Sally O'Conner comments...

[AlterBy]

Some people are just never happy.

Because the nice comment might be a judging requirement.
Because the nice comment is not reflecting totally the truth on said given day.
Because the nice comment is identical to what many other riders received.

Come on…how many comments can there be!
It is not a clinic. It is not a lesson. It is like 5 min ride. and judge can see up to 100 rides per day…
What do people want? A detailled personalized novel?

If you want more comments on the show results, better ask your trainer who is paid for that!

Just can’t imagine what people would do if the judge would write bad comments…or worse, none! Many disciplines don’t have a remarks box to be filled…

[ozjb]

I recently pencilled for a judge at a One Day Event. We had the Newcomer’s group (that’s 60cm here). I have a whole new respect for judges. The standard was terrible, but to be fair it WAS Newcomers. The poor judge was beside herself.

First, the organisers had not given her any of the rules that are specific to eventing dressage, then they gave her ( a qualified and respected judge) the worst group of the day. She was so upset that she had to give such crappy scores. I doubt the riders were happy when they got their test papers, either.

She kept saying, “hate to take THAT cross country.” But her comments were fair and at the end of the day, the two best tests came out first and second.

It’s harder with kids because they tend to take the comments personally. I try to get my daughter to pencil or at least sit in the back seat to listen so that she can see that each judge has things they like or really dislike and that it is NOT personal.

I think the lesson finally hit home at a recent event where her pony was a complete lunatic and she did well to keep the test in the ring. Judge gave her 6s and 7s and then gave her a 4 in the collectives for the rider effectiveness part. Even I know that the collectives have to reflect the rest of the test and that a 4 should not have been given.

I think it’s great when a judge at least tries to find something positive to say.

[AllWeatherGal]

@jenm;5623456

I was told by a judge that they are instructed to always put some sort of positive comment at the end of the test no matter how bad the ride.

Not unique to dressage judging. Toastmasters International also advises speech evaluators to sandwich “suggestions” in between observations of positives.

This technique is generally accepted as a way to help recipients hear or read the comments about what needs to improve without shutting down because all the feedback is negative.

[Classicgal]

I just audited the L program and they want them to say something positive first - and then an honest but constructive and hopefully helpful critique. They said they don’t want to discourage riders, and they don’t want them to say things that are going to take the wrong way and go home and overdo or torture the horses with. I’ve been involved with our local club for years and some of the old time judges could be very harsh- say things like take up another sport, learn to ride, etc. And some say the same things over and over. They do see the same issues over and over. But the program wants them to find a lot of differn’t ways to say the same thing. It was quite enlightening and I hope the new generation of judges coming up will follow these recommendations.

[Classicgal]

PS - not to say alot of the experienced judges do not!

[PFMJ]

I’ve had a green horse act like a green horse in spooky conditions, and had some not so nice comments. They certainly did not take into consideration the obvious spookiness (high wind conditions, flapping banners, etc) and instead went along the lines of “highly disobedient” etc. Not exactly called for, but some people/judges are more negative. It is nice when a judge acknowledges what is happening and is encouraging.

[netg]

[QUOTE=AlterBy;5623571]
Just can’t imagine what people would do if the judge would write bad comments…or worse, none! Many disciplines don’t have a remarks box to be filled…[/QUOTE]

I have a test at home with nothing in the remarks section at the end of the test. I’d never heard of a judge simply not giving any comments before then.

It wasn’t a good show for us, so it may have been a case of “if you have nothing nice to say…” :lol:

The day before the judge I rode in front of commented on it being unfortunate that it was such a cranky day for my horse. Second day, my horse was showing the after effects of being so cranky, and while more obedient wasn’t quite capable of doing well. But it was really needed for his training. Sometimes if a horse is a superstar at home and bad at shows, you have to suck it up, accept that you’ll get very low scores, and go anyway.

[atr]

Can’t stand it any longer… It’s O’Connor.

[JMurray]

She was tuff on everyone at Heavenly Waters today. all the scores were low. I would say it was a compliment what she said to your DD.

[alibi_18]

Reported

[luvmycabanaboy]

@netg

I have a test at home with nothing in the remarks section at the end of the test. I’d never heard of a judge simply not giving any comments before then.

.

I won a class once with straight 7s down the sheet and no comments. Seriously?? Were you in the bathroom during my whole test? So useless…

Accept the compliment! Sally is notoriously tough.

[WildLittleWren]

I have no experience with Sally O’ Connor but the consensus seems to be accept the comment as a good one!

[AltersAreUs]

@netg

I have a test at home with nothing in the remarks section at the end of the test. I’d never heard of a judge simply not giving any comments before then.
.

How about one comment? On the remarks field, nothing else anywhere and the entire test was nothing but flat 6’s except for one 5.5. And that one comment was “Difficulty was higher than rider’s ability”. Yep, that’s it.

Did I mention this was the C judge for my Regional Championship Freestyle? B judge had comments all over (and her score was nearly 5 points higher) Needless to say, I will never show under that C judge again. Five years and I’m still bitter about that test and it’s lack of comments.

[hoopoe]

@alibi_18

Reported

Why?

[SonnysMom]

@hoopoe

Why?

My guess is that a spammer bumped up the post from 2011, alibi 18 reported the spammer, mods removed the spam post but not alibi’s post alerting people that she reported it to mods.

[hoopoe]

ah OK, that makes sense

as to the OP I have scribed a TON and many judges often use these words when they know that circumstances and events kept the horse and rider from performing their best. Many judges can pick out those green nerves and having someone say there is good potential is a cheer to not give up or be disheartened

[Edre]

@luvmycabanaboy

I won a class once with straight 7s down the sheet and no comments. Seriously?? Were you in the bathroom during my whole test? So useless…

Accept the compliment! Sally is notoriously tough.

There’s a judge a rather large show series here will hire and her only “judges’ comments” section mark?

Smiley face.

It drives me absolutely crazy.

Edit to add: I’ve ridden for her several times over the years, as has other riders (so different days, shows, levels) and all of us have the same experience.

is all you’ll get!

[alibi_18]

@SonnysMom

My guess is that a spammer bumped up the post from 2011, alibi 18 reported the spammer, mods removed the spam post but not alibi’s post alerting people that she reported it to mods.

This exactly.

Cothers, this is a 2011 thread.

[hoopoe]

so,
it is still worthy of discussion, not the judge mentioned per se but the topic of judges comments

[WildLittleWren]

@alibi_18

This exactly.

Cothers, this is a 2011 thread.

Oh man, don’t I feel silly for not looking :lol: