Lilo Fore Tells Us to Be Positive Judges!

USEF Dressage Judge’s Clinic with Lilo Fore

I attended the USEF Dressage Judge’s Clinic at the LA Equestrian Center in Burbank, CA, February 27-28 . The instructor, Lilo Fore, from Santa Rosa, California is a USEF “S” Judge, FEI “I” Judge and Sporthorse Breed Judge.

Over the weekend we learned from Lilo as we group and individual judged dressage tests though Grand Prix.  Though many of us were not “credentialed” to judge FEI levels, it was a treat to be able to evaluate so many wonderful FEI classes.

Lilo’s theme in our training: always be able to say something positive.  In fact, she had us judge whole tests only observing and verbalizing the positive. One horse in particular was a challenge because he was very tense and naughty throughout the test. However, we noticed the tactful rider and that the horse stayed in the ring and mostly made it from one letter to another. Lilo said we still need to see the positive within what we want to see improved, i.e. “some degree of bend, but tight in topline” or “some cadence, but hind legs should match front”.

Lilo’s talent is undeniable. She’d mention a training issue and what the likely mistake would results from it, and she was right-on all the time. But she made sure we were not looking just at the mistake, and if we saw a mistake, she said we need to be careful not to judge ONLY the mistake. She said, “In tempi changes, a miscount is less of a mistake than a late change”. She said to score mistakes with basics more severe. Score mistakes in timing less severe. She asked us to not punish a mistake severely unless it was the result of bad training. Lilo was quite clear about her methodology of rider’s who take risks. She said, “Don’t punish too severely if a horse and rider takes risks. If the effort was there, (+), if the horse and rider doesn’t try (–)”. She said judges have to be willing to go as much up in a score as we are willing to go down.

Lilo said that the judge has to know what we want to see. She says, “You have to have your standard. Set your standard so you’ll be fair to all riders”. She also believes that judging is based on the horse’s training. She says every rider is a trainer. “Think ‘can the horse go on and get better’?” She told us, “Make sure the rider feels good about what they did well and what need to be improved. Was the criteria met? If not, what happened? Was the quality there? If not, what happened”?

Lilo explained her methodology and what causes her to go up or down in a score. She asked us to mention corners and geometry as training tools starting at first level. She said that she regularly writes on tests “allow geometry to help your training”. And she also helped many of us with visual indicators to assist us with our assessments. For example:

• Check if the power is going out the front door or the back door
• If self-carriage is not established, contact will suffer
• What is in front of the saddle should match what is behind the saddle
• If the shoulder in has too much angel, the horse can’t sit

It was a wonderful and educational weekend. Lilo was fantastic at making us feel as comfortable as possible learning and growing as judges. All of us had opinions, many of us asked questions, and those that did the individual judging did a good job and learned some little things we needed to improve!