Dressage judging changes announced

Major changes to dressage judging have been proposed by the FEI's Dressage Committee. Pictured: Eva Moller riding Blickpunkt in Verden. © Karl-Heinz Frieler/FEI

The changes follow controversy at the Olympic Games, where a late-night meeting over dressage judging was held which involved only a handful of federations. Later, the FEI called for the resignation of its entire dressage committee, after which chairman Mariette Withages resigned her position.

A Dressage Task Force was then created to tackle issues within the sport.

Under the proposals, which were put forward by the FEI Dressage Committee at a meeting in Germany late last month, events such as Olympic Games, World Equestrian Games, Continental Championships at Grand Prix level and World Cup Finals would have the services of a Judges Supervisory Panel (JSP), which would be allowed to correct the judges' marks for factual errors, such as definite technical mistakes.

"One of the benefits of the JSP is to provide a 'back-up' for the judges in order to protect both judges and athletes by preventing unfair marks," the FEI said.

"Clear guidelines have been prepared stipulating how the JSP should interact with the judging process. The ideal composition of a JSP group (three members per show) would be two judges and one trainer or rider."

As well, the panel would have the ability to evaluate the quality of judges in general, make proposals for the assessment of judges and their status (promotion), provide a "long list" proposal of judges (for the Olympic Games, WEG, Continental Championships on Grand Prix level, World Cup Finals) and a general overview of the "judges' world" to the FEI Dressage Committee and FEI Headquarters, as described in the Dressage Task Force Report.

The second item under review is the ability for judges to award half marks in all FEI Dressage competitions.

"Half marks can be given in their full range from 0.5 up to 9.5 and for all scores (marks for movements, collective marks, technical element in the Freestyle both per movement and as final mark for that movement). Half marks already exist for the artistic element in the Freestyle," the FEI said.

The third item under review is the number of judges at major events, such as the Olympics, WEG and World Cup finals, which currently have five judges. Increasing this to seven has been proposed.

The proposals are based on several pilot studies that took place during the 2010 season and feedback from within the sport. They are the result of detailed analysis of the fitness for purpose of current judging methods in dressage with the aim of achieving maximum transparency and fairness and, as a consequence, trust in the sport.

FEI Dressage Director Trond Asmyr said it was vital for the future of the sport that judging is seen to be fair and transparent. "There is no doubt that the education of the judges and their continuous assessment according to fixed standards is an ongoing process that helps to ensure the highest level of fairness and correctness in the sport."

The proposals are to be presented at the upcoming FEI General Assembly in Taipei (November 1-6).