Frustrated with Showmanship and Your Showmanship Tips!

So to cut to the chase...and a slight rant..

At the past couple shows I have been in showmanship and the judges have been telling me that everything I do is great but they don't tell me anything I need to fix, and when they come over the speaker they have nothing bad to say about me or that I need to improve on major things that could really knock points, and that I answered every question correct but I NEVER PLACE! My heifer sets up on her own I just scratch her belly and watch the judge but pay attention to myself and my heifer so he has a good view of her from all angles. I sure as heck know smiling isn't my problem because the Grand Showman never smiles, I smile when I enter the ring and act like I want to be there, and still smile occasionally. What does it take to be a Grand Showman, because apparently I haven't figured out how to even place I guess. So I will take all your showmanship tips into high consideration, because this is really bugging me.

Thank You.

I like to compare livestock showmanship with a Broadway Play or any other stage performance where you are the actor with an audience and a good performance goes off smoothly. You must rehearse and practice and have someone that has a good eye with  knowledge of showmanship critique you. Learning all the basic fundamentals is the most important such as  being clean and neatly groomed, carrying a comb in your back pocket, knowing how to use the show stick properly, being courteous to the other exhibitors, etc. Being instinctive and able to anticipate what the judges might have you do beforehand is also important and comes with experience.

Just remember that you are being scrutinized with how you and your calf are being displayed. It is almost always subjective who is the best, when many exhibitors are all doing a great job and someone seems to outshine the competition. All those little details make the difference with who can impress and catch the judge's eye.

I have that already...so what is it now. I dont have anything to "show off" so nothing is hanging out of the front of the shirt if you know what I mean.

And what i mean by that is a try as hard as i can to look well presented no matter how hot and sweaty I am

Everyone likes their showman a little different.  For me I would change your body posture a little.  Feet square shoulder width apart and shoulders square.  Keep your knees straight.  Not with your body shifted to one side.  Elbow down in the first picture.  You don't necessarily have to straight arm it.  But elbow down and wrist up with your hand on the chain right next to the animals head gives you much more control and sense of what the animal is about to do.
Many kids can technically show the animal properly.  It often gets down to body posture and presenting that eye catching look.
Good luck and keep working towards it! A great stick job can make the difference!

Ron
<cowboy>

I guess i do stick that leg out, No one has ever pointed it out to me! Thank you! We have 3 more shows this season! i will be sure to work on posture!

Attitude can be as important as technique. Confident but not cocky. Start showing before you enter the ring. Early eye contact with the judge as you are entering giving him/her the message that says I'm good. I know what I'm doing and what needs to be done, I challenge you to find a better showman than me because I'm the best. Then back that up with performance.

DLZ

rtmcc said:

Everyone likes their showman a little different.  For me I would change your body posture a little.  Feet square shoulder width apart and shoulders square.  Keep your knees straight.  Not with your body shifted to one side.  Elbow down in the first picture.  You don't necessarily have to straight arm it.  But elbow down and wrist up with your hand on the chain right next to the animals head gives you much more control and sense of what the animal is about to do.
Many kids can technically show the animal properly.  It often gets down to body posture and presenting that eye catching look.
Good luck and keep working towards it! A great stick job can make the difference!

Ron
<cowboy>

Click to expand...

most useful post in a long time.

Try not to smile to much. Look confident. Again , every judge has a diff opinion, but a confident , fluent showman usually prevails.

i'd say also find a way to lose the black number holder like the guy next to you.


people are finding creative ways to do this.


those things look terrible to me.  ag is supposedly creative, but some things just never change with the times that have always been hideous.

Remember when you first learned how to show?  It was like going from crawling, beginning to walk, and then you were up and running?  Well, going from being a decent showman to being a superstar is like going from playing scratch golf to being Tiger Woods.  All the "little" things are what get you sifted.  The post in regards to body posture was AMAZING!  <party>
The only things I would add are:
Stick Speed/Stroke :  NO sawing.... stroking only.  And think of a nice slow country song-- (our kiddo uses "Baby Blue" lol) to help control speed.
Timing your walk out.  If the calf isn't setting up well, or gets off kilter going potty,  instead of poking, prodding, pushing, pulling-- just walk her out.  BUT-- when you do it-- Make sure to keep an eye on the judge-- That way it looks like you're trying to gain attention rather than having to reset.

I can't tell you how many judges have said " He just looks comfortable and completely at home out here"
I think they like seeing someone who has good control of nerves, commands attention, and is so at ease with the calf it's like they are "one".

Don't worry about it girl - I stand just like you. Undermine the whole formality of this stuff and let your animal speak for itself.  Keep doing your thing and don't worry about showmanship. The class is inherently political.

Don't worry, no sawing going on here! That's one of my biggest pet peeves.

-XBAR- said:

Don't worry about it girl - I stand just like you. Undermine the whole formality of this stuff and let your animal speak for itself.  Keep doing your thing and don't worry about showmanship. The class is inherently political.

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So many contradictions (40 million?), so little time. 

-XBAR- said:

Don't worry about it girl - I stand just like you. Undermine the whole formality of this stuff and let your animal speak for itself.  Keep doing your thing and don't worry about showmanship. The class is inherently political.

Click to expand...

I get it, and I personally don't like showmanship classes...but this is crap.  You're basically selling your animal to the judge.  I understand not falling into the whole silliness of some of the show ring tactics.  But not showing your animal correctly is just ignorant.  I don't mean to toot my own horn, but my girlfriend is one of the best show people I have ever seen.  White show shirt, nice fitting pants, number holder in her pocket, black show stick.  Confidence is 20% Posture is 75% Getting your calf's feet in the right place is maybe 5%. It should be automatic.  My dad can get a calf to walk into place 100% of the time, but I'm never sending him in the ring with one that needs to win. Watch people like Jake Bloomberg, Bailey Core, and Nick Sullivan to get an idea of the body language and posture that is needed. Good luck!

I am sure everything everyone else said was correct but all I see is the posture and the left arm like was pointed out before. I would disagree with Justin on the feet placement not being as important only because there are so many that will do the other things perfectly that becomes the deciding factor.  And someone mentioned all judges are different. When Jim Williams judged here feet placement was about all he cared about.

This is one thing I wish I knew how to help with. Once we had a judge say to a kid I worked with that he was just a little too good for him today so he was going to place him third. There was a kid in our state that almost never lost a showmanship competition. He didn't do a thing differently than some of the other kids but he always won. Some of the other top kids would be all the way from the top to not even making the cut doing the same things they did every time. So?????????

Kirk Stierwalt has an excellent DVD on showmanship, btw and that might help.

There is this kid I show against, that could just walk around the ring basically and win. Its very frustrating. For example, at a show he had to keep circling his calf, my calf never moved and the video shows i did everything I should of been doing but he places 2nd and I didnt place at all!! (It was top 5 out of like 13 kids.

After the last two posts, how can anyone disagree w/ what I said?

-XBAR- said:

Don't worry about it girl - I stand just like you. Undermine the whole formality of this stuff and let your animal speak for itself.  Keep doing your thing and don't worry about showmanship. The class is inherently political.

Click to expand...

This part is ok.


Showmanship is really only about who can get everyone else to do what you are supposed to do yourself the best. Its a team award.


Not a big deal.

If there is any competition where you show, most kids are going to do the basics (getting feet right, correct posture, etc) right.  The differentiators are almost always your "presence" and how easy you make it look and how relaxed you are.  It is also very hard to win showmanship without a top end calf that is fitted well.  That shouldn't matter but it does.

Honestly, after you have done it a few years, you either have "it" or you don't when it comes to doing well in showmanship.  At Texas's biggest prospect shows, there are lots of very competetive families that don't even have their kids bother.  For example, my oldest son is 15 and is an offensive lineman.  He's always been tall for his age and not the most coordinated thing in the world.  I consider him to be a hell of showman - he almost always places very well with his calves, makes the sale at our majors, and has even won some pretty big prospect shows over his career.  I figured out a long time ago, that showmanship contests weren't his "deal".  Big gangly boys aren't going to beat cute little girls nine times out of ten, with all else being close to equal.  In fact, the only showmanship contests we ever bother with are our county show where you actually get called back after the main show and it would be rude not to show up.  Even at that, the only time he ever has won showmanship at county was a year where it was basically a consolation prize for getting passed over for grand.  Don't thnk it's just you that has trouble like this.

There are many things you are supposed to do in a showmanship class that will get you beat in a tough regular class such as where you position your calf (sticking out a little farther than everyone else, knowing how/when to circle, etc.)

Nobody can tell from a picture what you are/aren't doing wrong for sure.  There are different styles and your posture doesn't bother me.  I don't like styles where you stand ramrod straight and look uptight.  You do have your calf's back right foot kicked way too far back.  Yes, it belongs farther back than back left, but in that one photo both back feet should be pulled up a good 6 inches or so.

A BIG trick to looking good showing that I never hear anyone talking about is walking in step with your calf.  Your legs and your calf's front legs should be "marching in step".  Makes all the difference in the world with how you arnd your calf look walking.

It really isn't a judge's job to tell you what you are doing wrong in the show.  There isn't time to go into the level of detail with every kid.  It would also be extremely rude to be that critical over a microphone.  Those are the reasons they don't tell you more than maybe an occassional pointer.