Day 4 - Anne Gribbons

Anne told us that this is the toughest competition in the world to judge and the GP class is long with 72 horses. After discussing the high quality of horse and riders here, Anne brought up the JSP (I will go into more detail about the JSP in a later post). Reminding us that the JSP is able to run video replay when there is a great discrepancy, however they cannot change a score for quality. The JSP is able to change scores for things such as, incorrect change count, to few piaffe steps, or miscounted half pass zig-zag. It is important to remember that judges are able to see different aspects of a movement from different positions around the arena. She recommended that as riders, we should ask to sit in the judges box to gain a greater understanding for how difficult it is to judge. 

The four of us had a bit of that throughout the championships. Charlotte and Annie had us take turns doing running commentary on each ride. We definitely learned how hard it is to keep up with a Grand Prix test and we didn't even give a score! Judges recieve a lot of criticism, but it is imports as a rider to remember that they are only human and have a very difficult job. Anne encouraged us to not be afraid to ask a TD to talk to a judge if you have questions about comments or marks at a show...just remember to bring your test with you! Judges see a lot of rides in a day and may not remember every aspect of the ride. It was clear that Anne is passionate about dressage and was amazing in answering all of our questions for her, she was a wealth of knowledge!