The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2)

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 2

Section: A

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 30

Formal Sub-Theme: “The Greenhorn Chronicles”

Individual Publication Date: February 1, 2024

Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Word Count: 1,732

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

*Thank you to Hayley Mercer for the recommendation.*

Abstract

Quentin Judge is an equestrian and owner of Double H Farm. Judge discusses: Mexican riders; facilities’ strengths and weaknesses; cost of an Olympic horse; finding out what factors are necessary for horses; data collection in equestrianism; and Ian Millar.

Keywords: Americans, Canadians, Connecticut, data collection, dressage, equestrianism, Mexicans, show jumping, Quentin Judge.

The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How about the Mexican riders, too? How is the sport South of the United States?

Quentin Judge: I have only been to Mexico a little bit. I would not be an expert by any stretch about Mexican riders. In Mexico, my take on it is: The Mexico Team is more self-funded riders doing it at whatever level they are doing it. There are more clubs in Mexico and Brazil and places like that, but fewer Mexican riders are on the international circuit compared to Canada. More people who can fund their careers are buying their horses, whether part-time or full-time. That is what I see coming out of Mexico. Again, I am not an expert by any means. 

Jacobsen: What are some of the most complex parts of being a trainer? What are some of the more challenging parts of being an owner-operator?

Judge: The hard part of being a trainer with me is managing my time. Because I speak for myself as a trainer, I care about our clients’ results. Not only their results but their progression as riders. That takes time. I am finding that I am a lot better than I used to be. I am still looking at ways to manage and prioritize my riding and horses and give the appropriate time for clients. It is the challenge of training. It is that. I have a young family. My kids are in school out in Florida. I fly back and forth to see them. I will be back here doing more training and riding myself because my horses show more in the Fall. However, I have clients. It is a job. Having clients is a sport; it is a service industry. It is managing time across the board. It is a small quantity of a challenge for me. 

Insofar as challenges as an owner-operator, it is essential. If you own or operate a facility or facilities like ours, it is more than just the training for clients. It is renting stalls and paddocks, doing turnouts, treadmills, and everything we have for our horses. People think of us, Double H Farm, having top-tier facilities and training, which we do have. But the general maintenance of things. People are paying you for services or stalls at your farm. The top services offered the best grounds for horses and the best paddocks. It is a constant, not-so-fun system of keeping things up to snuff. 

Jacobsen: Where do you think most facilities are doing strong, whether the quality of the hay, quality of the stall cleaning, the shavings, the grounding, the footing, the style of training, the quality of the horse? Where are most facilities doing good? Where areas in American equestrian sport need some improvement?

Judge: This speaks to the top tier, the A circuit, where I have worked for the last 20 years. If you are in Wellington or that level of farm, everyone, the level of footing is, I think, people conscious of footing. People do that well. Riding for horses, facilities differ per barn or operation. For us, we have turned out. We prioritize paddock space. Others do not. The footing, the boarding, is high in Wellington because people know. There are many operations offering services in places like Wellington or New York. It would help if you had the proper facilities to attract those clients. People do well across the board. 

As far as something I am passionate about, there is an excellent history of equestrian sport in the United States. There is also a history of getting taken advantage of in the United States. As a trainer or somebody who sells horses or trains people, it is easy to be flippant with people’s money. It is a costly sport. People who own horses for their daughters. If they have 4 or 5 horses, that is more often a wealthy, well-off family. In the United States, there is a shift coming. There is a shift happening in people taking advantage of horse deals. You can walk around a horse show. People will tell you about a commission paid through a trainer that they were not aware of or a deal that was not transparent. In our operation, we try to be highly transparent in everything we do. As my late father-in-law said to us, “Treat people well. Treat people with respect; treat people’s money as if it was your own.” There are things in California law.

Everything has to be spelled out in a bill of sale. There needs to be be awareness of that. People need to know that people are there and being paid to do a service. Are there trainers and professionals not taking advantage of anything? I think that kills the business, at least in the United States. It leaves a sour taste in people’s mouths for the sport. 

Jacobsen: If you are looking at actual numbers for the worst to the best Olympic-level horse, what are the prices in US dollars?

Judge: That is very nearly impossible to say. The simple answer: A horse will cost what people will pay for it. We have all heard the rumours of horses bought for 8, 10, 12 million Euros. No one knows what someone paid in those deals. If you buy a horse, if you say, “I want a horse I can take today to take to Paris next year if I qualify for it.” I believe you will be paying at least $1 million (USD). That is on the low end. It is such a wide range of what horses cost and what horse people pay for horses. It is a tricky question to answer. I can say it is extremely expensive. 

Jacobsen: When you are looking at horses for clients, the carefulness of the horse, the choppiness of the horse, the stamina of the horse, the quickness of the horse, what factors tend to be more critical for the sport of show jumping compared to something like dressage or 3-day eventing?

Judge: I speak from having very minor experience in dressage. When picking clients, the most crucial thing is suitability and horse-and-rider matching together. That goes across all of the sports. You can have an extremely talented horse with a rider who is not there and does not do well, and vice versa. A great rider can make horses do well at the lower level but not higher. For clients, that is a priority. It is a match for the rider. The horse needs to be overqualified for what they are doing. If someone is learning the ropes, jumping the 1.40m class, you want to know if you are going extra deep or giving an extra stride in the 1.40m oxer; you want to know your horse will not max out at 1.40m. It makes better riders. The horse needs the skill. It is suitability and making sure the horse is up to the job. As far as eventing and dressage, it would be similar. However, there would be more critical factors. You want a horse that understands those factors.

Jacobsen: What do you think are some of the cutting-edge areas of the show jumping world now?

Judge: Data collection seems to be huge. It is coming to the forefront. Regarding the results of horses and riders, it starts when you buy a horse. You want to get all of the information you can. It is so hard to find a horse nowadays. You want to have every round, every stat, how many clear rounds, where it jumps best, and how to work with that. You are working with an animal that cannot speak. He cannot tell you what it thinks or feels. With horses, it historically goes off the feel of what a horse can not do. You want to have data collection, see what these horses do, and have a look at black-and-white numbers, which is helpful for people. We are constantly pushing in the veterinarian sense. There are things we can find to help horses have longevity and recover. People, in general, are changing their mindset from putting out fires. You call a vet and make a horse feel better. Now, we have more regular check-ins with vets before there is an issue to be ahead of a problem. Medications or even treatments can help the horse with longevity in their career. 

Jacobsen: What were the main lessons Ian Millar taught you?

Judge: Ian is a master of many things. He is so unbelievably thorough and patient with horses. I think Ian, in the early part of his career, made a name for himself with good horses good horses, but maybe he could buy. He only sometimes had the owners to buy the best horses for him. He made a career for himself, taking horses that other professionals may have worked past and working with them to make them successful. He has an unbelievable ability to dissect what a horse does and how you can find ways to help them. I count Ian as a fantastic resource. I called him two weeks ago with a horse struggling with a double-oxer combination. He is dedicated to gymnastic work. I asked, “How can you help this horse?” Ian taught me that things take time. Horses thrive off repetition. That is how horses learn. Some horses learn fast, and others do not. It is our job as the riders to give the horses as many skills as possible in the timeline that the horse is showing us that they need to have and to see if we can succeed that way. 

Jacobsen: Any final thoughts or feelings based on the conversation today?

Judge: No, anything else? I do not know. [Laughing] We covered a lot. The short of the long is that there is a difference in the American way compared to the Canadian or Mexican way of doing the sport. We are heavy into the hunters and the equitation. That is a fundamental foundation of our sport. Many things go into it. There are so many differences. We see it in the Canadian and American market of riders. It would be good to have Canadians – I have some good friends who are Canadian – come up and be at the same level. 

Jacobsen: Quentin, thank you for the opportunity and your time today.

Judge: My pleasure.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Double H Farm (2). February 2024; 12(2). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/judge-2

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2024, February 1). The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2). In-Sight Publishing. 12(2).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 2, 2024.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2024. “The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (Spring). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/judge-2.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (February 2024).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/judge-2.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2024) ‘The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(2). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/judge-2>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2024, ‘The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 2, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/judge-2>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 2, 2024, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/judge-2.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. The Greenhorn Chronicles 54: Quentin Judge on Top Tier Show Jumping (2) [Internet]. 2024 Jan; 12(2). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/judge-2.

License

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Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

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