Do you think dressage is subjective?

Lolo said:
If you can regain control though for the other bits, 4s and 5s for 2 canter movements shouldn't ruin 6s and 7s. I see ot from Reg has an awesome canter, but it's not enough to boost him up when he's doing his sewing machine trot!

The other thing to try is writing. How the rider rides is neither here nor there if the horse is going nicely, aside from in the collectives. Writing really highlights that- good classes to try and write for are the BEu18 ones because you get a massive range of horses and riders that I think you get less of in other sections... But write for a judge.

And don't compare percentages, but where you came in the class in comparison to other people's marks. So if the winner was on 50%, and you got 49%, you've probably fallen foul of a harsh marker. If the winner was on 90% and you were last on 65%, that isn't so good...
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I do a lot of writing, I seem to get really nice judges to write for and the horrid judges when I'm competing :rolleyes:

Unfortunately once madam has exploded in the canter I have found the marks harsh whatever you do afterwards. My mum videos most of my tests and she can get 7s for her trotwork before the canter, does exactly the same trot afterwards and only get a 5, sometimes 6. However, this is as low level unaffilaited, once we've got her sorted I'm thinking that I'll probably do BD prelim because you get better judging.
 
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Kat said:
But I think that judges should appreciate that a cob or native will not move in the same way as a warmblood and to an extent mark with that in mind, so showing lengthened strides in a novice test is harder for a cob type than a warmblood type so perhaps the judge shouldn't expect a hugely noticeable difference.
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But that's a different thing, surely, from marking "relative to the competition"?

I mean, all dr movements should be judged relative to the horse's conformation and way of going - so a native showing a good extension, relative to its working paces, should get the same marks as a warmblood which shows a similar extension relative to its much flashier paces. Just because the latter looks flashier shouldn't affect the marks.

Not the same thing as judging a combination who are better than the rest of the field, marking them more harshly than other competitors just because they're at a higher level of training. They should be allowed to win by 15+% and if the judge feels they're not appropriate at that level, they should comment on the sheet "time to move up?" or similar - rather than marking them more harshly and leaving them confused as to why their marks don't reflect their work and unsure as to whether they're ready to move up.


As for FWLR, that is the one thing we can do... And taking the contact down in trot. Got an 8 for that at the weekend :D *biased, irrational pride in bog pony*
 
JFTD said:
But that's a different thing, surely, from marking "relative to the competition"?

I mean, all dr movements should be judged relative to the horse's conformation and way of going - so a native showing a good extension, relative to its working paces, should get the same marks as a warmblood which shows a similar extension relative to its much flashier paces. Just because the latter looks flashier shouldn't affect the marks.
Not the same thing as judging a combination who are better than the rest of the field, marking them more harshly than other competitors just because they're at a higher level of training. They should be allowed to win by 15+% and if the judge feels they're not appropriate at that level, they should comment on the sheet "time to move up?" or similar - rather than marking them more harshly and leaving them confused as to why their marks don't reflect their work and unsure as to whether they're ready to move up.


As for FWLR, that is the one thing we can do... And taking the contact down in trot. Got an 8 for that at the weekend :D *biased, irrational pride in bog pony*
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Ah JFTD thanks, you've explained what I was trying to get accross rather incompetantly!

Agree with the rest of it too.
 
I have used Dressage Anywhere and filmed my tests as a practice so I can get a better understanding of our way of going. More often than not the wroraey test feels the better the score!

I also always do a prelim 15 at least once every 6 months and send it off so I can see where we are improving (or falling down for that matter!).

Sometimes however you just have to accept that a judge simply doesn't like your horse. Tricky if you don't have a favourite type :(
 
Back in the day when I was showing dressage in the US equivalent of British unaffiliated shows (does that make sense?), I found that marks were frequently relative to the natural talents of the horses.

For example, if a horse got 8s on his gaits, everything on the test seemed judged from that baseline. So if he really screwed up a movement, it might be knocked back to a 7 or 6. If you had a scrappily moving quarter horse, however, who got 5s and 6s on his gaits, then the scores would be knocked back to a 4 if he messed up a movement.

Also, because of the fact that gait marks count for quite a lot, even if you rode your shuffley QH very well, which meant you could beat a poorly ridden or trained warmblood, you could not beat a well-ridden warmblood.
 
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