Dressage question

[Smogul]

When can a dressage judge ask a competitor to retire? Went to watch ridden dressage recently and a horse was rearing repeatedly in the warmup arena and continued to rear during the test. They were full-on rears, not mini protests. I admired the rider's balance but couldn't understand why she continued with the test and why the judges let her do it. Not just that, but she went on to do another test with exactly the same issue.
I know horses are not machines and a young horse can have a major strop which you have to deal with but I was surprised the judges didn't ask her to withdraw. I have seen judges in a driven situation tell the competitor to leave as they felt the situation was becoming too dangerous. Is this not done in ridden dressage?

 

[Cortez]

A judge can stop a test if the horse is lame or for a welfare issue (such as blood, overuse of the spurs, etc.). I suppose a judge could stop a horse if they felt it was dangerous, but the decision to retire is up to the rider. It's not up to the judge to tell the rider how to cope with their horse.

 

[milliepops]

Under BD rules a horse can be eliminated after 20 seconds if it refuses to continue.
I suspect it depends on the venue, level of test etc as to how strictly that is enforced
Tbh 20 seconds would feel like an eternity so the rider would likely retire anyway!

 

[DabDab]

I don't know of judges throwing a competitor out because of a horse's behaviour....in driving and showing and xc etc. you can also be a risk to others when your horse is not in control and/or the risk of a nasty accident is higher. The likelihood of someone who was genuinely in danger trying to continue with a dressage test is quite slim. Presumably the rider you saw knew the horse's likely behaviour beforehand and wasn't too concerned by it.

The 20 second rule is just to stop people taking up a lot of time having a standoff with their horse in the ring I think.

 

[Batgirl]

A judge cannot ask someone to withdraw. We can:
1) Eliminate for lameness
2) Eliminate for horse refusing to continue for 20 secs
3) Eliminate for horse leaving the arena

The rest of disobedience' is covered in mark deductions.