The Pleasure of Scribing

I’ve been doing a lot of scribing lately. On June 17 and 18, I had the pleasure of scribing at the Rhythm and Blues recognized show in Quakertown, PA. Then on Sunday, June 25, I had my first experience of scribing (and escribing) at an international competition: the inaugural Rhythm and Blues CDI! I always enjoy scribing. It is a great experience to be in the judge’s booth and listen to the feedback and comments from the judge. It also helps me learn what the judges really think about the tests and what they like to see, so it prepares me for when I go into the show ring myself, sometimes in front of these same judges. Every time I volunteer and scribe I learn something new.

By, Paige Zimmerman

I have scribed at many regular USDF/USEF nationally recognized shows, but at the June Rhythm and Blues national show there were many more FEI-level rides than I have seen in the past. I also had the opportunity to scribe for some of the young horse tests, which I had not done much of before. This show was a qualifier for USEF’s Festival of Champions, which is held at Lamplight Equestrian Center near Chicago, Illinois. These Championships take the highest-scoring horse and rider combinations at the FEI levels, FEI youth levels, and the young horse classes to compete. The qualifying date ends in late July, so many people are now finishing up their qualifying requirements or trying to shoot for higher scores to move higher up on the ranking lists. Scribing for these tests and seeing the quality of horses and riding is always interesting. I am sure we will be seeing several of these horses and riders at the Championships in August.

Then from June 22-25, Rhythm & Blues ran their first CDI. I’ve never scribed at an international show before, especially since there are so few in this area. In the past, the only CDI local to Pennsylvania or New Jersey all year was Dressage at Devon. Now this year, we had the CDI at Rhythm and Blues, plus there will soon be a CDI at the New Jersey Horse Park from July 6-9, and then of course Devon in the fall. These increasing numbers are exciting! Having more CDIs in the area encourages more dressage activity and higher quality events to emerge. If the trend continues, which hopefully it will, competitors from our area won’t need to haul all the way down to

Florida for the winter or go to Tryon in North Carolina for international events. There is much more freedom and opportunity to stay local.

CDI competitions run differently than regular national competitions, since their procedures are standardized by the international equestrian governing body, the FEI. They have transitioned to entirely online scribing and scoring systems: the scribes don’t write the scores on paper, rather they type them in on an iPad or laptop. I had never used the e-scribing system before, and the day I was set to scribe I was doing the Grand Prix Freestyle with Janet Foy as my judge. We were trained on how to use the system and I was very pleased that it was easy to learn and very intuitive. It doesn’t take long to pick up on at all, and anyone with basic knowledge of how to use a computer will be able to learn quickly.

For the Grand Prix freestyles, the system is slightly more complicated than for all the other classes. All freestyles have a technical score for the movements, but also an artistic score for the quality of the choreography, degree of difficulty of the choreography and execution, harmony between horse and rider, etc. For the Grand Prix freestyles at CDI events, they use what is called the “degree of difficulty” system, which calculates the degree of difficulty score for the freestyle (rather than the judge simply saying a number at the end of the test). This standardizes the degree of difficulty score so it’s less subjective. Riders submit their floor plans ahead of time, which is uploaded to the e-scribing system, and then the system highlights the difficult parts. These can be difficult transitions, such as canter to piaffe, or difficult combinations of movements, such as an extended canter to a canter pirouette to a line of tempi changes one after the other. These are things that do not appear in the regular Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special tests. During the freestyle, if the judge sees that these difficult movements and combinations are executed correctly, they tell the e-scribe that they “accept” them, and then the e-scribe clicks a checkmark for those movements/combinations and the system adds points to the difficulty score. The higher the difficulty score, the higher the score in the end, since risks were taken during the test and were performed well. However, if risks were taken and not performed well, the degree of difficulty score ends up being lessened.

Scribing is always a fantastic opportunity, and for these big shows such as CDIs and national competitions that qualify for Festival of Champions, scribes are crucial. These shows often require multiple judges in one ring, which in turn requires even more scribes. I highly recommend reaching out to any events regarding scribing, since it is such a great experience and there is always something to take away from it. You can train your eye and listen to the judges, bringing more insights to the mechanics of showing and what the judges are looking for, so you can shoot for higher scores. Plus, by scribing at the CDI and learning the degree of difficulty system, I am now eligible to scribe at Dressage at Devon in the Fall, so there are many more exciting opportunities to come from scribing.

Thank you Monika Dujardin for considering me for these opportunities. I learned a lot and had fun doing it! Thank you Scott and Yvonne Emerson for opening your beautiful facility to hold these events. It is a fantastic location and the accommodations for volunteers, judges, riders, and horses are always fabulous. Also, thank you to all the other volunteers and helpers who make these events possible. I’m looking forward to the next time I can volunteer!