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You wanna do Ranch Riding?

- October 1st, 2025 - Ranch Horse

Trainer Johnny Flores shares insight

By JOHNNY FLORES / for the Horsetrader

Here are some key things to know so you can be successful in the fastest-growing sport in the Western industry! In this article, we’ll be going over showing, preparation, judging and discuss some general, good advice to get started in this awesome sport.

Frame and Movement
Ranch Horse associations all have their own mission statements, but the guiding force is a desire to preserve the natural movement and working ability of true ranch horses. Judges don’t want to see pleasure ponies with two-inch strides or dressage horses with unreal impulsion. Judges want to see a horse who can work comfortably and effectively over a long period of time in a wide variety of terrain and jobs. 

Usually, because Ranch Horse is an American sport, the ideal horse and frame is that of a Quarter Horse. A good rule of thumb is keep the head at or above the withers within three inches or so. Anything higher tends to be on the high-headed side of things which can be tricky to deal with and to show effectively. Anything lower will start to resemble a reiner, which is an easy way to get written off the scorecards. These horses need to be on a ranch — trotting around for hours at a time, working cattle, and roping in between. If their head is in the air they’ll hollow their back, get sore, and miss their cow. If their head is too low, their face will be yanked into the ground when they go to rope a stubborn cow. Ranch Horse seeks a realistic, natural headset that can handle all these jobs relatively well — and that’s at, or slightly above, the withers. 

Consistency
Ranch Horse is big on transitions, and showing the horse as an effective means of transportation to, from, and through jobs. In these maneuvers, a consistent frame is a wonderful thing to show off for the judges. If your horse is stunning at the walk and trot but lopes like a super-caffeinated llama, that is not good. If they can carry a nice, natural frame for the whole run, rarely picking up their head besides naturally elevating shoulders, then the judge will be giving better scores.

This consistency also translates to how the horse pays attention to the cues and demonstrates their softness. When pulled, the Ranch Horse should give with his nose. If the horse is pulled and backs up with a soft body but a stiff jaw, he is not earning as much credit on the scorecard as the horse who willingly gives his head and backs up slightly slower. Ranch Horse judging focuses on the horse, not the rider — use this to your advantage and set up your horse for success! 

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Realism
Everything done in the Ranch Riding or Trail course should be done in a way that the horse could easily do 30 times a day without getting hurt. Spins should be done swiftly and calmly, but engaged enough to get the job done in a timely manner. Stops are always done at most from a lope, never a rundown like reining. Long slides are not as well-liked as a short, engaged stop. Back-ups should be fast, but the horse is not rewarded if he scrambles his feet. There is a difference between haste and speed. Transitions are not opportunities to cut up the dirt; they are transitions between the gaits — understand that! A judge will reward a calm, easy — but quick — transition from one gait to the next. A judge will not reward the transition that kicks up a cloud with the horse’s butt puckering at the rider’s vocal cue. On a real ranch, with there is a wide variety of ground quality (all subpar to that of an arena) that horse would be lame on Day 1.

Show & Dress
Even though Ranch Horse is a realistic sport that aims to keep true to tradition, its still a show. Good equitation, though not important on paper, will help immensely in the cueing and showing of the horse. A judge is not immune to seeing something they think is pretty, and good equitation always looks pretty. Nobody likes to see a monkey on a donkey.

When selecting tack, stay away from overly showy tack. Silver in the case of a spade bit or some conchos on the saddle is fine, but do not adorn the horse. Ranch Horse does not look kindly on saddles with silver on the skirt or pommel. Good leather tooling and braidwork is what you “show off” — not silver and gold. 

Dress and ride in accordance with traditionally “western” norms. Do not try to ride with cartoonish batwing chaps looking like a looney toons drawing or a humongous charro hat. Ranch Horse celebrates the different cowboys in America, but a good western hat with a five-inch or shorter brim, and shotgun chaps or armitas/chinks, are just fine.

Furthermore, understand your body type and what may need slimming. What is “handsome” or “sexy” to show off, and how does the legwear fit you? Generally, armitas and shotgun chaps look great on men while chinks look great on women. Know how best to dress and how best to get the horse ready.

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Judges are human. so they are not immune to liking a good picture. Dress and tack up the horse in a way that is pleasant to look at as a whole.

Judging
The judging is done on a 70 point system where everyone starts at 70 and goes up or down from there. Each maneuver or obstacle will be judged -1 ½ to +1 ½ . The simplest way to understand what that scoring system means is to assign words to each score:

• Excellent +1½
• Very Good +1
• Good +½
• Average 0
• Poor -½
• Very Poor -1
• Extremely Poor -1 ½

At the end of the run, these scores are tallied against the 70. If a person were to get three -1 ½ point scores, they’d have a score of 65 ½ and if they had three +1 scores, they’d have a 73.

When starting out in Ranch Horse, shoot for 0 scores. Do not take gambles until comfortable and somewhat consistent. Correctness trumps all. A good rule of thumb is to shoot for a 70 score at first, then work up from there. In Ranch Horse, if one can stay out of the penalty box…they are generally going to walk out with a decent placing. Another good rule of thumb is to stay consistent, the best riders do not have a couple +1 ½ scores, they have consistent +1 scores and a couple +½ scores. A +1 ½ score is great, but if it’s followed by a 0, you are now below the guy that got two +1 scores. Consistency wins.

Penalties
Penalties are generally outlined in the judge’s sheets and they are tallied against the 70 point just the same as maneuver scores. Priority #1 in Ranch Horse: stay out of the penalty box. Penalties:

• Too slow 1pt
• Overbridled 1pt
• Break of gait 2 strides or less 1pt
• Break of gait more than 2 strides 3pt
• Wrong lead more than 2 strides 3pt
• Draped rein 3pt
• Crossfiring more than 2 strides in a lead change 3pt
• Trotting more than 3 strides in simple lead change or out of rollback 3pt
• Severe disturbance of any obstacle 3pt
• Blatant disobedience 5pt

Understand that a 1 point penalty is not the end of the world, but it would be nice to avoid if possible. Usually the 1 and 3 point penalties can be made back by a skilled rider, but more than three penalty points is almost impossible to make back and still have a respectable score. Depending on the show, schooling may be more socially accepted. All horses should show with intent to school in their performance program to keep things sharp.

Off Pattern
This is the worst place to be — essentially it means no matter how well you did, the act that “OP’ed” your horse will place you below everyone who did the pattern correctly, regardless of score. Here are ways to get off pattern:

• Eliminate or add a maneuver
• Incomplete maneuver
• Repeated blatant disobedience
• Use of two hands except in snaffle or hackamore on Junior/ Level 1 horses
• More than 1 finger between split reins (in bridle)
• Any fingers between Romal reins (except in a two rein for that year)

Let’s say you do a pattern and it’s a 74 score. If you put your fingers between the Romal reins and your horse is not in a two rein, you’re OP’ed. The next rider who competed got three penalties and had a tough time but did the course technically correct with a 68 score. They will still beat you, because they did the course as drawn and written. Penalty points and negative maneuver scores have no bearing on OP, except in the case of placing multiple OP riders. If two riders have OP’ed, they will be placed high to low, same as any other placing.

Disqualification (“DQ’d”)
It’s pretty hard to get disqualified in Ranch Horse. Here are ways it will happen:

• Illegal equipment
• Lameness
• Disrespect or misconduct
• Willful abuse
• Leave working area before pattern is complete
• Improper Western attire
• Fall of the horse or rider

For equipment, find a bridle that’s universally acceptable in order to remain safe from any scrutiny. A nice simple shanked bit with a solid or correction mouth and leather or single flat chain curb is a great choice. Reins must be leather split or leather/rawhide Romal, simple as that. No barrel or roping reins. Snaffles and hackamores are pretty hard to mess up, and the two rein must be fitted appropriately and not in such a way where it looks like a glorified cavesson. Stick with the usual stuff…no weird contraptions.

I hope you enjoy this article!

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