Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on March 8, 2009 at 11:53am

oooo--I am going to open up a real can of radioactive worms here, but here goes (having never been one to shy away from instigating controversy--)......
The warmups could be judged by a separate panel of judges (from the pool of competition judges qualified to judge at the level of competition that applies), of course, as more of an overall impressions standpoint as opposed to the series of movements in the test, and the two scores will be combined at the end of each horse's actual test, for their final overall score and placing. The judges in the warmup phase would sit together and discuss their impressions and agree on a final "impression" score, which would then be submitted to the official scorer for addition to the test score. And this should be incorporated on every level in recognized competitions.
comments? ;-)

Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on March 8, 2009 at 12:05pm

Fascinating Mary! I love this idea! I was wondering what the logistics would be and couldn't think of anything.
At what level do you think this should begin?

I remember many years ago watching an amateur rider warming up by more or less whipping her horse while her friends stood around watching. I went to the stewards' trailer and asked them if it was ok for riders to beat horses at their show. To their great credit, everyone in the trailer ran out, reached the warm-up ring three seconds flat and gave the rider an "earful". I think that may have been an exception though, because often people are too scared to say or do anything and it would be fantastic if the competitors were accountable at least to the judges.

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on March 8, 2009 at 12:15pm

I actually believe that it would not be cost-prohibitive to have the warmup judges panel judge evey level of competition at all rated shows. This would also give more opportunity for judges to get hired to judge shows. I do understand that there would be costs involved for the show management, but more "local judges" could be called upon, keeping costs to a minimum, and since the judging would be on a "panel", this could actually be a judge's education opportunity, as well. A lot of the judge promotion process has to do with networking with higher level judges--if you had a panel of three, for instance, the 'head juror' could be a higher-licensed judge, with the other two lower licensed judges, and that way the attraction to judge this part of the competition would be greater among judges who want to be promoted (it would give the higher-licensed judge an opportunity to get to know these judges and also see their methodology in judging). I see it as a win-win-win situation, although I know people (especially in this economy) will be hard pressed to change, never mind absorbing the extra costs.
I also commend your willingness to report abuse, as well as the committee's willingness to act--I don't think it is an isolated instance for the show committee, but formal complaints are another matter.....

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on March 17, 2009 at 5:59pm

wow--I thought there would be a lot more conversation about this....where is everyone??

Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on March 17, 2009 at 6:06pm

Yikes, Mary it's my fault. I double posted and people are answering in the other discussion. So sorry about that!
http://www.barnmice.com/forum/topics/judges-watching-the-dressage