Head Gear

The most discussed topic among dressage people is the “JUDGES SCORING DISCREPENCIES “, just like the oldest profession in the world , so are judges discrepancies, they always been there and probably will always be there. However To be fair with the judges officiating at the Hickstead CDI, there was a clear attempt to iron out these disagreements and create a GLOBAL HARMONIZATION of the dressage judges . During the competition More often than not the chairman of the jury ( the most senior judges) would call the other judges to discuss the discrepancies in the different assessments of the rides, doing his best to insure that they all sing from the same him sheet with the same tune . “Judging is not a “ free style” , there is no room for self-interpretation of what is correct or incorrect “ he would remind his fellow judges. As most judges are self-assured extremely confident (opinionated in other words) people, WHICH ARE the minimum requirement to become an FEI judge , The chairman’s successes in harmonizing the opinions of all the judges was as successful as Donald Trump effort to unite the White House team behind their leader. One judge in particularly was reluctant to change her opinion in spite of the fact that her assessment was somewhat different to the general consensus . “What’s was wrong with the test ?” The non-complying judge argued . “The HEAD GEAR!! THE HEAD GEAR !!” Was the lead judge reply “ YOU should have noticed !!! “. “What do you mean ?“ she stood her ground . “MAaadaaam! For a performance like you have just awarded the top mark , the appropriate head gear normally would have been BUSH HAT with corks dangling from it !!!”