Tack and Attire
- Refer to Western, Hunter or Saddle Seat tack and attire requirements on pages 17-26. All team members must use the same type of tack and attire. Western type drill teams may use one or two hands on reins.
- The 4-H armband is required.
Prohibited: Mechanical hackamores, gag bits, draw reins, tie downs, any type martingale, cavesson noseband in western bridle, crop or whip, protective leg wraps or boots.
Scoring Procedure
| Ability of team to perform together in unison and precision during the pattern | 40% |
| Seat, hands, position and general appearance of the riders | 30% |
| Grooming of mounts | 20% |
| Uniformity of mounts (size and type) and appointments | 10% |
| Total | 100% |
- Credit should be given for change of pace, theme and originality, timing the maneuvers to appropriate places in the music and degree of difficulty. Degree of difficulty can only be rewarded if done well and marked down if done poorly. Extra credit should be given for new and innovative maneuvers.
- Failure to perform all the required maneuvers or failure to complete the pattern within time limits will result in no score.
General Regulations
- Each drill team will be made up of at least two members and no more than eight members. In judging, credit should be given to drill teams with larger numbers of members.
- Voice commands can only be given by one of the team members.
- The arena may be marked like the dressage arena (page 134), or markers (cones) may be used.
- Western drill teams may use one or two hands on the reins.
Program Selection
- The program is left to the creativity of the drill team. The minimum maneuvers required are:
- Trot, lope off of the rail
- One change of lead (either simple change or flying change)
- Change of direction
- Back
- One stop each from a trot and a lope
- Additional maneuvers and additional repetitions of required maneuvers are appropriate for the drill team program.
- Time limit: 2-4 minutes.
- Drill teams are encouraged to set their program to music. Musical selections may be edited and combined to fit drill team pattern and time requirements. Drill teams must provide their own music on a cassette tape.
- Each drill team is required to provide the judge(s) with a written program at least one hour prior to the class.