Feeling slightly deflated.

[MrA]

I went to a dressage competition yesterday and had a fab day. My share Brodie went beautifully and apart from overshooting the centre line and breaking into canter at one point I was very happy with how the test went.

We placed poorly and scored far lower than when I went there a year ago and gave it a shot and was very inaccurate/ Brodie was not going nicely. Now I don't mind where we place and the score so much, it's the judges decision and I accept that.

The reason I feel deflated is there is only one comment on the test which states 'resistant against hand' and then two positive comments at the end which say 'nice turn' 'centre line very straight,nice square halt'

Then in the judges comments box she has written 'lovely accurate test, well ridden and a pleasure to watch'

Now to get to the actual point, I was hoping to get some things to work on? Some constructive criticism? I scored 6 for all the movements apart from the last 3 for which I scored 7. I feel it would be far more helpful to know where I had gone wrong than have a generic sentence at the end.

At the end of the day I did pay to enter and just feel a little dissapointed to place right at the bottom and not know why...

Is this common in dressage? I'm not worried about placing last just wish I had more to work on as I came out thinking I had gone well and obviously the judge thought differently.

Welcome your thoughts and previous experiences.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

I think a lot depends on how the judge is feeling. If (s)he is fresh and hasn't had too many sets of notes, then you are likely to get some helpful suggestions. If it's been a long day, or (s)he got out of bed the wrong side, then you'll get generic comments of the type that have disappointed you.

It's difficult isn't it because they are talking about the horse, not the rider, so I suppose you're unlikely to have many suggestions about how the rider could do better.

 

[joosie]

I think it depends on the judge. I did loads of dressage writing in New Zealand, some of the judges I wrote for were very wordy and gave advice but others did have rather little to say! I'm in two minds about the advice-giving comments really - on the one hand it's definitely useful to be given an idea of the things you need to work on, but on the other the judge is not there to give you a riding lesson... I think it would be just as helpful if you ask your RI to watch the video and give you their own feedback. At the end of the day you had fun and it sounds like you rode a nice accurate test so I would try not to be too disappointed!

 

[MrA]

I don't mind generic comments if they give you an indication of why you scored well/badly, it was the total lack of comments that had me dissapointed.

You usually get things like 'circle too small' 'fell out through shoulder' I just find these really useful as I know what to concentrate on and where I went wrong.

And then usually at the end just something like needs a better rhythm or work more from behind. These are the comments I usually get anyway! Just really brief and to the point.

My friend also took part and was the horse after me in the ring, I've since seen her score sheet and there was a comment in every box apart from one. Then at the end a very brief sentence about how she could work on the energy of his steps to increase the score. She placed 4th.

So I do feel a little disappointed that for whatever reason the judge didn't have much to say about us.

Sadly there is no video as I would like to re-watch and learn from it, but oh well. He was still great!

 

[OwnedbyChanter]

I know how you feel. I did five tests this weekend and all had various comments some had hardly any others were really full.

I do a lot a writing for judges and they can be strange beasts. Some like to tell you why your score dropped on that more for example on the forehand circle to small etc. Others like to state why they have scored you well. Square halt, good entrance, nice shape.

For me the later is all very nice but does not help me improve. but they are encouraging judges. The other type are trying to offer help as where you need to work on.

When you get nothing it is harder. I just assume that we didn't do anything wrong but neither was it bad or good just middle of the road.

 

[newforest]

I have done tests where my score and comments in the box made sense.

My best test in as far as comments go was Interdressage. If you entered early enough you got offered constructive comments on all moves plus suggestions.
With our first ever test that was going to be useful.

I guess my RI is paid to teach and educate us not a judge. It's not really their job to tell you what you did wrong, but for you to maybe know? This is why I like the video footage, I could look back and see what the judge saw.
It's also subjective in the day and one judges viewpoint. But I get what you mean.
I entered a horsemanship class and was marked down for her being out of my space. They felt I was nervous of her closer, no I just didn't want to get bitten. Didnt enter again she hated it!!

 

[Sparky Lily]

I am another who has written for a number of judges at various levels. Some find what appears to be your level at this test harder to comment on. A 6 is satisfactory; nothing seriously wrong and nothing particularly good. I often found I was given no comment to write for a 6. It is likely that improvement would need to be on quality rather than accuracy. At least you did not have negative comments!

This clearly wasn’t the case here, but lack of comments can also be due to the scribe. I once “judged” at a riding school fun day. The parent who had volunteered to write for me could barely manage to get the marks in the right boxes, I had to add what comments (all positive of course) I could remember at the end.