The FEI has issued a memo with the guidelines for judging the new "quality of riding" mark that has been introduced to Children's tests as of 2020.
The purpose of these Guidelines is to enable judges to understand the four different criteria of the ‘quality of riding mark‘ judges give when judging jointly the performances from the long side:
1. Rider`s Position and Seat,
2. Effectiveness of Aids,
3. Precision,
4. General Impression, and to show them how to use these criteria in Children competitions.
They are not intended to be all-inclusive or to contain absolute rules.
Children competitions must be assessed with the focus on the rider’s seat, the aids and the precision and effectiveness of his riding. The quality of the horse should have no influence on the marks as long as the rider’s seat and the use of his aids are not seen as having a negative effect on the horse’s paces. Only in the mark for General Impression, where the overall picture is assessed, the quality of the horse might have a small impact.
The judge should not hesitate to give very high marks when appropriate. Similar to when judging competitions for 7-year-old horses, the mark for the technical assessment and the ‘quality of riding mark‘ may differ. In the following, the different criteria and possible mistakes are described and proposals for the scoring are given.
Some criteria might overlap or one is the consequence of the other, e.g. a well-defined, fluent transition, clearly at the marker, will be the consequence of both: the correct use of the aids as well as of precision in riding.
Read the complete guidelines here.
Photo © Astrid Appels
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