Big dressage changes on the cards
Dropping the highest and lowest marks and collectives is proposed
“SIGNIFICANT” changes are on the cards for international dressage competitions.
The FEI’s dressage judging working group (DJWG) has submitted proposals for changes to the rules for 2018, including “HiLoDrop” scoring and partial removal of collective marks.
HiLoDrop scoring involves not taking into account the highest and lowest scores for each movement in a test. An average would be calculated from the remaining scores.
”HiLoDrop ensures the consensus view of the jury predominates in the final result and is not unduly influenced by one judge being exceptionally low or high,” the DJWD stated.
The group has also called for removal of collectives, bar
the rider’s score, as they are “already taken into account in the movement scores”.
Olympian Carl Hester said the changes “were worth a try” but he had reservations about HiLoDrop.
“Having heard the statistics [FEI analysis found the average effect on scores is a +0.1% shift], I don’t think it’s worth it from that point of view,” he told H&H.
He was also concerned it could cause “safe judging”.
“No [judges] would want to be the drop score — they’d sit in the middle,” he said. “You’d miss out on the emotive side. We want good judging, not safe judging.”
But Wayne Channon, secretary general of the International Dressage Riders’ Club, thinks HiLoDrop is a “very good idea”.
“It has many advantages. The clear one is if one judge is wrong [the mark] gets removed,” he said. “I’ve heard people say that judges won’t want their scores removed so won’t reach for higher marks, but that’s inconceivable. If judges are deliberately holding back they are in breach of FEI guidelines.”
Wayne said he is “very much in favour” of removing collectives, bar the rider score.
“The logic is so simple — you evaluate all collectives for every move,” he said. “If you’re doing it 35 times during a test, one at the end shouldn’t change anything.
“The rider is separate — you do want to reward the rider.”
Carl added: “I like having collective marks at the end of your sheet, but I agree they could judge it in the test. The rider one is very important so I agree they should keep that.”
The FEI is awaiting feedback from national federations.
“This will be considered before the FEI general assembly, and then be voted on by all the federations,” an FEI spokesman told H&H. “Should they vote in these rules, they will be effective from 1 January 2018. ”
British Dressage (BD) is consulting with stakeholders.
“This includes a broad crosssection of our international riders, trainers and officials,” BD chief executive Jason Brautigam told
H&H. “With such significant changes to the judging system there will inevitably be a wide range of views and it is vital all of these are considered fully.
“It is important to note that these [proposed changes] relate solely to international competition and remain proposals at this stage. Any rule changes would still need to be ratified at the general assembly in November.
“At this point we would then review the decisions to consider the impact they may have on our competitions at national level, not just for BD, but for horse trials, riding clubs and Pony Club competitions too.”