As a trainee British Dressage judge, Andrew attended a two day judging seminar at Hartpury College last week which was taken by top international judges Jennie Loriston-Clarke and Andrew Gardner. It was a popular seminar with well over one hundred listed and trainee judges in attendance and covered many subjects from the all-important Scales of Training to the discrepancies that can occur when a test is judged from a variety of angles.
First of all was a recap on the Scales of Training which are the basic principles that all aspects of riding and judging should, if done properly, stem from. This introduction was followed by a lesson on the responsibilities of being a judge, with Jennie Loriston-Clarke commenting that you should ‘make sure you know the rule book’: an obvious statement but a useful reminder! The afternoon session was more practical with the inclusion of three guinea pig riders all at different levels from Medium to Prix St Georges who were put through their paces by Jennie and Andrew who then commented on the general way of going and the quality of the movements performed before stating the marks they would give each movement. The evening comprised of dinner in the Hartpury restaurant followed by a video replay of some of the Olympic tests with an interesting and informative commentary by Jennie who stressed the importance of the harmony and softness shown by the gold medal winning British combinations.
Sunday saw the return of the guinea pig riders. Each rider was marked by Jennie and Andrew as well as the seminar attendees, and there was a chance for comparison and discussion afterwards. One of the main challenges of judging is having the time to think of both the mark and a comment concise enough to be written down by the next movement! Overall, despite a few discrepancies, the consensus was fairly even between everyone in attendance, although it was obvious what a big difference it made being placed in a different position around the arena – those on the short side often saw a very different picture to those on the long sides and the marks varied accordingly. The afternoon comprised of more judging practice, this time with videoed tests instead of live riders; this wrapped up an informative and interesting weekend which brings Andrew one stop closer to becoming a List Four judge, hopefully in the not too distant future.