSARY you can fit people in. You may not need to, but you can.  

If you and the other judge don’t communicate well enough to sit down after the first perf (and the following perfs) and talk about where the money should be going then you need to make sure you have enough spread and holes on your own side.  That might mean that if they rode a 19+ a 19 and a 19- bull in the first perf your sub totals need to be 43-41-38.   You at least have a shot of getting guys placed.   You have a 42, a 40, and a 39 hole open.  Working together your total scores might need to be 84-80-76.   Then you have lots of room.  Heck— 76 might still win third.  The point is, use the numbers to get the money going where it should with markings high enough to reflect well on professional rodeo.   They are just TOOLS.

In most of the less powerful bull herds, judges are going to put numbers on qualified rides on lots of 19 point bulls.  The ranker bulls just don’t get ridden.   These are 19 pointers for a variety of reasons like difficulty and/or performance.   It’s important that at the very first opportunity you break those 19’s up; a 19+ may need to be a 21, the medium 19 needs to be a 20, a 19- can stay a 19.   After you get the bull riders where you want them to be, then every time another bull gets ridden you compare it to those reference rides and if necessary use your RIDE marking to get guys winning what you think they should.  In some herds you’ll need to work on the 20 point bulls.   You get in a herd like Kish’s, you’ll need to move the 21’s around or you won’t have room to place guys unless your comfortable with going 3 points higher on the ride marking in necessary.   

Like the NFR timed eventers, more judges need to think in terms of total scores.   They need to ask themselves “how many total points does that guy need to be in order to win what I think he is supposed to”.   Based on that they need to calculate their sub totals and be sure to leave enough spread to place guys on their side.  After they get their reference bull ride scores established then every qualified ride after that needs to be compared to it in terms of how many total points does that guy need to be to win what he’s supposed to.  Sure—you might have an idiot on the other side but it’s important that YOU do the best job that YOU can.

I guarantee these suggestions will make judging the bull riding easier and do more justice to the event.

BMAC

Judging 102

Bryan McDonald
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