I’ve had the experience of scribing once before, at a small schooling show, with some intro level tests. It was simple and fun, and the judge was not a real judge, so I can’t say I got the full experience.
Last weekend, there was a large 3 day event at the Colorado Horse Park and when the coordinator mentioned that they needed scribes, I decided to take the day off work and volunteer to do it! I’ve always wanted to be a scribe at a recognized show so I had a larger group of horses and more experienced judge to learn from. If you’ve read much about what I think of the current dressage world, you will realize that I have become a bit cynical. The competitive world has become so focused on over-exaggerated movement and dramatic “behind the bridle” appearances, that I am worried about where the line is drawn between what is fundamentally correct, and what judges reward points for.
But I have to say that I was given hope and was impressed with what we saw. The tests that the judge was scoring were training, novice and beginner novice. And compared to the strictly dressage show going on in the ring next door (this was 3 day dressage, but the CHP had a dressage show going on at the same time in a different ring), I was happy to see horses that weren’t grossly behind the bridle, and the comments reflected times where the horses were not poll high.
Overall, I found this to be an educational experience and would recommend it to everyone to do at least once! Also, it made me realize the power of riding straight lines and having square halts – those are a lot of points!
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