Be kind! Take a deep breath, walk away, play with the dog, have cup of tea and only then come back and press the submit button. We are all under stress and feeling the effect of this pestilence: stay kind.
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To use @angelssix words, there are more than a few people I wish would be told to keep their mouth shut and be nice to one another.
It goes for her other thread as well regarding other riderās flaws and bad habits.
If no one ever put such people to the their place - this crap sht keeps being repeated, and normalized.
Iām not the one who needs to be kind here as Iām educated and knowledgeable enough not to feel the need to trash talk trainers and riders, and surely not to laugh at others.
Iām actually quite calm at home, virtually teaching high school students - maybe itās because itās this type of behavior Iām trying to eradicate from the teens Iām teaching?
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Wow, impressive acceleration to somewhere else, and here I was looking for funny stories!
Iāve always been impressed by the job the scribes do. There was one Ii remember that always put shorthand faces (decades before emoticons here) in the comments, it was actually a really useful addition to the written words because it amplified/explained what the judgeās impression had been.
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To lighten the mood a bit:
There was a local pro who over the years had put on some weight. She was still very effective and the horse was going well, judge scored accordingly. Butā¦ trainer needed to invest in a much better sports bra. Judge made a not for official test comment āSheās gonna put an eye out with those things if they donāt get contained betterā
Iāve had several judges that routinely will have some entertaining extraneous commentary, that until they know the scribe well enough to be sure a under the breath comment will not get written down, will follow it with a āDonāt write that down!ā
I was scribing for a very well known FEI judge once when we were one off FEI rides our way through the end of a long day. It was a year that they had changed several of the FEI tests and it was early in the season. Said judge was still using diagrams, and kept flipping too many pages at once. Rang the bell unnecessarily on one ride (rider recovered nicely), and I had to stop said judge from ringing the bell on the next two rides. Comments from judge ranged from āDammit - wrong page!ā to āDammit - wrong test!ā. I actually moved the bell to the other side of the table after the initial entry signal for the rest of the day to remove the temptation.
Another well-known FEI judge - we did not have the correct test in the folder. Could not get anyone on the radio. I booked it back to the office, got the test, and booked it back. Judge looked at me and said āyouāre gonna pant through this ride, arenāt you?ā
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You are being a jerk.
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I love scribing. Itās wicked hard on anything higher than 2nd level for me, my scribbling gets pretty sketchy. and no, I canāt possibly type well enough/fast enough to do it that way.
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I doubt she is being a jerk and I doubt that she cares what anyone weighs. What she probably cares about is how much weight a horse is being asked to carry. That is not body shaming. That is concern for the horse. Horses were not built to carry weight on their backs. They did not ask for this job. The maximum load, including tack, any horse of any size can carry is 250 lbs. Many, cannot carry that much without discomfort and eventually breaking down physically. This is not my opinion. I am paraphrasing an expert in equine biomechanics:
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I would share some stories but Scribes should NEVER talk about what is said in the judges booth outside that context.
General comments sure. But never exact comments
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Too late.
Great example of the reason for discretion when scribing.
Kudos to @alibi_18 for calling you out on this.
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None of us know the posterās true intent.
That said, the quote āThere are more than a few people I wish would be told thisā¦LOL!ā leaves little doubt in my mind.
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I suspect you unintentionally quoted the wrong post on this.
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Agree 100% that judges want the riders to succeed and really do want to give high marks. They are disappointed when they have to mark a rider down and are rooting for the pair to succeed.
That being said, there are some who are needlessly snarky and downright rude about rider appearance, weight, skill, horse breed, horse colour, etc. While these personal insults donāt affect their scoring and donāt show up in the comments, I find them highly unprofessional to hear as a scribe and discouraging to me as a rider.
I love scribing and canāt think of a better learning experience, however there are a couple of judges I try and avoid for this reason. They may think they are being funny but often they are just being cruel.
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Newsflash: you are being a jerk.
Nobody needs a stranger to tell them they are overweight. Believe me, fat people are very, very aware of this fact already.
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Is this really a problem at dressage shows? Most overweight riders I know who put the necessary time and effort into training and competing are acutely aware of the recommended rider weight to horse ratios, and considerations of horse fitness and conformation.
I donāt believe there is any such thing as a maximum load for any horse of any size. The quote from āDr DebāĀ doesnāt seem to come with any credible sources to back up her claims. Most real experts seem to agree that a percentage is a better measure, usually no more 15-20% of a horseās weight, rider and tack combined. And of course fitness, typical workload, conformation and prior injuries will also play a big role in determining how much weight any horse can comfortably and safely carry.
And yes, she is being a jerk.
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Iām a far better test runner than I am scribe, but can scribble if itās an emergency. Years ago, I did so at a schooling show with an L judge working towards her r. She was fun to work with and gave wonderful feedback. One of the tests on the schedule was āI-1ā and, knowing it was a schooling show, I figured that meant Intro 1. So after the break when I was organizing the upcoming test sheets, I saw it was indeed I-1ā¦as in Intermediate 1. In a moment of panic, I told the judge that I have only scribed up through 4-1, and frankly beginning about 3-3 is when I struggle to keep up. She told me not to worry and to use it as a learning experience as it was a schooling show.
So the horse and rider come in and, well, it didnāt go well. It didnāt go well at all. The judge made zero negative comments out loud and was super-supportive in the written comments. After the pair was safely out of the ring, though, she turned to me and said, āLike you, I really do wish that had been Intro 1ā¦ā
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Care to include the judge who made the original comment about the rider needing to lose weight ? He/she felt the need to trash talk.
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Care to include the judge who made the original comment about the rider needing to lose weight ?
A judge asking the scribe about a riderās sexual orientation should be included in your list of needless things to comment on.
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I donāt know who that is - but rest assure, even as a scribe, Iāve voiced my concerns and disagreement when judges, and fortunately itās only been 3 times, have made disrespectful comments about riders.
And I took action, in 2 of the 3 cases - reporting them to FEI and EC.
The 3rd case, I just looked at the judge, said ĆĀ« no, I donāt think so ĆĀ» and it apparently put an end to eventual similar comments that weekend, we ended up even having fun and the judge actually changed her/his behavior since then because Iāve scribed with again a few times afterward and the discussions where all quite positives.
On a more positive note:
I had to quickly buy a long sleeve show shirt at NedaFallFestival once because one of my arm was literally cooking in the nice little booth surrounded by glass windows, despite the sunscreen.
And Iāve received kisses on both cheeks from Lilo Fore for my excellent sribing that day. Sheās a delight to work with but oh boyā¦ be warned, my finger tip was numbed for a complete week after that! Ahahahahaha
She says a lot, very positive stuff, and she likes it written all because she wants riders to learn.
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I have always admired Lilo as a judge so much. My trainer had the fortune to ride for her several times at one show and she had a very good memory and would reference improvements and differences between rides in the comments at the end. I have to laugh though - your poor hands, she does seem to have MANY comments! It was so valuable to be able to track the judging against the video I was taking for the trainer. Really, really rewarding. We have a localish venue here that typically has her in for a smaller show at the end of every winter, which is my goal for my young horseās first āofficialā outing - I can think of no better person (or kinder, honestly - when we talk about judges who want to see horses/riders succeed Lilo is always the one who comes to mind immediately) to do that with.
Iāll always love her comment when the young horse (4yo?) at the young&developing horse finals at Lamplight got into the planter. She just laughed and said he was a charmer for wanting to give her flowers. What an amazing example of being a positive force.
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