Note Taking and Preparation for Oral Reasons Equine Science Spring 2010 Created by: Bryan Egan and Stacie Domer Penn State, 2006

Oral Reasons Overview Integral Part of a horse judging contest Offer contestant the opportunity to defend their placing Must be concise, accurate, and under two minutes Contestants should work from a mental image of the horses from the class. Notes are just helpers Inorder to be successful, contestant must be organized! Organization begins with good notetaking

Note Taking Learn to use short hand for notes Each individual’s short hand is likely to be different and this is OK Use same organizational scheme for notes and reasons Be careful not to miss something while taking notes. Especially in performance!!

Note Taking Stenographers notebook works well for notes Notes Taking –Write down identifiers for each horse –Begin by taking notes on class Good and bad qualities of each horse –Convert to reason’s notes once class is placed Comparative notes within each pair

Set up Notebook Notes on Class

Set up Notebook Reasons Notes Write down placing Divide page into 9 boxes Include ID points Organize notes Include: –Connectors –Transitions

Starting Out on Reasons Accuracy is first and foremost Must be grammatically correct Try to avoid memorizing words instead think about class It is OK to start young people off writing their reasons out but they should relatively quickly work from just notes

Starting Out on Reasons Perhaps start out giving just a pair –Work hard on presentation, style, and organization Then move to giving two pair –Begin breaking down terms, transitions, etc. Then give complete sets –Once here, your on your way

Starting Out on Reasons Don’t forget to be positive, giving reasons is hard Try to make it as fun as is possible Don’t try to fix everything all at once Always find the good things about the pair, pairs, or set –Being too critical will discourage youth

Organization Develop a system that is easy to remember and easy to listen to –Talk around the horse in halter –Talk around the pattern in pattern classes –Talk the first direction and then the second in rail classes

Organization Opening Statement: simple or complex –Sir, I placed the Quarter Horse Mares 123 and 4. –Maam, Using quality, balance, and structural correctness as my determining factors, my preferred alignment of the Quarter Horse Mares is 123 and 4. –Sir, seeing the class to contain an easy top, easy bottom and relatively tight middle pair, my preferred alignment of the Aged Mares is 123 and 4.

Organization Top Pair –In my top pair, I placed 1 over 2 because she was the…… –In my initial pair, 1 easily rose to the top due to her superior combination of quality, balance, and structural correctness. She was…… Grant –I grant that 2 was heavier muscled. –I realize and fully appreciate the fact that 2 was heavier muscled. Criticism –However, she lacked the quality and balanced appearance of 1 to place higher today.

Organization Top/Middle Pair transition –Moving to my middle pair –Moving to my more difficult intermediate decision –In spite of this she maintains a distinct advantage over 3 in my middle pair Middle Pair –2 was more feminine about her head, thinner in her throat and had a longer leaner neck which tied higher into a more ideally laid back shoulder….

Organization Continue through set using same organizational scheme for middle and bottom pair. Closing Statement: –Could simply just be “Thank You” when done –Could re-place the class: For these reasons, I placed the Aged Mares 123 and 4. Thank You. Using the nine box setup and this layout for every set of reasons helps people get unstuck when they forget what they want to say.

Terminology Must be comparative –Neck isn’t long it is longer, not heavy muscled but heavier muscled, not he was cadenced at the jog but he was more consistently cadenced at the jog, etc, etc Keep things simple at first –If you can’t pronounce it don’t use it –If you don’t know what the term means don’t use it.

Terminology Start off very simple –Just discuss the major judging criteria for the class –Fill in details as experience and confidence grows Once familiar with terminology, encourage judgers to experiment with terms they like. Add individuality to their reasons.

Connective Terms Aid in making reasons flow from one idea to another. Can increase score. Additionally However Furthermore Moreover And Nevertheless In addition Also

Grants Grants are used to tell something good about the horse placed below another. –Rarely is one horse more ideal in all areas, so grants are almost always used Correct grants can be extremely important to scoring well on a set of reasons Don’t make something up just to have a grant.

Grant Statements Really only need four grant statements in your arsenal. One for each pair and no obvious. I realize I Grant Yes, it is true I realize and Fully appreciate I concede I appreciate I readily admit It is obvious Seeing no obvious grants

Streamline Reasons Reasons become wordy –Maybe even go over 2 minutes Remember reasons listener has to listen to many sets on the same class Only discuss the RELEVANT facts used to place each pair. Don’t talk to hear yourself talk

Practicing Reasons Practice Out Loud Give reasons to many different people Practice from beginning to end each time Always give your reasons as if you are giving them to someone in a contest. Remember Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

Presentation and Stance Stance –Body position –Distance Eye Contact Presentation –Volume –Inflection –Enunciation

Reasons Scoring 0 = Student doesn’t show up 1-25 = Shows up but doesn’t put forth effort = Beginning to show effort but doesn’t care = Starting to sound like a set of reasons = Complete set with grants and some presentation style = The good set; complete set, good presentation, accurate description of class = The great set; transitions, creativity, accuracy, great presentation and delivery