[MYalterID]

A friend of mine was riding a test at a rated show this weekend, during which she totally blanked and left out a 20m circle. The judge never blew the whistle, my friend never realized her mistake and carried on with her test. We told her she forgot the circle after she left the ring. We were pretty interested to see how she was going to be scored! The judge actually gave her a 6 for the movement and even wrote comments: "needs more collection, nice bend"

[Bogey2]

so what, judges are only human.

[MYalterID]

But how do you comment on something that didn't happen?

[IronwoodFarm]

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Clearly the judge thought she saw the circle. It was an error.

I guess I would be concerned if she awarded an 8 or 9 for the circle, but a 6, not so much. And her comments probably generally fit the trot circle she did see.

[joiedevie99]

Or, the judge was watching the horse closely and not looking down at the score sheet to realize a circle was missed. She just gave a score and comments for what she was watching - i.e. trot from A to B.

[Velvet]

Or, the judge was watching the horse closely and not looking down at the score sheet to realize a circle was missed. She just gave a score and comments for what she was watching - i.e. trot from A to B.

This, or she was looking at the score sheet, looked back up and thought she'd missed the circle so she gave it the score and comments from the other movements to cover a lack of attention.

It's worse when you know you had a brilliant moment and they must have been looking away and give you a score that matches what happened before and after the movement. There was a score for a transition on a bygone test and I wasn't the only person I know who had a really NICE transition that was better than the movement before and after and then got a similar score and NO COMMENT. A couple of us watched the judge and it was someone who would always seem to look down at her sheet to see where the next movement was at nearly the same moment all the time. (The tests were new that year.)

It happens. They're human. Some used to be so drunk they were watching through beer goggles--and as their scribe, you almost wanted to correct them.

I've also scribed for some judges that were international, but so old they were falling asleep in the sun on the hot days while judging.

[dressurpferd01]

I got an 8 on a rein back that I left out one time at 3rd level. That was funny.

[MYalterID]

I got an 8 on a rein back that I left out one time at 3rd level. That was funny.

[SillyHorse]

This, or she was looking at the score sheet, looked back up and thought she'd missed the circle so she gave it the score and comments from the other movements to cover a lack of attention.

That would be my guess. If a judge misses a movement (or thinks so), they will give it a 6 and be done with it.

[Velvet]

I can also say that it could have been an interuption from the scribe that caused the lack of attention, too. While scribes generally don't talk and should just skip scoring the movement if they are suddenly lost (and address it with the judge after the ride), sometimes they'll ask something during the test and distract the judge for a few seconds. The judge could have then looked up and neither the judge nor scribe realized the movement was missed.

So many things can happen.

[netg]

Or the judge remembered the circle from a test earlier in the day, so when the scribe noticed it was gone filled in with that.


My horse was apparently a victim of a judge confusing his two rides in collectives recently. One test he refused to walk and bucked repeatedly in the left lead canter. Next test he'd had 20 minutes of galloping in the empty warmup and was extremely well behaved except for one slightly mobile halt. Despite his scores for all movements being higher, his submission collective was the same score as the miserable test. It was a schooling show and someone who had just finished the L program (not sure if she was actually a graduate or had finished the lesson parts of it) was judging - and he was there for experience. No biggie, but funny to me.

[Zevida]

I think it is likely that the judge forgot that they needed to circle and the scribe was busy writing and not watching, so when the scribe realized he/she needed a score for the circle still, they asked the judge and the judge gave it a 6 because she didn't remember it.

6 is usually the "I missed it" score.

[rothmpp]

It could be any number of scenarios - including many of the ones listed here.

As a scribe, it's not my place to point out a mistake in the test. I've often had a judge ask if I saw a movement, just to clarify that it did not happen, but I *rarely* volunteer that information, unless it's obvious that the judge is lost. That is not my job.

A judge that is not *sure* that you missed a movement in my experience is going to err on the side that they missed the movement while distracted (it does happen in the course of a 10 hour day), rather than stopping you a couple movements later. Same with a slightly uneven horse. Most judges are going to err on the side of not ringing you out. The standard fill-in score is likely going to reflect the rest of the test or the collective score for gaits.

I actually was at a show where a competitor got totally bent when she felt the comments on the test were not reflective of the movement (a line of changes that were described either as "problems" or "issues" - I don't remember which) that she acknowledged were not centered across the diagonal, but were the proper count. I've also seen judges ring a rider off-course when they were not off-course. With some bell-happy judges I've been known to move the bell so it's a longer reach to encourage the judge to think twice about them being off course before ringing.