last updated on April 23, 2010 09:58

Over 500 judges, competitors and trainers attended the 2010 British Dressage Judges Convention held at Hartpury College, Glos, 31 March 2010. For the first time the growing sport of Dressage to Music was in focus and the informative day received a very enthusiastic response.

FEI International judges Andrew Gardner and Judy Harvey led the way, beginning with an explanation of how to fill out the results sheet and the thinking behind the all important artistic marks. Freestyle tests were then performed without music so that choreography could be marked alone, followed by sessions with three horses and different pieces of music being played to identify pieces of music to fit each horse and its paces.

Tests were then ridden to music at novice, medium and prix st georges level so that suitability and interpretation of the music could be assessed before all the elements were brought together and tests ridden to assess marks for the movement and artistic marks.

List one judge Linda Whetstone was the driving force behind the day and composed the programme for the event. As well as sitting on the British Dressage judge’s committee she has also recently taken on the position of chair of the British Dressage test committee. Linda commented:

“From how to fill in score cards to the thinking behind artistic marks Andrew and Judy covered each topic systematically with clear examples from a wonderfully sporting group of guinea pig riders. They showed just how things should and shouldn’t be done - the latter being pre-planned! The range of riders we included seems to have been particularly appreciated, including cobs and event horses.”

She continued: “Ken Barnsley then went on to make the most of some inspiring music and gave clear explanations on musical interpretation techniques. Between the three speakers they also covered pre-plan problems such as movements being left out and music that didn’t fit. It was a wonderfully informative day”

With the sport of dressage to music on the rise the BD judges convention 2010 proved an opportunity to get an expert insight into the judging behind this complex discipline. Out of 1388 who answered a poll on the BD website asking if people had given dressage to music a go, over 38% of respondents already enjoy competing dressage to music. More encouraging still it is an ambition of 52% - 750 respondents to give it a go. New BD guidelines for judging dressage to music were issued in line with the convention which are also now available to download as a .pdf here