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Dear Nereide,

When you are marking dressage to music, would you rather see a simple floorplan executed well, or a more ambitious floorplan, even if some of the movements might not be as well ridden?

I have been given conflicting advice by friends and have been persuaded down the more technical route and thought it would make sense to ask the advice of someone who is actually judging it.

Thanks

Ideally I would like to see an ambitious floorplan well executed with technical correctness which shows a high standard of riding ability and correct training of the horse! However if badly calculated risks are taken and obvious mistakes are made, that may reflect over-asking of the rider of the horse and will affect the score for that particular movement and also in the artistic marks. Well calculated risks are demonstrated when they correspond to the potential and level of training of horse and rider.

There is no degree of difficulty mark at preliminary, novice and elementary level so there are no extra marks to be earned by doing difficult interpretations at those levels. However interesting placed compulsory and permitted movements which are well performed can add to the Choreography mark. (use of the arena Inventiveness). Where there is a Degree of Difficulty mark well ridden movements shown in a difficult way but of a quality based on the Scales of Training will raise the score for the performance.

Enjoy your test and have fun.

Nereide