Background to the DVD
The idea of these DVDs came from Jo Graham and it was first thought of in order to help dressage judges and potential dressage judges to understand what they are looking for and to develop their eye.
Jo approached Stephen Clarke, Britain's most highly respected judge, to come on board. Together they have developed the idea and come up with this series of DVDs from Novice Level through to Grand Prix.
Each DVD is broken down into individual movements or sections with clear commentary from Stephen throughout.
Several horses are used in each part in order to give a good mix of horses and an instant comparison.
Objectives of the DVD
Inside each DVD is a crib sheet giving Stephen's comments as they would be on a test sheet for that movement. This has been done as a training aid for judges. They can turn the sound off and practice putting their own thoughts to a mark before comparing this to what Stephen has done on the crib sheet.
Not only is it of great value to judges but it helps to give riders a clearer understanding of what the judge is looking for.
It was produced in order to show a good variation of horses and importantly a wide range of marks. This was only possible with such willing guinea pigs who, not only gave up there time, but showed us mistakes and problems as well as their highlights.
Future DVDs - The Next Step
Already in the planning is a follow up to this series with DVDs which are of full tests. These will be used in order to concentrate on the overall assessment of the test and the collective marks. We hope this will be out by 2012.
