With the 2009 FEI General Assembly rapidly approaching the Dressage Task Force produced its official report of its one-year work since the abolition of the FEI Dressage Committee in November 2008.
The Task Force will presents its recommendations for the future development of the dressage sport to the FEI Bureau at the Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark, November 15-20, 2009.
The Dressage Task Force (DTF) published a 50-page report on what they have done for dressage the past year. Unlike the FEI Dressage Committee, the Dressage Task Force strived for open communication towards riders, trainers, judges, national federations and organisers. Addressing the popularity of the dressage sport, the DTF is unanimous in highlighting the need to increase transparency and attractiveness for spectators, media and sponsors.
"The DTF convened 7 days of physical meetings and held conference calls almost every 14 days. At its first meeting the DTF agreed to ensure that after every meeting or as often as would be required, a Summary Report would be circulated to all the stakeholders," disclosed Frank Kemperman. "Apart from National Federations (NFs) the FEI defined stakeholder groups to include all trainers, riders, judges and organisers regardless of whether they were members, or not, of their relevant recognised Clubs. As the DTF was made up of representatives of these different stakeholder groups it was agreed that each person would be the key point of contact for the group they represented on the DTF."
At the 2009 General Assembly a new FEI Dressage Committee will be voted upon. The DTF agreed that the structure of the future Dressage committee should include all stakeholders with members who are of high quality with strong experience and knowledge
in the sport of Dressage. It is also recognized that a good geographical spread is important in choosing Committee members and they should all be of different nationalities i.e. maximum one per NF. However having the right people is seen as more important.
Training and Education of Judges
Good judging starts with good education! Consequently, a new Judges Education System for all levels of judges has been worked out to guarantee their best possible education all over the world.
It is important that all FEI judges are trained regularly and re-examined when necessary.
"Refresher Seminars" without exam, "Sit-Ins" with experienced judges, and "Shadow Judging" shall provide worldwide training opportunities. In addition, these procedures are a good tool for the FEI to assess their judges as well as a globally applicable possibility for the up-andcoming national judges to participate in the FEI system.
In the future, important issues such as media training or musical education (for the evaluation of Freestyle Competitions) will be part of the course syllabus.
Judges Supervisory Panel to Evaluate and Assess
As in normal business and in many other sports it is often necessary to organise a good
system to evaluate judges. It is proposed to create a Judges Supervisory Panel (JSP).
This Panel of observers should consist of one core group of 3-4 independent, experienced, well respected judges and/or trainers/riders. The names of the JSP members must be given well in advance every year. Every effort must be made to avoid conflicts of interest. Additional members can be added, both to cover the quantitative and geographical needs. The JSP members will be proposed by the Dressage Committee to the FEI HQ who will make the final decision. Those who are not judges should be required to take actively and successfully part in a crash course in judging.
One of the main tasks of the JSP should be to evaluate the judges at events. Other tasks of
the JSP will be described in the following paragraphs. The JSP’s function should be further
developed in the future.
Members of this Panel would, as a start, go to Games and Continental Championships, which are at Grand Prix level, and the World Cup Final. They should observe all classes. The JSP will have to make a confidential evaluation report to the FEI / DC after each event. As soon as possible also normal CDIs should be visited by JSP members.
Selection of Judges
The best judges should officiate at Championships and Olympic Games. Only the JSP
should advise the Dressage Committee and FEI Headquarters regarding the names for the judges for the highlight events, based on the judges’ record and objective criteria
Number of judges
At this moment there are 7 judges present at selected Games and Championships from whom 5 are judging each competition. In order to reduce the influence of each judge’s marks from 20% to 14.2%, it was proposed that all 7 judges are used in all competitions at these events. At the test event the results with 7 judges and 5 judges for reference were compared. On this occasion the concept of dropping the highest and lowest results from the final score and per movement was analysed.
The statistics showed that there was no significant effect on final scores or ranks, either when all 7 judges’ scores counted or by dropping scores. The introduction of the JSP will secure that technical mistakes or numerical mistakes by a judge will be corrected.
A number of analysis were conducted regarding removing the highest and lowest scores – this was conducted using actual results from past shows, and it was found that in these cases only small differences in the results occurred. It was therefore felt that this would not add a benefit to the sport.
The DTF proposes to use 7 judges at Olympic Games and Continental Championships
on Grand Prix level, with all 7 judges counting to objectively reduce the influence of
each single judge’s marks
Use of Half Marks
The use of half marks was also tested. By using the training system of the judges actively,
using half marks will give more accurate and consistent results. In the test, the ranking of the
riders was not changed. However, it will give more flexibility for the judges, and the feedback to the riders in their score sheets will be more accurate. Today, it can be confusing for the rider to have a full mark difference for two movements which are more or less identical. The test gave the opportunity to compare with the marks the judges would have given with only whole marks. The half marks were used in both directions; up and down, but with a tendency to go up. The DTF is of the opinion that half marks will improve the percentages.
The DTF recommends to implement half marks for all levels of shows and classes. No
change will be made in the Young Horses classes, where 0.1 decimals are already in
use.
Dividing of Tasks
At the Judging System Trials three systems were tested.
- Dividing the Judges tasks for normal competitions by having one set of judges looking at the marks for the movements and one set focusing on 7 Summary Marks giving an overall picture as in Young Horse tests
- Dividing the judges tasks for normal competitions in a significantly different way from
the current system with each judge judging 2 different aspects of the performance - For Freestyle competitions dividing the tasks between technical marks and artistic
marks
The DTF does not recommend splitting the tasks in standard tests for the time being, as the collective marks are much more closely related to the movement marks than in Freestyle competitions.
Especially in the Freestyle to Music the dividing of tasks for technical and artistic marks worked extremely well and the system gave the judges more time to judge and concentrate on the test, especially the artistic marks. There is an uneven number of judges in every judges panel. To secure the most accurate scores, the highest number of judges will judge the artistic part. (4 judges giving artistic marks, 3 judges giving technical marks when 7 judges and 3 and 2 when 5 judges)
At the same time a new system developed by the DTF was tested which standardises the
judging of the degree of difficulty. All systems which transform parts of the judging from
subjective to objective reduce the uncertainty and question of personal opinions. Under this
suggested system riders have to provide information in advance about the choreography of
their tests. The difficulties above the compulsory minimum must be indicated including the
possible bonus. The first impression is that this system could be very interesting and should be worked out further, but it needs to be simplified from today’s one.
The DTF proposes to divide the tasks between technical execution and artistic
performance in Freestyle. It is also recommended to change the Collective Marks for
all tests.
Olympic Games
The Dressage Task Force feel that the former reserve athlete/horse should participate as
individuals. Reserve riders should not be required to travel long distances without being able to compete. For the NFs qualified with a team it must be possible to bring a team of 3 riders and 1 individual rider. The 4th rider should start as an individual and at the same time act as a substitute for the team. Under the Task Force proposals NFs would choose their team at the latest 1 hour after the horse-inspection. Composite teams should be able to have a fourth athlete competing individually as long as they are qualified from the Olympic ranking list. This would mean that there are, as in Hong Kong 2008, no drop scores in the team competition. In order to make the sport more understandable this system is very much
preferred by TV and visitors without detailed knowledge of the sport.
Competition Format
The format of the competition has remained unchanged for many years and the DTF discussed the various options to create a more attractive programme for all involved especially the media and spectators. It is proposed to change the format but to maintain the same number of competition days.
The schedule would be as follows:
- Day 1 & 2: Competition 1:
first team-competition, open for all athletes (teams of 3, plus individuals). If a horse or athlete has to withdraw for medical reasons the fourth
athlete will be a substitute and count in the team. - Day 3 Competition 2:
final team competition, open for 36 athletes (3 team members) (ie the 8 best teams and the 12 best individuals after competition 1. The
individuals could come from the same nations as the teams if placed among the
12 best individuals) The individual could be used as a substitute for veterinary or
medical reasons which disqualify the combination from participating further.
However their score from Competition 1 will not be counted towards the final team score. - Day 4 Competition 3:
Individual competition, open for the best 18 athletes from Competitions 1 & 2 (max 3 per NF).
A more exciting starting order for Competition 2 is necessary:
a) individual riders ranked 7-12 in reverse order from the result of Comp 1.
b) the teams ranked 5th-8th after Comp 1,
c) individual riders ranked 1-6 in reverse order from result of Comp 1.
d) teams ranked 1st-4th, in reverse order. The last 12 riders, which will only take 2 hours, will normally decide the medals.
The first competition should be a technical test to give the judges the possibility to see if the
combination shows the general principles of dressage. The second competition would be a
short technical test. The third competition would be the Freestyle to Music as at the moment.
Competitions 1 and 2 would decide the Team ranking and also serve as qualifiers for the
Individual Final. The 18 best would qualify for the only individual medal, the Freestyle to
Music.
This would mean that, as in other equestrian disciplines, dressage has only one individual
winner. Only Competition 3 would decide the individual medals.
Categorisations of Events
For some years now events are categorised only according to the level of prize money.
It is absolutely necessary that the events are also classified according to other criteria such as:
· Quality of footing
· Quality of competition arena
· Number and quality of training areas
· Accommodation for horses and riders
· Interest from spectators and media
· Efficiency of organisation
The FEI foreign judge and the foreign rider should make a report after each event and the
shows should be categorised according to the results. New events should start on a max. 3
star level (independent of the prize-money) and in the 2nd year they could get a higher
classification. In the last months an event evaluation system for show-jumping has been
discussed and a concept is drafted. The work was done by the Education Department of the FEI together with a small group of organizers in which the chairman of the DTF was involved. This evaluation system could easily be modified and introduced for dressage.
The full Dressage Task Force report can be downloaded here
Related Links
One Step Forward Thanks to Judging System Trials in Aachen
Dressage Task Force July Conference Call Summary
FEI Dressage Task Force Letter To Trainers And Riders