Shaking the Judge's Hand

This may paint me a bit more as a disrespectful guy than normal but if Maulsby can show an open disdain for the practice and flat out ask kids to not do it, I guess I can go one step further.

Kids, stop walking half way across the ring to shake the judge’s hand when you get 7th out of 8 steers.  He’s busy talking about the class, you are interrupting the flow of the reasons, and you are slowing the entire show down.

We get it; you are a respectful young chap.  You say “yes sir” and “no sir.”  You listen to your dad because he’ll beat your hiney if you don’t and he told you that a good showman always shakes the judge’s hand, win or lose.

Your dad only told you to do it because he saw some other kids do it.  Their dads only told them to do it because they saw some other kids do it.  That first dad only did it because he saw it done in a situation where it was relevant and appropriate (when the judge slaps a calf on the rear and/or holds his hand out to the kid) and thought it should be done all the time.

By taking something completely out of context, that first dad sentenced us all to watching you interrupt the natural flow of calves leaving the ring to walk across it, clumsily holding your show stick while you switch the halter over to your left hand, making the judge stop looking at the cattle he is talking about, shaking hands, and then finding your way back into the now disrupted line of calves just so you can get out of the ring.

If a judge holds his hand out to you, shake it.  If he’s standing in such a position that you can just reach, shake, and walk, WHILE NOT INTERRUPTING THE FLOW OF CALVES LEAVING THE RING, do it.

Otherwise, please, for the sake of everyone sitting outside the ring, stop the foolishness.