During the Spring Show and Three Year Old Futurity held this past June, the MFTHBA Board of Directors and the MFTHBA Judges Training Committee tested a new process for selecting judges. (See the announcement made prior to the Spring Show by clicking HERE)

“Following the Spring Show, an online survey was conducted to obtain feedback from spectators, exhibitors and trainers on the new process,” said Dr. Joyce Graening, MFTHBA President. “We knew going into the show that there may be some hiccups with the new system and that there were things that would need to be improved, if we continued with the process. However, before we discussed what we could do better we wanted to hear from exhibitors on whether the concept worked for them.”

The feedback on the survey was overwhelmingly positive. Seventy-four percent of respondents liked the new selection process although most indicated that a few tweaks would improve the process. Nearly 70 percent felt the new process gave them a better opportunity to be successful and that the process improved the public perception of the judging process. The most popular feature of the new system was the confidentiality involved. Seventy four percent agreed or strongly agreed that “Confidentiality of the potential judge pool and selected judges for the show decreases the perception that exhibitors, owners and trainers influence the judges scoring of classes.”

“We were pleased that attendees liked the new system,” said Becky Bailey, MFTHBA Judges Training Committee Chairman. “One of the primary goals of our committee was to develop a system that would address the feedback we had heard from exhibitors at previous shows.”

While most survey responders indicated they liked the system, they also made it clear that there was room for improvement. “We appreciate everyone that took time to complete the survey, especially those that provided constructive feedback and suggestions,” said Bailey.

Several of the suggestions provided by responders will be implemented at the World Show and Celebration this coming September. Currently the MFTHBA Judges Training Committee is working on:

• Establishing a monitoring system for oversight of the judges nightly. Judges’ cards will be reviewed for consistency.
• A judge’s seminar will be held during the World Show and Celebration to card new judges that will be eligible to judge in the future as well as renew and update current carded judges. This seminar will be held on Monday, September 7 in the Hall of Fame room. Find out more by clicking HERE.
• Increasing communication to available carded judges so they understand the process. This will increase the pool of judges available each night of the show.

“We are excited that the MFTHBA Board voted to continue the pool selection process for this year’s World Show and Celebration. We hope by addressing some of the issues that were identified on the survey, exhibitors, trainers and judges will like the process even more than they did this spring,” added Bailey.