Road to the Horse 2026 Wild Card Challenge Scores

Judges:

Judge 1 – Kathy Baar, Judge 2 – Eric Hoffmann, Judge 3 – David O’Connor, Judge 4 – Jesse Westfall, Judge 5 – Jeff Williams

Judged Criteria:

Catching & Haltering | Saddling Preparation | Saddling | Introduction of Rider | Obstacle Preparation | Groundwork | General Interaction | Timing – Reward & Release | Forward Motion | Willingness to Guide/Steer | Progression of Colt’s Softness -Yields to Pressure | Clarity of the Message | Overall Horsemanship – Reading of Colt | Clinician’s Conduct / Demeanor | Clinician’s Confidence & Understanding | Clinician’s Ability to Build Confidence in Colt | Clinician’s Ability to Adjust to the Colt’s Needs | Clinician’s Ability to Build a Solid Foundation | Appropriate Use of Pen Wrangler | Colt’s Demeanor at End of Session

How it works:

Scores for each criterion are judged from 0-5 in half point increments. Scores are cumulative across all rounds, and the high and low score are discarded for each round.

Round One:

	Fisher	McLaury	Irwin	Leach
Judge 1	47	73	65	79.5
Judge 2	70	88.5	87	90
Judge 3	53.5	84	83.5	82.5
Judge 4	64	93.5	78.5	86
Judge 5	62.5	76.5	73.5	70
TOTAL	180	249	235.5	248

Round Two:

	Fisher	McLaury	Irwin	Leach
Judge 1	61.5	81.5	83	84.5
Judge 2	73.5	90.5	89.5	86
Judge 3	64.5	87.5	85.5	88.5
Judge 4	65	91	89.5	87.5
Judge 5	66.5	79.5	83.5	75
TOTAL	196	259.5	258.5	258

Round Three:

	Fisher	McLaury	Irwin	Leach
Judge 1	113	127.5	116	115.5
Judge 2	97.5	138.5	124.5	121
Judge 3	110.5	137.5	109.5	120.5
Judge 4	108	132.5	123	118.5
Judge 5	125	133.5	113	118
TOTAL	331.5	403.5	352	357

Combined Totals:

	Fisher	McLaury	Irwin	Leach
Round 1	180	249	235.5	248
Round 2	196	259.5	258.5	258
Round 3	331.5	403.5	352	357
TOTAL	707.5	912	846	863