This is the first session of actual judging
of tests during a recognized competition. All 10 participants
with scribes were seated on the side of arena next to
E or B letters. I tried to sit right at the corners
at H, F, M, or K, but you can't really see some of the
transitions from that angle, so everybody tries to be
in the center. There is not much spacing between participants,
only a couple of feet. When I judged tests, I could
hear other participants from my left, right and behind
me. I really had to concentrate and sometimes I wanted
to use a word, but since I heard it from 2-3 other participants
already, that sent me to scramble for another word with
the same meaning. Other times, I heard other participants
giving a score that I didn't agree with at all - like
a 7 while my score was a 4 or 5 when my score was an
8 - that would also force me to ask myself: "where
does she see that? am I wrong?". It's quite difficult
to stay concentrated, focused only on yourself and your
scribe, without doubting yourself. It can be confusing
for scribes as well, because they hear so many comments
and scores from several directions. Try to face your
scribe slightly and position her on the side towards
where you'll be looking the most. Scribes have to write
the horse's number and it can be tricky from the side,
because we were sitting sometimes quite far away from
the arena - you simply can't see the number. So send
your scribe closer to get the number if needed. The
scribe also needs to write a short description of each
horse on the top of the score sheet.
You should bring your own chairs for yourself
and your scribe, as well as something comfortable for
your scribe to write on. You will be in charge of all
of your chairs, Rule Books, drinks, jackets, clip boards
and such, so try to make it compact, so you don't have
to make several trips - you will be in the middle of
the on going show and will have to come and leave as
quietly as you can. Don't forget white out and a red
pen for errors.
I can't stress enough how important good
scribes are for the "L" program. Scribes are
the communication line between you and the examiners.
Participants doesn't have many chances to talk with
examiners, it's mostly done through the comments that
scribes write. Examiners take their time to study participants
score sheets and written comments long after the weekend
is gone. Make sure that your scribe will not paraphrase
you, and that she can keep up with you. You can give
short comments, but that will not get you the distinction
and it takes a special scribe to be able to write non
stop. Examiners want to see the "scribes heads
down all the time. If your scribe is not busy, you are
not giving enough comments" Very difficult job
for the scribes. Examiners also note on the participants
behavior with scribes. It's was tempting for me to joke
with my scribes during the short breaks, but it's not
the right time to do that. Participants need to be able
to stay focused.
This is also the last opportunity to ask
your instructor questions and learn. This session's reports
will not count, but next one, D-2, can reflect on your
exam. One of the examiners will be the same for D-2 and
the final exam.
We judged a Training Level class, First
Level Class and Second Level Class. We also had one practice
test to judge. It was helpful for me to come even earlier
and pretend to judge a few rides in my head, to get the
comments rolling off my lips. It can be really helpful
to get into a rhythm. There is some group oral judging:
all participants sit together and start judging the tests
orally taking turns. Trot - one participant; Walk- second
participant; Canter - third. All participants and the
instructor can hear that and can ask questions and discuss.
This is the first time that participants can be really
put on the spot to defend their scores and comments. To
do well, every box has to have a comment in it, including
the collective marks and a paragraph of further remarks.
In the USEF Rule Book scores 6 and below should have comments.
Comments need to reflect both negative and positive, for
example: "obedient, but lacks balance". Anything
below score 6 shouldn't have a prefix of "slightly,
a bit, little", those prefixes belong to score 7
and up. For the scores 6 and below you need to use "lacks,
needs, not enough". Ideally, judges comments should
read like a short story and scores can be guessed by comments
only. Use words such as "good" "fairly
good" "excellent" appropriately; for example,
"good" according to USEF Rule Book implies a
score of 8. Don't use it in a comment for score 6. At
the very end of the day all of us were given "tabulation
sheets" - this is where you record your final standings
right next to the judge's final standings - to compare
how you placed the class. Top horses have to be on top,
bottom horses has to be on the bottom, but middle horses
can be slightly different from the presiding judge's placings.
We had a chance to compare our placings and also had to
write the presiding judge's separate scores right next
to our scores on the test sheets. If there is a difference
in 1 point - its OK, but if the difference is 2 points
or more, we had to put a yellow line through that score
with a highlighter. You don't want to have any yellow
lines... Then we went score by score in front of our whole
group and discussed why we gave that and this. It was
an interesting discussion if you can remember all of the
horses. In my D-1, I hardly could remember any of them,
I had to work on that aspect hard to be better prepared
for D-2. Tabulation sheets and all of the test sheets
are collected and the instructor takes that with her for
evaluation. Then instructor's feedback is mailed back
to you with her comments. We also had 5 minutes of personal
one-on-one time with our instructor to see what she thought
of us. I remember that I judged my very first horse really
high and it was so misplaced, my instructor told me that
it's quite common and I need to watch for that and develop
a standard in my head.
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