Harmony, as a judging criteria

[eightpondfarm]

My coach was attempting to describe judges scoring regarding consolidation of (rider’s scoring?) and that four different descriptions and point awards all now fall within the description of Harmony. I’ve tried to find that description and don’t even know where to find it. So: Help please.

I asked her if my mare and i were harmonious and she said certainly and mentioned a bunch of things as to why, (and i have forgotten the why part of it.) I asked her if my greenie and i were and she said, no way, he’s a goober. lolol

[Rerider54]

harmony is listed under Submission in the Collective Marks

[Gardenhorse]

She could be referring to the new eventing dressage tests? There used to be four different categories for the collective marks, but now there is a single collective score, “ Harmony of athlete and horse” - “A confident partnership created by adhering to the scale of training.”

See, for example, one of the new Beg Novice tests. The collective marks are at the end.

2022-USEF-BEGINNER-NOVICE-TEST-A-WEB-12.18.2021.pdf

[eightpondfarm]

YEsssss!!! thank you Gardenhorse!

[Willesdon]

The problem with ‘harmony’ is that one can only know it when one sees it. And seeing true harmony can be a rare thing.

To me it is when horse and rider flow together, one into the other, invisibly joined into one creature. So, like I say, a rare thing to see. But we can all work towards it and even achieve it for brief moments of total magic.

[Nous]

Harmony is

• relaxation and confidence of the horse
• a willingly attentive and submissive horse
• the quality of the contact
• the lightness and ease of the movements
• the fluency of the transitions
• suppleness and balance of the rider
• rider’s subtle and effective influence.
  It’s a collective more often seen in the artistic marks for freestyle and the above bullets are an extract from the British Dressage Judges Quick Reference Guide which itself contains extracts from the FEI Dressage Judges Handbook.

Quick Reference Guide is here:

british-dressage-judges-guide-july-19-final-05082019.pdf

[eightpondfarm]

@Willesdon

To me it is when horse and rider flow together, one into the other, invisibly joined into one creature.

The one true goal.

not dressage, but i once had a horse that was my lower half. That he was extremely beautiful and that i was totally in love with him helped. They know…

[eightpondfarm]

Thanks Nous! This, these definitions… exactly what i wanted to know. The art of horsemanship, defined! Seemed to me that it (“Harmony”) was a je ne sais quoi.

And i’m curious about people being able to see it.

I suppose judges, who see tons of pairings, can recognize it when they see it.

[Willesdon]

When one sees it, one immediately recognises it. You can see it in other sports too: a gymnast who flows, dance like, through a floor routine rather than hoists herself around from move Movement X to Movement Y.

My personal theory is that there are levels of riding above a basic competence. First, when one knows how to do something and so work hard, concentrating on fitting that knowledge into achieving the required end. Second, when one stops thinking about oneself and comes to think more of the horse and how to help them achieve the required end. Third, the knowledge and skill is instinctive enough that both elements can read each other immediately. That moment when one first halts a horse on a breath.

[Argo]

The Harmony mark will fall within the range of marks for the whole test. It will be higher in the range if the whole picture is more or less correct and lower in the range if there are obvious negative elements to the entire performance, which would be commented on. It takes most judges about 2 seconds to scan the test sheet and produce the mark.

[eightpondfarm]

Don’t they know when the see the pair together? …without looking at other marks?
Wouldn’t it be one of the first things they notice?

i mean, to me, “harmony”…it seems absolutely subjective.

edit: Oh right…the objective definitions Nous provided. So looking over scores on front sheet would tell those.

[Argo]

To make an entirely subjective process more objective, judges are actually more systematic. The harmony mark isn’t produced until the test is over because it’s a mark of overall impression which includes the execution of each movement. If the important (ie, coefficient and transition) movements were 6’s then the harmony mark isn’t going to be much different, even if the halts got 8’s.

[Ambitious_Kate]

Wait. Harmony has minions??