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We believe that this is the first time in
Australia that the concept of a dressage test - judged specifically on the rider's
influence - has been part of a competition program. As mentioned in our -
About the Competition - page, the idea was put forward by German judge Christof Hess
during a recent visit to Melbourne. This, the inaugural Berwick Dressage Club's - Judge the Rider Competition, was judged by three of the State's most experienced riders and judges - Caroline Coleby, Charlotte Bisgaard-Stibbard and Mary Hanna. They sat together, sheltered by two lovely beach umbrellas, and worked from a sheet which outlined the judging criteria, the test ridden was the Elementary 3B. They discussed their ideas of the rider's performance, and at the completion of the test, one of them speaking on behalf of the other two judges, gave the rider a 'run down' on the collective opinions of their riding of the test.
From where I stood, the interaction between the judges and riders was very positive and I am sure the day would have been of immense benefit for the riders who participated in the 3B - Judge the Rider Class. Berwick Dressage Club are planning to conduct more competitions of this kind, plus competitions for young horses. The young horse classes will be specifically to assist riders to qualify their young dressage horses for the Dressage with the Stars classes, At the completion of the 3B competition I spoke with the three judges and asked their opinion of this class and this is their response. They unanimously agreed that they could easily cope with more than one horse in the ring at a time. They thought that the idea would be 3 horses at preliminary/novice level and 2 at elementary. This format allows the judge to focus on the qualities of the performance and not 'nit pick' the mistakes. Mary said that judging this way gave her a real feel for the way she was judged at the young horse class (when she competed with Ritual, last year). The judges are not looking for mistakes, but an overall level of quality, and the mark reflects this. They felt that events such as this should be encouraged as so often they see riders highly tuned for 'test riding' and therefore restricted from focussing on 'effective' riding. Following is a sample of the judging sheet, with the judging criteria outlined.
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About
the Competition | Judge the Rider - 3B (Elementary) | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 |