July 2018 FRC Member Newsletter

With Margaret Freeman
FRC Scribe Clinic and “Ask a Judge”
June was full of new events for FRC! We hosted our first
Dressage Scribing Clinic and it was a hit! We had over 35
attendees who came to work with local “S” Judge Margaret
Freeman and learn more about scribing, which she does often
herself! If you are not familiar, a Scribe is the person who sits
with the judge in the box at a dressage show. They are
responsible for writing down everything the judge says, in
particular the scores and comments that you see on your
dressage test sheet that you receive after your ride. Participants
could ask a judge about the nuances involved in scribing before
they attempted it or ask a judge to clarify a previous scribing
experience they had. Over half of the audience has scribed
before, which made the conversation flow well and scribing hopefuls were able to glean a vast
amount of information!
So why scribe? You can learn a lot when you sit in the box with a judge. With TIEC down the
road, you may have the chance to sit with some highly experienced and respected
international judges. FRC Shows commonly have upper level “S” judges as well. When you
have been scribing for a while, you get to know exactly what judges are looking for and can
use that to enhance your own practice. If you are not
sure you can do it, you can attend event like the Scribes
clinic or volunteer to shadow a scribe if you can find the
opportunity.
Before the show starts and you start scribing, make sure
that you have all the things that you will need for the next
few hours (and also make sure the judge has everything
they need to). Test score sheets should be in the same
order as the day sheets. You must make sure that they
are actually the correct tests for the classes too. Verify
the number of the rider when they present to the judge
and triple check that you are judging the correct rider and
test. Many riders will not tell you their number (probably
because they are so nervous), so don’t be shy- yell to
them and make sure you’ve got the right number/person.
With over 60 different tests to know, make sure that you
are looking over the upcoming tests during breaks if you
have them. Sometimes there are weird transition scores
that might cause confusion if you are not expecting them.