Ha ha ha yes. All day I’ve been saying geography, wow. That one hour lack of sleep… Lol!!
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Read the directives for a test to understand the questions posed by the test.
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And learn the training scale. Rhythm and Relaxation come before Contact.
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Thank you for that suggestion 
I showed intro all last year and most judges were really positive and helpful. Even though they were schooling shows it’s helpful if they have actual accredited judges. A few of the shows with judges that didn’t have a lot of experience did ding me for not having my horse in a “frame” which was frustrating that’s why we’re in intro A. I even had a judge tell me to wiggle my inside rein to get my horse to drop his head after a wonderful relaxed and balanced test. So I started to do research on the judges before signing up.
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Put it on YouTube, make it private and send a link maybe.
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She did and it worked! (awesome video by the way…she made it look so easy!!)
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oh my goodness thank you!
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There’s one local judge that I do anything I can to avoid showing under, due to similar comments/experiences.
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Super frustrating, I kept the scoresheet so that I can avoid her in the future. There was another local trainer acting as a judge who said that if your movement didn’t happen directly in the middle of the two letters she took points off. So if it says walk between x and c you had to walk directly in the middle of those two letters. I completely understand it’s a schooling show and doesn’t count towards anything but if I walk away with zero constructive criticism for me to work on in the future then it’s not worth it.
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Agreed. I don’t need excessive complimentary stuff either, I want constructive comments.
The judge in question for me - rung me out before the first movement because my horse was “lame”, I contested it with the show management, the vet came to inspect and agreed with me, and I had to do my ride over from the start. Problem was my mare was really particular about her warmup and so with the schedule rocked she did reeeeeeally poorly on the second go-round.
Same “lame” mare jumped two rounds that day clear, then did the whole thing over the following day under a new judge (who, gasp, didn’t ring us out!), and went home sound. (we won the second day, because her warm up wasn’t all fudged up…grr )
Lame. Give me a break. Same judge wrote on a kid’s test about the “roundness” thing you mention. It was an intro test, with a teensy tiny kid on a maybe 10hh pony. Way to be constructive, buddy.
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Ugh! That’s frustrating. And really discouraging for the lower levels.
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This is the problem with using uneducated people as judges, even at schooling shows. You are paying good money and expending a lot of effort to show. You are entitled to have a judge who knows what they’re doing.
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Here I will disagree. This pair should be judged under the same guidelines as any other pair.
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I found this out as she was talking with the owner of the property before the show and I was picking up my number. I politely asked why since it didn’t say that in the test instructions and she said because that’s how her old trainer taught her. Anyways…I told all my friends at the show, made sure to do my transitions directly in the middle and won my division. However, that ribbon meant nothing to me and I didn’t receive anything to work on in my feedback. I actually don’t want super positive feedback unless it happened to be really amazing. I want critiques so that I have something to work on.
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Yeah, fine. But it’s a pony. With a 40lb kid on it.
I doubt the kid even knows what roundness is. She was probably more proud of herself for not forgetting the test, period.
It is “intro” for a reason. There is no reason for roundness to even be part of it. The kid put in a bang-up good test for an intro level - geometry was good, rhythm was good (a little quick, but… pony). He didn’t just mark her down for “needs more roundness”. He slaughtered her for it.
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I don’t know what that has to do with it.
What were the other comments and scores?
If I were a judge at a schooling show, I’d be looking to be inviting to the people who might be out for their first time. Maybe they’re not the winning ride, but I’d be looking to be encouraging every place I could.
Every single comment said “needs to be more round”, nothing above a 5. It was ridiculous. The pony was going around with a natural looking head, not a giraffe, not on the vertical. Kid absolutely could have had a better connection with the mouth, could have this-that-or-the-other. Many areas for improvement. Better served with being nice on the score card, and then called her up to have a talk after.
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Roundness isn’t head set. A horse’s head can be on the vertical, past the vertical even, and the horse can still not be round.
From the Intro A test sheet:
To show understanding of riding the horse forward with a steady tempo into an elastic contact with independent, steady hands and a correctly balanced seat.
Were these requirements of the test met?
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Absolutely everyone needs to be judged equally whether a pro on a greenie or a child on a tiny pony. A judge should never be lenient on cuteness factor.
Also, contact is important and judged in intro. Refer to the purpose of the test, which is printed ON THE TEST.
To introduce the rider and/or horse to the sport
of dressage. To show understanding of riding
the horse forward with a steady tempo into an
elastic contact with independent, steady hands
and a correctly balanced seat. To show proper
geometry of figures in the arena with correct
bend (corners and circles)
Riding into a steady contact…this means the horse is accepting the bit. At intro it doesn’t have to be perfect but the horse does need to show the understanding of accepting the bit, bend and flexion. Geometry only gets you so much, and for a horse to be moving forward into the hand, a “roundness” is required, although I really hate using that term.
How round and “up”, is a separate topic.
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