Monday Minstrel: The Judge’s POV

Dressage has judges and for the biggest competitions there are seven judges! For the Olympics and World Equestrian Games (WEG) the seven judges are placed around the arena.

Stadium WEG 2018 Tryon NC

As you can see the judges are placed around the arena in those white cubicles one on each long side, three at one end and two at the other end. This is totally different from skating where the judges sit on one side of the arena and not very far apart. For dressage the judge will be sitting with a scribe who records the scores for each movement and the judges comments.

The tricky part is that since the judges are in different positions they may see different things from their particular Point Of View. For example:

Halt seen from the side. Will the judge deduct for that tiny step out behind?
For the judges at the C end of the arena this halt looks square.
Here is a near perfect square halt which the judges on the side can clearly see and evaluate.

For the trot and canter movements it may be difficult for the judges, at the end of the arena, to evaluate the quality of the gait when the horse is moving directly toward them or away from them. Judges on the side have a better POV for this.

Horse coming directly toward the viewer.
The side view.

But all the judges for the International competitions have enough experience to make assessments even though their POV may not be ideal for some of the movements. However….there have been times in some major competitions where the judges scores have differed widely. For this reason the Dressage Judges Working Group has recommended to the FEI that when the scores are displayed, the scores of the judges on the sides of the arena should be displayed next to one another . This way people looking at the scores will know that those judges saw or did not see something that the judges at the end of the arena saw differently.

And just so you know…judges cannot say: “I’d like to sit at the side of the arena at E or B” or “I’d prefer to be at the end of the arena.”This is dressage and the judges sit where they are told to sit. 😃

7 Comments Add yours

  1. To me you are born to be a horse rider. You understands and having heart to explain to others, many a times your post taught me about life. You are a very beautiful person ma’am

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen says:

      Thank you. You are too kind.🙂


  2. dprastka says:

    Oh thank you for the clarification. That makes more sense, got it! 😉🤗😀

    Liked by 1 person

  3. iScriblr says:

    Lovely photos and a very interesting/informative share! Thank you!😊😊

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen says:

      You are most welcome
      Thank you for taking the time to comment.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. dprastka says:

    Very interesting! I have never shown dressage and I did not know there were so many judges and to top it off all in different locations! That would seem like many movements difficult to judge, but like you said they have experience and do the best they can from their POV. Thank you for sharing and I Love your photos! ❤️🥰😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen says:

      If you are showing in a national level show there is usually only one judge at the letter C. It is in CDIs they have 5 and WEG and OLypmics 7.

      Liked by 1 person

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