She developed the horses Maxel, William, and Leverage to FEI levels before they moved onto rewarding careers as schoolmasters for other riders.

On her next FEI horse, the imported Swedish stallion Pilgrim, she continued to claim many state and national titles including the national Freestyle Championship with her well-known musical ride to The Stripper. On offspring of Pilgrim, she has competed in combined driving and dressage. She is currently developing 3 horses: Euro Pro Iko (ISR by Ideal) at PSG ant I-1, Hacedero (Trak by Hailo) is schooling I-2 and Rondo (DWB by Kennedy) will be showing 2nd and 4rd level this year. She also recently bought a promising youngster in Germany Dash.

An "S" level judge, Sandy regularly conducts "L" judge learning programs as a USDF Faculty member in addition to regular judging duties. In 1990, intrigued by the questions posed during a CDS Annual Meeting lecture, she began a very rewarding collaboration with Mary Wanless on developing an advanced understanding of the biomechanics of the effective dressage seat. She clinics around the States incorporating this revolutionary approach with traditional dressage training teaching riders of all levels.  
 

A judge’s perspective on the Form and Function of the Riders seat

The score co-efficient of 3 accorded to “Rider’s Position and Seat, Correctness and Effect of the Aids” makes it the most heavily weighted of the collective marks. Since “Gaits”, ‘Impulsion’, and ‘Submission’ carry a co-efficient of 2 it means that mathematically the riders position and influence count for 33% of the basics that are evaluated in that portion of a dressage score sheet labeled “Collective Marks”.

That may seem strange to many competitors who find that their score sheets are full of comments such as “needs uphill balance”, “shoulder-in angle varies” or even “above the bit” that it seems to read as if the horse was in the ring alone. The rider is mentioned only if she is very asymmetrical, bouncing badly or using her hands incorrectly or abusively. Seldom are the basic skills of the rider mentioned specifically regardless of whether those skills are highly developed or lacking.

Why does that seem to be the case? Surprisingly, one of the reasons is because the effectiveness of the rider in creating a ride that will score well is assumed in the way the score sheet is organized. To understand this fully one must think about the relationship of the scores given to the movements of the test and those given in Collective Marks.

Rider is addressed specifically only in the Collective Marks. Submission, impulsion and gaits, the other Collective Marks, are strongly implied as components in most of the movement scores throughout a test. However, all of these elements are directly or indirectly influenced by the rider’s skill and technique and reflect the training process that constitutes horse’s daily work You might consider this the “function” aspect of the rider score.

Let’s consider “Submission” first. The consideration that a judge gives to submission reflects directly upon the rider. The horse is submissive (or not) to the rider’s aids. If the horse is not submissive the judge must ask “Are the aids correct?” This reflects directly on the rider. Is the horse getting good consistent information about the requirements of the test that he is supposed to perform? Is the rider’s position and timing encouraging an uphill and obedient performance? Is the rider’s intention clear and meaningful to the horse without being rough or abusive?

Taken in this context a judge’s comment “shoulder-in needs more angle” is a direct reflection upon the rider. The rider directs the horse’s performance. If the shoulder-in is not performed correctly in most cases it is the responsibility of the rider and not the fault of the horse.

This is also true of judge’s comments concerning balance and connection. Comments such as “needs uphill balance” or “should stretch to contact” while on the surface seeming to address the horse alone are really a note to the rider that her timing or the quality of her connection to the bit need improving. In most cases a judge holds the horse responsible only for shying, bucking, rearing and being distracted and tense because of the surroundings. Correct movements, good connection, ease, straightness and a balance commensurate with the level come from training and the rider’s technique.

There is also an implied assumption in the score sheet is that the rider is the trainer of the horse which is not always the case. Hopefully, if the rider is not the trainer she is going to benefit from the work that the trainer has done to make the horse ready to perform. The judge, without knowing whether the current rider is responsible for the horse’s daily routine, is attempting to evaluate the training of the horse based on his performance of the test under that rider. If the horse gives evidence of calm acceptance and clear understanding of the rider’s aids and those aids promote fluency and ease as the horse correctly performs the requirements of the test the rider is given the credit and a high score for submission.

Impulsion is created by the rider through the horse’s submission to aids that ask for more energy that is not manifested as speed. Some horses have more natural elasticity, suppleness and engagement, all components of impulsion, than others. But all horses must learn to channel the “desire to move forward” into more vertical thrust and balance through understanding of and submission to the aid system.

When a judge makes a comment such as “lacks sufficient energy” or “inactive hind legs” they want the rider showing better ability to motivate the horse to perform as a willing partner in a lively dance.

Let’s say the judge is looking at a rider who presents her horse at a slow inactive trot. It appears that she may be doing this because it makes it easier for her to sit and feel more comfortable about control of speed. Of course the judge has no way of knowing for sure that this is the case, but it is clear that it is not the horse that is at fault though the comments may address his performance rather than hers.

The judge is quite clear that the fault lies with the rider – specifically in her aids (or lack thereof) to create sufficient impulsion. Let’s also assume that the above rider was sitting in a chair seat with her torso behind the vertical and lacking in any isometric tone. Even though a comment concerning her lack of correct alignment would be perfectly appropriate, the lack of impulsion needs to be addressed as something that needs her attention.

Creating impulsion is one of the rider’s jobs. She needs to be effective enough get the horse to perform with good energy and deal with that energy constructively which in this case may mean that she must learn to sit the more active trot. Usually extensive comments about the rider’s position are reserved for evaluation in Collective Marks or Further Remarks but in this case the judge might comment on the rider’s lack of tone and connect this to the lack of impulsion in the horse.

The score for Gaits is strongly linked to that for Impulsion. A horse being ridden with enough impulsion to move through his back to the bit will be showing himself with a great deal of the elasticity, amplitude, joint articulation and suppleness of the back available to him. His gaits will most likely receive a generous score due to his being ridden with impulsion and that directly reflects on the rider’s skills.

So you can see that most of the comments that a judge will make both in the individual test movements and in the Collective and Further Remarks are aimed at the rider’s influence. In a sense the consideration of the rider is not just 33% of the score but closer to 70% or 80%.

There is probably reluctance on the part of most judges to come down too heavily on poor riding even though they realize that the rider is cause and the horse’s performance effect in a test. They know that our sport requires high degrees of fitness, experience, sensitivity and athleticism and that not all competitors meet the highest standard. And they know that the rider and not the horse will read the judges comments! Judges are not congenitally nasty people! They do not wish to be unpopular or ruin a competitors showing experience.

Fortunately a greater understanding of rider biomechanics is beginning to help both judges and competitors put comments about rider influence in a positive perspective. The judges vocabulary and options for addressing a rider are expanding and clarity about rider timing and influence as it relates to position and muscle tone allows for increasing specificity, making their comments more valuable to competitors.

For instance, vertical alignment has always been a goal for serious dressage riders. The shoulder, hip, heel injunction comes to us from the most traditional sources. Now we are beginning to understand why it is so important for correct timing of the aids and balance of the horse.

The isometric tone of the torso and thigh is critical to the rider’s stability. Isometric muscle use means that opposing muscle groups act together to position or stabilize a part of the body. Some isometric tone is necessary to keep the torso vertical as the movement of the horse underneath the rider acts to destabilize her. Also the balance of the aids that the rider uses to push the horse with extensor muscles (located in the back of the body) while using the flexor muscles (located at the front of the body) to maintain verticality of the torso over the sitting surface and control of hip joint motion is isometric.

The position and use of the torso and seat is an aid system as specific and available to the horse as those aids given by hands and legs. Verticality or correct alignment of the rider’s body is key to organizing this balanced isometric muscle use. It also helps the rider use her aids in a timing that encourages the horse’s development of self-carriage. An upper level horse in self-carriage is using his muscles more isometrically than a young horse at lower levels. He is responding to the rider’s balanced isometric muscle use, verticality, and timing and matching it with his own to generate more vertical energy as well as to perform the various movements required in the more difficult tests.

The judge may only mention that the rider should sit in the vertical. There is a limited amount of time and space for comments. But the whole cascade of positive results should that occur (and negative events should it not) are clear to a judge who is hoping to help the rider to the positive side of the equation.

As judges and competitors become more familiar with the vocabulary for correct and incorrect use of the rider’s body there will undoubtedly be more comments directed to the rider’s skill level and technique. This should make it clear to the competitor the changes in her position and seat that need to be addressed so that her influence on the horse is both efficient and effective. All judges want rider’s to improve future performances helped by their comments on the test they judge today. They do not want the horse to bear the brunt of the blame for a low score when better rider position and technique is the issue.

Form in riding is directly related to function. Whether the judge of your test is addressing how you function as a rider by commenting on your form or timing, on correct execution of a movement, submission or impulsion you need to be aware that it all boils down to your skills and technique. The better you ride the quicker your horse responds to training and the more talented he seems. It all starts with good riding.