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What is the dressage judge looking for?

British Dressage, the governing body of dressage in this country, holds a list of dressage judges. These judges have been trained and examined by British Dressage. They are also nearly all involved in the regular training of horses, either as riders, trainers or as keen spectators. In order to remain on the judges' list, each person must attend a seminar and training sessions each year. This ongoing training means that the judging of dressage is becoming more standardised, although inevitably there will be an element of personal opinion.

So what are these judges looking for? The main aim of training is to produce a horse which is happy and willing to perform the movements required of him. The horse must also be in a position to perform these movements easily.

There are certain criteria that the judges are looking at. These are; rhythm, suppleness, contact, impulsion, straightness, balance and harmony between horse and rider. Taking each of these points in turn:

1. The rhythm in each pace should be correct i.e. four time in walk, two time in trot and three time in canter with a clear moment of suspension. Also the speed of the rhythm (i.e. tempo) should be the same at all times. So there should be no alteration in tempo when, for example, going from a corner onto a straight line.

2. The suppleness should be equally clear over the horses back and through the bend around the riders inside leg on each rein. The more supple the horse is, then the looser and softer the muscles of the neck and hindquarters appear. The horse should look as though he would like to stretch forward and down to the contact but without snatching.

3. The contact should be positive but elastic. The contact should be the same in each rein, so that as the horse steps under with the inside hind leg on the corners he will automatically become lighter and freer on the inside rein. If the contact is correct, then as the rider closes their leg, the horse will spring more forward from behind over a supple back with greater energy but with no loss of balance or outline. When this is achieved, the horse is said to be connected from behind to the contact.

4. The impulsion is the power created by the horse's hind legs. The degree of impulsion can, in part, be judged by the degree of bending of the joints of the horse's hind legs. The horse needs sufficient impulsion for the work that is being asked of him, i.e. cantering a 20 metre circle requires much less impulsion than performing a canter pirouette. At all times the horse must appear to be springing willingly forward but without running. This is where the correct contact comes in, because if the horse does not accept an elastic contact, then when the rider asks for more energy, all that happens is that the horse runs on into a strong rein.

5. Without straightness the horse can never really be sufficiently engaged from behind. They can avoid engaging by falling onto one shoulder or the other. This can be very obvious from the judge's position as the horse will tend to fall out on circles and turns on one rein and fall in on the other rein. Horses are naturally more crooked in canter, they will nearly always canter with their quarters in. It helps to think of cantering with a slight shoulder in position to straighten the horse and to ask for more engagement.

6. Overall the judge is looking to see that the horse remains in a good balance throughout. This means that the horse should appear to find the work easy. He shouldn't be constantly falling in or out, speeding up or slowing down, or losing his outline through transitions.

7. All of the above should be achieved whilst maintaining the harmony between horse and rider. In other words, the horse should be willingly and confidently obeying the rider and the rider should be sitting quietly in balance with the horse, applying the aids in a positive but tactful manner, which is not obvious to the onlooker.

A good dressage judge will be able to consider each of these points in turn for every horse in the class and this gives the judge a good basis for deciding what marks to give to each horse. Each of the above points is related. This helps the judge to get an overall view. For instance, if the horse maintains a regular rhythm, he will feel more confident to relax the muscles over his back, this in turn encourages greater suppleness. The softer the horse is over his back then the easier it is for him to accept an elastic contact. A good contact means that the rider can increase the impulsion without losing balance or suppleness. The ability to create impulsion means that the rider can begin to engage the horse's inside leg more on each rein, this will make the horse straighter. The horse will be able to keep his balance if he is supple and straight and works with impulsion in a good rhythm to an elastic contact. If the rider has managed to achieve all of the above, then there must be a sufficient degree of harmony between horse and rider!

Fiona Lace, BHS I I, is a List 3 Dressage Judge and has successfully competed at Advanced Level in both Dressage and Eventing. Fiona can be contacted on 01704 822454.

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