Hans-Christian Matthiesen: "On the Importance of Continuing Education and In-Person Meetings for Officials"

Opinions

-- by Hans-Christian Matthiesen, president of the IDOC (International Dressage Officials Club).

Matthiesen wites about the role of the International Dressage Official Club (IDOC) and the obligation that comes with it. He reflects on IDOC's presence with judges and steward seminars and exams recently held at the championship for young horses in Poland and last weekend at the first CDI-W in Mexico.

On the Importance of Continuing Education and In-Person Meetings for Officials

As part of an official activity, there is a mandatory obligation to educate yourself at all times. As an international official, the training is determined by the FEI and the Education plan; all depending on level, function and discipline.

Adapt to Changing Times and Social Licence

"Continuing education is more important than ever. The sport is criticized and the role as officials are under more pressure than before. The people's attitude towards animal welfare changes over time and rules and guidelines must be adjusted and adapted to it so that social licence and society's acceptance of equestrian sport can be maintained. Many stakeholder groups have pointed out the important role of officials in this process. There must be clear guidelines that must be followed by everyone and be the same for the parties involved. Judges have different level of experience and knowledge. We need to fill in these gaps and provide them with efficient tools to assess and mark the movements, like they are supposed to. That is just some of the reasons why continuing education is so important."

The trend in the sport changes with time, as does the quality of the horses and training. Right now it is vital to look into the future and get the focus back on the basic training of the horse. Important aspects in the perception of horse welfare must be simultaneously updated and integrated into the training of officials. Many initiatives have already been put in place and hard work is being done to develop the sport into a more future-proof and transparent version.

Run and Done by Volunteers

Since the corona epidemic hit, we have developed a good online concept which reaches as many officials as possible.; also for national officials, which are not yet part of the FEI family. Remember that many (most) pay for their education themselves. Acting as an official is a voluntary job, which is performed very professionally by many. As an international official, it is a long education that spans many years with many tests and exams. The quality of the courses and exams must be top notch, especially when people do this voluntarily without getting paid.

IDOC is a non-profit organization and we are proud to say that we spend most of our budget on education for dressage officials. It is important for us to work together with the FEI, but also National Federations and the company BlackHorse have helped us a lot. The technical part today give us so many opportunities and possibilities for all the participants, online or in-person. We want to provide the officials with a professional set-up, which we can with the support of BlackHorse. We have currently started a more permanent online education system in cooperation with the company.

More In-Person Meetings Need to be Organized

Even though must of the theory part can be done with videos, it is still very crucial that we can organize these seminar during a competition. Online sessions can not replace in-person meetings. The competition makes the seminar so much more relevant for all parties and we need to host them across the globe, not just where the sport is centered in Western Europe. Other parts of the world need to be reached.

Luckily we have good cooperation with many show organizers, but we could still use more. We are depending on the organizers, not only for the seminars, but also when it comes to arranging “Sit-ins” and “shadow-judging” (part of the education plan and preparation for exams). Most mentor officials are happy to help, but not all organizers are positive and open towards the seminars or even the shadow judging, citing reasons (excuses?) such as space, time, or technical assistance in the show office. This is a pity and hinders progress.

At the end of the day, we are all depending on the continuing education of the officials, now maybe more than ever before.

IDOC will continue to work closely together with the FEI and the organizers. We work hard on getting more and more professional, with good course directors, good technical support and in the best surroundings. We owe it to the sport.

Testimonials from...

Daniel Göhlen (GER) of BlackHorse stated, “we have now worked together with IDOC on many occasions, we have developed a great set-up and the exchange of ideas between us, makes it fantastic. We strive to develop the technical part of the education system. Giving the right support to the officials is very important to us. Both online education and in-person seminars works for us, no matter where in the world”.

Omar Zayrik (MEX) is a 3* FEI judge, show director of the CDI-W Mexico, and IDOC board member. He said, “as a representative and official from the Central and South American region I know how important it is to have an in-person meeting and seminar in our region. The distances are big, so even if you come from the same region, you still have to fly 8 hours to get to a seminar. They are important not only for the international officials, but also the national judges. I am proud that we, with the help from sponsors Arquitectura Ecuestre and IDOC, organized one for dressage judges (with Raphael Saleh and HC Matthiesen as course directors) and stewards (with Dianna Muennich and Lisa Goretta as course directors)."

Lukas Walter (POL) is a 3* FEI judge and IDOC member): “I have participated in many IDOC seminars, including the ones for my exams. IDOC has done a tremendous job, and for us it was a great pleasure and honor to organize, now for the second year in a row, the young horse seminar with exams in Radzionkow (course director: Raphael Saleh and HC Matthiesen) together with the Polish Equestrian Federation, the organizers of the YH championships, and IDOC. We had people attending from all parts of the world and we’ve got good feedback from the participants. It's great to be able to give something back to the system, that has helped me a lot in my journey as an official.”

IDOC added, "over the last years we organized good and popular seminars with National Federations (eg the Polish and Italian NFs), but also with private organizers (such as Schafhof Connect/Linsenhoff/Rath family in Kronberg, GER). Without them it would not have been possible for us to reach out to so many officials in such a professional way. Other players, like the European Equestrian Federation, could also be in on a future joint venture."