Arabian Horse Association

Updated with new footage in 2010, this video explains and demonstrates the Arabian Horse Association’s standards of excellence for western pleasure performance. These standards provide a foundation for the education of Arabian judges in the association’s judge-training programs and, by extension, provide guidelines to trainers, riders and breeders for success in the show ring.

If you’re an Arabian western pleasure rider, instructor, breeder or aspiring judge, you’ll find this training video to be an invaluable resource — a must-have tool, really. Viewing it is the best way to see exactly what constitutes success for western pleasure horses and riders in the Arabian show ring.

What You’ll Learn

The focus of this particular video is the explanation and demonstration of standards for Arabian and Half-Arabian western pleasure judging. After a brief introduction to western pleasure riding, it describes judging criteria as follows:

• Movement
• Balance
• Manners and attitude
• Performance
• Gaits
• Light contact
• Appointments
• Class specifications

In each case, this video provides a detailed rundown of judging criteria and how horses need to perform to win high scores. Within the class specifications section, the relative prioritization of criteria (i.e. manners, performance, substance, quality and conformation) is specified for open, amateur and junior horse classes

What makes this video especially useful is that, as the narrator describes judging criteria in detail, you can watch video footage of top trainers taking the best Arabian western pleasure horses in the country to winning performances in national championship classes. The video clips show you exactly what is being described in each case, right down to detailed elements of each judging criterion.

Take Advantage of this Invaluable Reference Tool

Just click an Add to Cart button below to purchase, download and view this video. Within minutes, you’ll learn more about what your goals should be as you work with your horses at home and take them into the show ring.

This is the kind of video you should return to time and again, if only to keep fresh in your mind how Arabian western pleasure horses and riders should perform ideally. It will give you an overall picture of how you and your horse should look in the show ring and also remind you of many of the specific details judges take into consideration as they watch you perform.

Because it’s in the form of a download to your computer, it will also be easy for you to take it with you wherever you go, even to shows. You can even convert it for use on a smart phone or other mobile device, so that you can watch, or just listen to what judges are looking for, as you come closer to an especially important class.

Length: 13 minutes
File size: 150 MB
Download: 3 minutes
$29.95

For Macintosh/PC with QuickTime Player/iPad (MP4)

For Macintosh/PC with QuickTime Player/smart phone (smaller MP4)

For PC with Windows Media Player (WMV)

If you’re concerned your computer won’t play the file you want, you can try out our test videos first. Click this link to access them.

Link: Test Video