2024 Early Californios Skills of the Rancho
Stock Horse Class
Herd Work by Division
The Herd Work is one of three phases that make up the Stock Horse Class. In this phase, participants will display their stockmanship skills by sorting and maneuvering one or more head of cattle from the rodear. This class demonstrates a competitor’s ability to establish control of cattle in a working situation while maintaining the highest level of horsemanship.
Judges Criteria for Herd Work
In all divisions, judges will be looking for horsemanship to remain a priority throughout all the herd work.
Working well with teammates (Pros) will be reflected in teamwork score.
There will be a deduction in stockmanship points for scattering the rodear and/or a failure to put it back together.
More emphasis is placed on HOW the task is performed than whether or not the course is completed. More points are available in stockmanship and horsemanship points than are awarded for course completion.
Youth, Junior, Green Novice, and Novice: The term “slow is fast” is part of the Skills philosophy however letting cattle repeatedly get past you without stopping them is poor stockmanship. It is ok to take one or two quicker steps to stop your sort from rolling back around into the herd.
Intermediate and Advanced divisions: judges will be looking for increased efficiency and the ability to add speed when needed without stressing cattle or unnecessarily disturbing the rodear.
Time in this event is kept only for the purpose of tie breakers. Participants who exceed the maximum allowable time will be excused by the judges as we need to keep on schedule. There are no bonus points for speed, in fact speed may invoke deducts in horsemanship and stockmanship IF used incorrectly.
Scoring:
Each division will have a specific number of head to sort (see below). Each head will have a score of 0 to 5 with 0 being uncompleted (no sort) and 5 being the highest quality sort. Failure to complete the allotted number of sorts will not result in disqualification, but points will not be awarded for any head not sorted. There will be up to + or – 10 points available each for horsemanship, stockmanship and teamwork, as well as up to + or – 10 points as Judge’s Discretionary points. While a Pro is provided to help each participant, the Participant is responsible for doing the work, i.e., don’t let the Pro do all the sorting and follow behind. Failure to actively participate in the task will result in lower points.
General: Participant and Pro will sort out the designated number of cattle and push them out and around a designated marker in the arena and back to the rodear. Time will stop when the rodear is back together. Quantity of cattle and time are noted below:
Green Youth/Junior, Green Novice, Youth, Junior, Novice – 1 head as designated by Judges, along with two other head of participant’s choosing, total three (3) head, 3 minutes.
Intermediate – 5 designated head, 3 minutes
Advanced – 10 designated head, 3 minutes