I was rattling off a list of judging sins that I’ve witnessed today to my colleague and pal Pamela Young, and she cleverly dubbed my rant the Sin Bin. So here are a few judging sins I’ve observed today, in no particular order:
Parzival: The blind eyes turned toward his totally unlevel hind legs in the passage – the live scoring doesn’t display all seven marks for each movement, only an average of the group. But you can still tell quite a lot from that one mark. Parzival did a terrific piaffe at D, but then he positively hitched around the corner at F, needing a good dig from the spurs not to walk well short of P. The left hind was barely covering any ground, while the right hind stepped nicely forward and under. Mark: 7.8. There were a few more hiccups in the ride that apparently can only be seen from the media tribune and not from any of the seven judges’ positions, such as the canter to trot transition at M, where Parzival once again put on the hand brake and almost walked: 7.5. His last passage after X stuttered and died somewhere between I and G (and again there was an obvious shortness on the left hind). I wasn’t able to see the mark for the last two movements because they didn’t come up on the board, but the overall score of 79.629% was not reflective of a test that had some issues that I am quite sure would not have received such loving forgiveness in another, less famous, horse. Francis Verbeek (NED) even had Parzival placed above Damon Hill, for cripe’s sake.
Eremo Del Castegno: I am perennially puzzled by the scores this horse is given, and today was a topper. The canter work was BAD. He was either very behind the leg or very tired (he was by far the sweatiest horse of the competition), but the judges seemed to be watching a different horse. It’s very hard (almost impossible, actually) not to suspect the fact that Valentina’s dad Enzo Truppa is an FEI judge has some influence on the judges. As Godfather Stephen has been known to say, the judges are only human after all. 73.814% doesn’t seem like a terribly high score, except when you have watched horses like Edward Gal’s Voice (whom I think was robbed today – 72.414%) and have a fresh visual image of the two for comparison. I do not understand how Valentina finished ahead of Edward.
Legolas: his first halt was not square: 7.9. It was in front that he wasn’t square, so no excuse for the judges across the C end because they had to be able to see it. The right pirouette was more of a volte: 7. It’s not that I begrudge Steffen a 7 for a big pirouette; it’s that I saw better pirouettes get lower marks from lesser known pairs. That’s what being here watching it live does for you. It gives you a chance to see how very subjective this sport is. I side with the scientists on this one. Judges are always going to make bias-based mistakes, no matter how hard they try not to.
Anyone French: not that they are in medal contention, but I do take exception to the judges’ gifts to the French competitors. I am betting there were several career bests in the French team today.
This team competition has been every bit the marathon I predicted it would be. At one point during an animated conversation with someone in the media seats, I glanced at the ring to see a rider and horse I didn’t know performing their one tempis. I felt badly because I know that rider was having a milestone moment and was as focused and driven as she is ever likely to be in her life. And I wasn’t even paying attention. It seemed disrespectful of me, but I can tell you as we roll toward the final eight horses (bring on Valegro tout de suite!), it is simply not possible to watch 100 horses with an unwavering level of interest. And if I can’t do it, I who love this sport with great passion, then I would venture to see almost no one else can either. Not even the judges.
