| How the NTRHA Judging Format Works:
You already know that in the NTRHA, head and heel horses are judged on five distinct maneuvers. For head horses, it’s how they approach and enter the box, their attitude behind the barrier, how they break and run and then rate the steer, how they set and handle the steer, and finally, how they face. Heel horses in the NTRHA are judged on how they enter the box, their attitude in the box, how they break and run, their position and entry into the corner and how they stop.
You start with 70 points, and each of the five maneuvers is rated with a “plus” or “minus” in half- to one-point increments (up to 3 points), with a major infraction costing five points. The resulting number is the score portion of your run. The other portion is your time subtracted from 60.00 seconds (which represents the maximum allowable time for your run), which is added to your score to give you a final tally.
For example, under a single judge system, if your run earned you a score of 74 and you turned in a clean time of 6.0 seconds (54 points), your overall score would be 128. If another horse also scored a 74, but turned in a time of 8.0 seconds, that would convert to 53 points, or a final score of 127 that would place behind your horse.
If there are five judges, the highest and lowest scores are thrown out to get the most accurate possible final tally. If there are two judges, the two scores are simply added together. But the important thing to remember is that, regardless of whether there are two judges or five at any particular event, the time of your run is always subtracted from 60.00 to get that portion of your score. The timed element remains a vital part of the score regardless of how many judges are scoring your run.
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