Dressage Judge Apprenticeship at ADA’s Fall Fiesta

November 7, 2018

If you happened to see a large group of people in the stands or bleachers during the ADA Fall Fiesta horse show, that could have been the fantastic group of dressage judge apprentices with their fearless leader, USEF “S” dressage judge Joan Darnell. The apprentices were: Ruth Shirkey, Sharron Sarchet, Marie Maloney, Nicole Chastain, Patty Mayer and Michell Combs.

 

Organizing a USEF-approved group apprenticeship takes a lot of work, but nothing would have been possible without the support of the show manager and the ADA board.

 

Thank you to Jay Chabucos, Kathy Smith, Sue Plasman and the show management team, as well as the ADA show committee, for allowing the six dressage judge apprentices to be at the show. Our goal was to learn and to judge as many classes as possible without any interruption to the show.

 

Thank you so much to the people who helped me obtain volunteers, and thanks to Lara Bowles, Racie Evans, Betty Drake, Barbara Duzan, Kim (Kolstad) Berley, Erika Reyes, Joan Gasperak, Meghan Cassidy and Cheryl Prather. Special thank you to Ellie Stine-Masek, who contributed to our oral judging session.

 

Of course, there is no show without our amazing horses and riders that make these shows possible. We enjoyed seeing and evaluating a great variety of breeds and levels of training. After judging classes, we scored the tests, placed the classes from our scores, and discussed what we did compared with Joan. There are always great discussions and learning that come out of these sessions.

 

Some words-of-wisdom from Joan are:

  • The side judge should be the geometry police.
  • From the side, evaluate a leg yield or shoulder-in for stride length, tempo, and connection.
  • Wait to give your score on a walk until you see the transition (for example from the free walk to the medium walk).
  • Ask yourself: how did the horse go (impulsion), and how did the horse come back (submission)?
  • Have a clear and specific methodology for movements like turn-on-the-haunches and simple changes.
  • Use words the rider will understand.
  • In your further remarks, consider what can you write that is both encouraging and the most helpful information the rider should understand.
  • Make sure the scribe writes extra words like must, should, lacks, could, a little, very, etc. because these become part of the reason for the score.
  • Be clear and tactful with word choices for rhythm issues, balance issues, soundness issues, and tension.
  • Be cognizant of the people around you, including volunteers, who may know the horses and riders you are judging.
  • Be respectful of all horses and riders at all times.