b"Rixeyville and the Restructured NFHR Evaluation System by Beth BeymerThe quite anticipated roll-out of the new Evaluation System occurred on Margaret Bogie and Tom and Alex Snyders Ironwood Farm in Rixeyville, Virginia. Many thanks to them for opening their farm to us and for their incredible hospitality. Reasons for redesigning the original Evaluation Program were to a) bring the scoring more in line with the judging and scoring systems used in Norway, Denmark, Holland, and other countries around the world; b) introduce collaborative scoring rather than competitive scoring between the judges as was the practice with the previous system; c) introduce the use of a scribe to help record judges scores; d) provide more information about the horses on the score sheet given to the participants; e) streamline information on the score sheet by utilizing marked data points on the sheet that might eventually be utilized in a computer data-base.It was also a trial for evaluations being held on a farm rather than at a rented equestrian facility. Essentially this wasa test to see if it was feasible to help defray travel and stabling expenses for those who desire to present multiple horses, something that has been requested by NFHR members (breeders in particular) who have a number of horses they would like to have evaluated. Another first was evaluating the horses at liberty. In my opinion, this practice is essential to be able to assess a horses true movement, which cannot always be expressed in-hand. It allowed us to see all three gaits uninhibited, confirming or improving what was seen in-hand. Additionally, its fun to watch!The facility was gorgeous. Though completely outdoors, the surroundings were beautiful. As at most local horse shows (with the exception of horses that lived on the farm), participants worked out of their trailers. Participants were prepared and ready to go, even when the schedule had to be changed due to a strong thunderstorm that blew in quite rapidly. Many thanks to the participants for being flexible, your cooperation helped make this event a success. Performance participants could use the outlying areas for warm-up and were also allowed time inside the arena prior to their tests.Learning to utilize a new judging system real-time was a challenge and, as I anticipated, took more time than I would have liked.However I believe it is a good system that will be beneficial to provide accurate information regarding the qualities of the horses. Some things, like scoring the Performance and Family Fjord Tests, need to be tweaked but overall, the new system is a good one. Many thanks to our other evaluator, Melissa Boyd. Some participants may have noticed smoke pouring from our ears as our brains were on fire. I believe we may have recovered by now. Having a scribe was new to me but proved to be quite useful. Many thanks to Andrew Hinrichs, who is one of our Evaluator Candidates. Finally, to our beautiful Fjord Horses: it is always a treat to see Fjords in different parts of our country, some stoic and serious, some with quite the sense of humor, every one of them beautiful in their own way. Seeing the relationships between these horses and their humans always brings a tear to my eye, especially in the Family Fjord tests. Our future is bright! DIF Elegense - FF Ground Driving, FF Riding - Owner Sandi Pepper - PC Steve Helen Hayn Pelkey and Kim Nelson hugging after Ironwood Valena and Ole's Lolli were award blue conformation ribbons PC: TomFjord Herald Issue #149Winter 2023 31"