Note Taking and Preparation for Oral Reasons

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

2. 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

3. 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!!

4. 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

5. Set up NotebookNotes on Class

6. Set up NotebookReasons Notes • Write down placing • Divide page into 9 boxes • Include ID points • Organize notes • Include: • Connectors • Transitions

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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….

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Connective Terms • Aid in making reasons flow from one idea to another. Can increase score. AdditionallyHowever Furthermore Moreover And NeverthelessIn addition Also

18. 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.

19. Grant Statements • Really only need four grant statements in your arsenal. One for each pair and no obvious. I realize I GrantYes, it is true I realize and Fully appreciateI concede I appreciate I readily admitIt is obvious Seeing no obvious grants

20. 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

21. 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

22. Presentation and Stance • Stance • Body position • Distance • Eye Contact • Presentation • Volume • Inflection • Enunciation

23. Reasons Scoring • 0 = Student doesn’t show up • 1-25 = Shows up but doesn’t put forth effort • 26-30 = Beginning to show effort but doesn’t care • 31-35 = Starting to sound like a set of reasons • 36-40 = Complete set with grants and some presentation style • 41-45 = The good set; complete set, good presentation, accurate description of class • 46-50 = The great set; transitions, creativity, accuracy, great presentation and delivery