I have had a night to sleep on my first blog post and come up with another one. We are still on the same subject though. So to those who don’t know what got me so bothered that I had to pick up this blogging thing again, here are the videos I am reacting to 1 2 

If you are still confused, look up my previous post. Not less visibility, FEI has just divided the rulebook to better serve the officials and riders who need speedy access to the info. No, the principles of the dressage have not been scratched, you can find them here. And the guidelines for judges on how to score each movement are found here and even the subject of behind the bit and how to score problems with the contact are found here. See? Everything still exists! 

I read the contact part of the guides, and it got me thinking. What if I would look at a Grand Prix test scoresheet… let’s say someone heavily criticized for riding constantly in rollkur? And maybe look at it three ways? 

First way of looking at it would be the original. I am not going to name the names of the rider, horse or the judges. None of the judges are of the same nationality as the rider. Just the numbers here today:

Let’s entertain the theory that this rider always has the horse slightly behind the vertical, the horses mouth shows signs of not the greatest contact and overall impression isn’t maybe of the happiest athlete in the world. Now, let’s also assume that all of the 5 judges also have done their due diligence, learned all the guidelines and in all the exercises saw it too and scored accordingly in the original sheet. Then if the same horse and rider would have ridden the same test without any of the contact problems, this how their scoresheet would have  looked like:

I raised all of the marks by one point, which should be the minimum deduction in an exercise for contact and being behind the bit problems.

But I don’t know the judges personally. The competition was an elite one, I would imagine the organizing committee flew everyone out, the riders are invitation only and everything is really luxurious and the judges don’t want to disappoint the organizers with average scores and maybe they also feel good and are in a forgiving mood… so they did not deduct the point from any of the marks given in the original. So that leaves us with the realistic sheet looking more like this:

I did not change the general impression marks, because the guides say to not give over 5 for submission in case of persistent contact issues, but tests don’t have those marks differentiated anymore and I haven’t been to a judge’s training so I don’t know where the submission mark actually is taken account for.

Again, I did not find the ride itself, so I can’t say where the truth lies. It is probably in between. I would imagine the horse was not behind the vertical in all of the movements, as was the case in the freestyle for this pair at the same competition. But again, the GP and the GP Freestyle are different tests on different days, so I can’t really put any truth behind that statement. It might be that they had a very good day and the horse was on the bit per the judges handbook. This was just a quick expirement to show how a one point either way would impact the overall score.

To become a judge of the highest level, the quickest it would take would be 12 years from zero. This will probably take longer, as the requirement for training, shadow judging, sit-ins and actual work experience are quite high and for most would be impossible to do within the minimum time. Also in the FEI system, if you fail your examination to upgrade your level, you will have to wait a year to do it again. The requirements for the FEI are here.

I really do strongly believe that most of the judges are doing their utmost to make dressage fair and harmonious. It just might be that after reading one document and not even bothering to look up the supporting ones will not make anyone a greater expert on the matter than those who have spent decades studying and improving themselves. Also, do not just take my word for it, if you still are unsure, look up the links, look around on the FEI website and make up your own mind. By the way, did you notice how the Dressage rulebook edition gets extended to all of the equestrian sport? What if I told you that all of the different events that are governed by the FEI? And that those might be vastly different and maybe the most villainized or dressage is one of the most guarded and regulated? Look them up here.

Oh and in case someone might think that I am supporting rollkur and hyperflexing your horses nostrils behind front hooves. No I am not. I have used a drawrein once, some 15 years ago and after 20 minutes my trainer said: “yeah, no, you really don’t understand that one, let’s try something different here”. All my horses go in a snaffle without a flash with a pretty noseband that can fit a fist in between, or if needed – bitless. I will scratch a competition when my horse feels off. Their wellbeing is my everything – as is the case with most top and low and mid level riders. In the end most of us are that little kid with their favorite pony.