Photography by: Coralie Nairn, Connie Ellis and Photos by Jess
The Event
The Skills of the Outfits
A competition honoring the traditions of the early Californios
Sept 20 - 22, 2024 at the Barriere Fair Grounds!
Skills of the Outfits was inspired by the Early Californios Skills of the Rancho: An event held in Parkfield CA, USA by the Californio Bridlehorse Association to honor, demonstrate and preserve and pass on the values and skills of the early Californios stockmen and bridlemen (and women) of the historic working cattle ranches across North America.
This competition is open to all aspiring, amateur and working cowboys and cowgirls. We welcome everyone who has an interest in this way of life. That being said, it is also an opportunity to observe, show and share our passion for a good working stock horse, trained with the intricate, beautiful and sophisticated traditional system of the Vaqueros; jaquima to freno. For this reason, special attention and preference will be shown to those choosing to present themselves and their horses in the traditional equipment: hackamore, two-rein or straight up as this is the ultimate show of time, effort, care and development of feel. Although the ultimate presentation would be in traditional vaquero equipment, we also understand that this gear is expensive, sometimes hard to come by and requires a thorough education that is not always accessible to all riders and that many riders who possess excellent horsemanship and stockmanship skills will not have this gear. They are still welcome to participate at the Skills of the Outfits and we look forward to the competition these skilled individuals will present. There will be a time limit in the interest of maintaining organization and flow, however, the speed at which a task is completed is not a factor when it comes to scoring. Taking the time to set your horse up well, ensure the safety of the livestock and your team mates and completing each task smoothly is far more important than the speed at which a task is completed.
Divisions
Classes
Riders competing in The Skills of the Outfits will be competing in one of the following divisions and will be judged in all three classes which make up their division. Only one horse may be used per entry. (This means that if a rider chooses to compete with more than one horse they will need to fill out a separate registration form for each horse and each horse must complete all three classes that make up their division.)
* Entry fees cover the judging fee for all three classes that make up each division. If a rider chooses to compete in only one or two classes, that’s their prerogative, however, fees will reflect all three classes and a failure to ride in any given class will not be refunded and scores for missed classes will reflect the “no show”.
Open – Very experienced or professional cowboy/cowgirl. Our highest level of competitor.
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Two Man Doctoring – Two head catch
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Team Sort
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Ranch Horse Pattern - Lope
Intermediate – Someone who is developing their skills and does NOT do this for a living.
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Ranch Roping – One head catch
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Team Sort
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Ranch Horse Pattern – Trot or Lope
Novice – Someone who is new to this style and just getting started.
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Cattle Sorting
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Ranch Roping – Breakaway
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Ranch Horse Pattern – Trot or Lope
Youth – Anyone under the age of 18
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Cattle Sorting
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Ranch Roping – Breakaway
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Ranch Horse Pattern – Trot or Lope
Below is a list of the classes we are currently offering to competitors of the Skills of the Outfits. These classes are open to all divisions except for Two-Man Doctoring and Team Cattle Sorting in which only our Intermediate and Open divisions are eligible to compete.
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Team Sorting - Novice/Youth
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Team Sorting - Intermediate/Open
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Ranch Roping (Live/Dummy) - Youth/Novice
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Two-Man Doctoring - Intermediate/Open
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Ranch Horse Pattern - All Divisions
Full class descriptions and scoring information can be found on the Classes page.
Judges
The judges will be chosen by Miles Kingdon. He will choose men and women who live in the saddle and partner with horses on a daily basis. He will choose people who will judge fairly and honestly and who will keep to the traditions and values of the Californios and the Vaqueros, putting the priority on smoothness, fairness, correctness and efficiency as well as the partnership and willingness displayed by their horse.
Judging
Judging is based on smoothness, respect for the livestock, the horses and crew members as well consideration for the facilities.
Each event is given a time limit but the speed at which a job is done is less important than the quality of horsemanship and stockmanship that is shown throughout the completion of the job.
The Skills of the Outfits is designed to provide opportunities to showcase ourselves and our horses at a variety of levels. Although our ultimate goal is to be showing our horses in the bridle, all levels of training are welcome and horses and riders will be judged with consideration given to the horse's age, level of training and level of experience.
Riders who show an understanding and recognition of maintaining the calm, quiet demeanor in the cattle will be recognized. Riders who choose to spend more time to set things up so they run smoothly will be given more points than those who sacrifice the equanimity of the herd to get the job done more quickly.
This competition is open to all working and amateur cowboys and cowgirls. We welcome everyone who has an interest in this way of life. That being said, it is also an opportunity to observe, show and share our passion for a good working stock horse, trained with the intricate, beautiful and sophisticated traditional system of the Vaqueros; jaquima to freno. For this reason, special attention and preference will be shown to those choosing to present themselves and their horses in the traditional equipment: hackamore, two-rein or straight up as this is the ultimate show of time, effort, care and development of feel.
Most classes will follow a scoring system similar to the following:
Points for stockmanship ______ /10
Points for horsemanship ______ /10
Points for teamwork __________ /10
Points per critter ______________ /5
Points for Hackamore _________ /5
Points for Spade Bit ____________ /5
Points for Riata _______________ /2
Points for bonus ______________ /5
The competition will also have special acknowledgements going to the following titles: