I cannot recommend more highly to go and watch clinics like this one I attended with judging guru, Mr. Mechlem held by the Equestrian Federation of Australia at Werribee, Vic.

They are inexpensive, informative, and invaluable to the trainee judge.

...dedicated to Linda K from SA

How do I get started?

I get hundreds of emails from all over the world every day, and one of the questions I am often asked is what's your best tips on getting started in dressage.  “How do I get started as a dressage rider or my first step in dressage judging?”

Dressage judging is a marvellous step into a career in horse riding, and, personally it was my own “first step” to “official-dom” if you like.   It was my first equine qualification, and certainly I have had a marvellous career with horses over the past 40…um…years.

Here my best recommendations to get you started

1. Have a look at www.horsesport.org and read the rule book.   It isn’t long, it isn’t difficult, it even has pictures! 

2. Do a websearch for your local Equestrian Federation or Dressage Association, have a look at their calendar of events for shows coming up.  Choose a smaller, low-level show, and then email or ring them and volunteer to pencil or scribe for their judges.  
   
   For the lower levels it's actually very easy.  You don’t need any experience at all,  you are only writing down the judge's comments and marks.  It isn’t difficult, and you soon get the hang of what’s going on, and the associations are DESPERATE for people to help out!   But while you're sitting there, you get to learn so much of what the judge is looking for, and how it all works, and some common mistakes that you'll learn to avoid.

3. Once you have pencilled a few times, then ring or email your Equestrian Federation or Dressage Association in your area and find out when the next lowest level judges clinic is being held and go along.   They are very inexpensive and incredibly informative.  
   
   Plus, they have to be very "correct" as these are the official “Train the Judges” days.   You don’t have to sit the exam.  You don’t have to hold up marks or ask questions in public when you first start out. 
   
   Just do what I did the first few times, hide in the corner &  watch and learn.

4. Once you’ve been been to a judge's clinic, pencilled at least a dozen times and read the rule book, then I think that you’re probably ready to “give it a go”.   What I did was contacted the lowest level organisation in my area and asked them if they needed a judge for their very lowest level unofficial test, and they said yes straight away.

5. I think, personally, that you need to have judged a lot of easy, unofficial days before you consider sitting exams.   In my own country the rules change quite regularly as to how to become an official judge, but all the requirements are listed in the Australian Rule Book which is also FREE and on-line on the Equestrian Federation of Australia’s website, and I’m sure it would be the same in your country.

6. Once you’re ready for the exam…here’s how I got 100% in my judge’s exam, and I think I’m the only one in the country to have done so:

a)         For the first exam I got a cassette recorder (and subsequently used the sound recorder on the computer & burned a CD) and read the entire rule book, cover to cover, and made a recording onto cassette or CD….then I played it in the car, again and again and again until every single word was totally stuck in my mind.

b)         If you’ve ever learned music you would have learned the musical notes F-A-C-E or the notes E-G-B-D-F, and although I haven’t played the piano myself in some 30 years, I STILL remember Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit.   

I realised for every single movement there are certain "standards".   You have to describe things like the footfall, and the head position, and the bend (or straightness), and the track-up (or under-track), the impulsion and so on for every movement.

There were about eleven things that you had to remember for each and every movement.  For example F (footfall), H (head position), B (bend), T (tracking).  And, then I made up a little ditty to remember it, for example, Firey Horses Behave Terribly...etc.  

Then as soon as I got in the exam I wrote down F - H - B - T etc, and next to the letters what they represented (footfall, head position, bend, tracking, etc.).....

Then when I got a question like "“describe a shoulder-in", or "describe an extended canter", then I would just refer to the list of my F - H - B - T etc and then I couldn't forget anything.

8. Get a copy of the judge’s list for judges in your area, and ring or write to one of the higher level judges and explain you're training to be a judge, and ask them if you can sit in the back of their car while they judge.   This is much better than pencilling as you don’t have your face stuck in a clipboard half the day.   Getting a mentor is a marvellous way to learn.

9. Before you consider doing exams, also ring a higher level judge and offer a to pay them for a lesson or two...but a theory lesson on the ground before you do your exam.   And, if you are in a very remote area, you can book them on the phone for an hour. 
   
   People often do this with me, and I'm happy to help.

More Reading:

There's a good article on the Equestrian Federation of South Australia's website on how to get started on judging click here

Copyright © 2007
[Colleen Kelly. Improve Your Riding ABN 76799531257].