Want to improve your dressage test scores? Then you’ve got to know what the judges are looking at.
According to a research study performed in the Netherlands, judges focus on different body parts for longer periods of time for different movements. Head researcher Inga Wolframm used her experience in cognitive psychology and an eye tracking system to measure the eye movements of several judges while scoring a Grand Prix test. The overall conclusion proved that the judges take multiple body parts and the rider into consideration of their scores - BUT - here’s the breakdown:
- in the piaffe, judges focused on average 25% of fixations on the hind cannon bone, 15% on the forearm, 9% on the front cannon bone, 9% on the rider’s lower leg, and 8% on the shoulder.
- in the passage, judges focused on average 19% of their fixations on the hind cannon bone, 13% on the forearm, 10% on the shoulder and the front cannon bone, and 9% on the rider’s lower leg.
- in the flying changes, judges fixated an average of 15% on the knee, 12% on the forearm, 11% on the front cannon bone, 9% on the hind cannon bone, and 6% on the hocks.
- in the pirouettes, judges concentrated on average 17% of visual fixations on the hind cannon bone, 11% on the hocks, 8% on the shoulder and the mouth, 7% on the forearm and the front cannon bone, and 6% on the rider’s lower leg.
Photograph by Barbara Schnell
