When you walk into the ring, what the judge really sees isn’t just your animal — it’s your habits. Building a habit is a lot more than just practicing at home. Habits are how you practice and they are what separate the showmen who look natural and confident from the ones who don’t.

Habits Build Confidence

Animals are unpredictable and honestly so are we. When we get tense and have that nervous feeling in the pit of our stomach we can rely on our training. If you have repeated good habits enough at home, your reactions in the ring will be automatic. You won’t be trying to remember all the show ring focuses when your sheep moves or your pig won’t drive. You’ll just do it all — calmly and confidently.

Species Examples

• Sheep & Market Goats: Practice walking and driving with your eyes constantly moving from your animal to the judge until it feels like muscle memory. That way, when the judge walks by, you can reset in seconds without having to fight to remember your eye contact – you can do it without even thinking.
• Cattle: Get your calf used to walking right into the set with a steady glance up at the judge as you get him right. Practice getting the head up without hardly taking your eyes off the judge. Practice patience — the calmer you are, the calmer your steer will be.
• Dairy Goats: Practice on the move more than anything — moving slow and steady in and out of patterns, until you know every move without skipping a bea. Keep your eye contact while moving slower than you think, almost like you’re showing off a dancer.
• Swine: Walk daily constantly changing the environment, adding distractions, but always using an object or person as your eye contact point. Constantly driving your pig in and out of imaginary show ring traffic with your eyes always coming back to the judge. Get your pig used to your rhythm and know your pig like the back of your hand.

The Judge Knows

Judges can tell the difference between a showman who crammed for a week and one who’s built habits over months. Habits show up in a constant eye contact paired with calm hands, smooth movements, and animals that trust their handler.

Final Thought

If you want to win, don’t just train your animals – train yourself. Practice hard things like eye contact every day. Imagine you are actually in the show ring every time you practice. Hold yourself just like you will on show day. Teach your subconsious to do the hard work for you and you will be surprised at how steady and consistant you can be.

These showmanship tips are right from the ideas in my book series Show Your Way to the Top. If you want to continue to build your knowledge and master your showmanship skills these might be a resource that can help you.