Hard Start for Judging on Second Week of 2025

Shows

2024 CDI-W Wellington

It was a hard start for judging the second week of 2025. The World Cup qualifiers in Wellington and Basel on the weekend of 9 - 12 January brought plenty of elite dressage action but also some eye brow raising moments in the scoring of a few "famous" pairs.

The Halo Effect

In Basel, the world number one Isabell Werth brought along the 13-year old Hanoverian mare Superb (by Surprice x Donautanz) after a 10-month absence from the CDI ring. The tall, long-backed black mare made her international Grand Prix debut in 2022 but her career has not flowed forward as smoothly as with other horses in Werth's barn. Superb dealt with an injury with interrupted that course.

After a long absence she returned in Basel to win the Grand Prix with 72.761% but insiders already flagged the scoring of that ride as questionable. On 11 January 2025, Werth rode her in the 3* freestyle spinning her "Land of Hope and Glory" music, which includes a simpler floorplan for less experienced horses. A good choice.

Superb looked incredibly green at Grand Prix level, despite her age, and Isabell literally had her hands full making that ride look easy-going. Superb leaned heavily on the hand and on the curb seeking support from her experience rider. She was often flexed to the right, the passage had many uneven steps behind. There was a big interruption in the passage in which she got kicked forward, in the piaffe she reacted to the leg aid with the right hind leg by lifting it higher several times. The extended walk had plenty of overtrack but the rhythm was not good. There was a mistake in the two's, the ones were good, the right hind leg swung out in the trot extensions and in the piaffe turn she leaned on the forehand.. and the rider was late to the music in her end halt. It was not a polished ride, but a work-in-progress. No problem, that can certainly happen with inexperienced horses, but it should be reflected in the scores.

Judges Maribel Alonso, Evi Eisenhardt, Raphaël Saleh, Isobel Wessels, and Hans Voser (a very experienced panel) rewarded that test with 74.680%. The technical score on the long side was 68.750% and 69.250% which was closer to the reality than the 72.5% from the short side and even a 74.750% from the German (!) judge. Also the artistic score was all over the place going from 73.400% to 81.00%.

One of the biggest frustrations many viewers have with dressage sport is the halo effect of famous riders. If they have a not so good day, which can happen, they never get down-scored the same way as riders climbing the ladder. This is such a persistent problem in judging and gnawing at its reputation of fairness and "a level field of play". This is not Werth's fault, but an inside problem that does not seem to get eradicated.

The Freestyle Booboo

Now let's turn our gaze West to Wellington where a big drama unfolded with a freestyle booboo that set social media on fire.

Adrienne Lyle and Helix finished second in the Kur to Music with 77.280%. It was the first time she rode Helix under floodlights in Wellington, in colder temperatures, and the horse was very fresh and tense in the atmosphere. The beginning of her test was not easy with him being tight in the neck and the first trot extension botched as he almost took off, had a lapse in the rhythm and was very tight. After her pi-pa and trot section, she did an extended trot, where her walk music played, so she correctly followed the procedure, lifted her hand, walked to the judge at C and explained that the music was off. The music that played was an older version of the Kur and not the one she had uploaded for this show. Lyle followed all the steps according to the FEI rules. "It is up to the Athlete whether to restart the test from the beginning or to commence from the point where the music failed" ( FEI Rule 420.2.2).

After five minutes of walking to get the music sorted, Helix calmed down and Lyle restarted the test from the beginning. The re-start was much better with the horse more settled in the arena. Lyle handled it like the pro she is. Interestingly the judge at C (Janet Foy) decided to have all previous marks given by all five judges deleted and score the test from scratch. The FEI rule clearly says "in the case of an Athlete’s music failing (...) the marks already given will not be changed" (420.2.2) and this is repeated again in rule 420.2.4: "Any scores given before the interruption remain."

So Lyle had a serendipitous benefit that she got fully rescored in better conditions, leading to a higher end score, more World Cup NAL ranking points, and a higher score counting for the big money US Open show circuit.

Were the Rules Followed?

Social media exploded blaming the Judge at C of favouritism and not following the rules. Again fairness in the sport was being questioned out loud, further damaging dressage's fragile reputation, and once more underlining how the inside maintains the status quo.

Eurodressage interviewed Janet Foy on Sunday 12 January about the incident, but she passed the responsibility on to show director Thomas Baur. "Thomas answered the question at the press conference," Foy replied. When Eurodressage insisted on an answer whether the scores were wiped from the system or not, there was no reply. The official press release after the press conference spoke of a "glitch in the music" but did not address any rules or explanations about the scoring.

Thomas Baur replied to Eurodressage saying, "the floorplan is not identical and we played the wrong music. So the story ends here for me. The rest is with the FEI," he said. When asked about the deleted scores he said, it "was not my decision but I felt it was an honest decision from the judge a C." Baur also said that "the first part (of the floorplan) is exactly the same and then it changes."

The contentious Facebook page "Dressage Hub Official" posted a video showing that the floorplan and music were identical until the spot where Lyle raised her hand to indicate the music was off. A huge argument exploded on social media with former U.S team trainer Robert Dover coming to Lyle's support, but the debate had nothing to do with Lyle (who followed the book) but whether the first scores should have been kept or not.

Is it not a "technical error" when the sound "technician" uploads the wrong music? The FEI rules say nothing about wrong music being uploaded by only speak of "In case of any technical failure" or "other extreme situations" or "in the case of an Athlete’s music failing". However, the FEI rules twice repeat that "marks already given will not be changed."

The freestyle was judged by Janet Foy, Peter Storr, William Warren, Christine Prip, and Christof Umbach, but only the judge at C has the authority and responsibility to make a decision.

One officiating judge explained to Eurodressage that because the error lay with the sound technician playing the wrong file the president of the ground jury "decided to start new and not count the marks we already gave."

U.S. judge Kristi Wysocki (who did not officiate at this show) threw herself into the online debate and defended her colleague's decision with her interpretation of the rules. "If you look at the specific words of the rule it says to keep scores before the technical failure occurred - not from where the rider stopped. The technical failure occurred when the music started because it was the wrong music. (..) there were no scores given before the technical failure as the rider was still outside the ring."

This still leaves the matter hanging as Lyle acknowledged the right music was playing at the start by beginning her ride and only stopping half way. Also on her second try she rode the identical floorplan to identical music up until the point where the new version had the musical change.

The incident has been reported to the FEI.

The tests can be viewed here: Werth on Superb - Lyle on Helix