Harvest Moon Carriage Classic used to have what they called Designer Reinsmanship, not exactly Driven Dressage, but basically a self-designed Reinsmanship pattern that could be put to music if desired. There was a two-minute limit, and certain elements had to be included in the pattern, such as walk, slow trot, working trot, strong trot, halt, back, salute. I always did it to music, b/c I was so worried that I would forget a part, or run out of time, and so I choregraphed the test to the elements of the music.
Spider, being the big Pinto Arab, would look silly performing to a rich classical piece, so we picked Copland's Rodeo, you know, the "Beef, it's What's for Dinner" music. That worked for him. We even had Chad's salute timed on the last three low notes of the song. We had to cut the whole first part of the song out, and just use the last two minutes. In the rules, it said that music needed to be cued to the spot in the tape or the track needed to be listed so the announcer's stand didn't have to fumble with the music. Wouldn't you know, Chad had the first go, and they decided to check the sound system using his tape, and then rewinded it. So much for the cue!!!!
I ran up to the stand and told them that the music was cued to a certain spot, and the announcer said that it didn't matter, that the music was not being judged, but with the look on my face, the judge figured out that it was choregraphed, and she let Chad come in the ring at the point the music would have started.
The year that I showed my little chocolate mini mare, MW Stout's Hello Dolly, I chose Louis Armstrong's Hello Dolly for the music. The problem was that the announcer's stand screwed up my music and started Mack the Knife, and I had no idea where I was in time. I didn't do very well, because I ran out of time before I got my rein back and salute in. Goodbye 20 points
They had it in the rules that if there was a music screw up, there was no "do overs", so I was SOL.
The next year, we ditched the music and just planned a test that we could finish in 1 1/2 min. That way, we had "fudge" time. Chad had a really nice test, I watched all of them, so I thought he would do really well. He ended up 5th of 7, and we were disenchanted. We always place in the upper ribbons of reg. Reinsmanship classes against the same competition, but something about Designer Reinsmanship dinks us over. (Then, from that class, he ran Pick Your Route, and the show organizer blew the whistle after he finished his course. He went over to her, and she said that he missed a gate. He asked her which one, and the one she picked he said that he went through first. So then, she CHANGES HER MIND and says that he missed a different one! :arg! By now, he was irritated, so she called over the TD, who basically said there is no crying fee in Pleasure Driving. Three other Open Horse division drivers were also eliminated on that same course. You don't get yourself in the Open Horse division by eliminating yourself in Cones! We think the course was set up so tight, that the volunteers couldn't keep track of what the drivers were doing. We always try to videotape Pick Your Route from now on.)
So at the end of the show (that he could have at least went Reserve had he not been eliminated in Cones), we asked the judge what he could do better in Reinsmanship. We didn't complain about the placing, just asked a question without any crabbiness in the voice. She said that his posture, rein handling, and whip handling were great. In Reinsmanship, she JUDGES THE HORSE! We were flabbergasted! Yes, the horse has to look good, but where in the rules does it say that 75% is on the horse? We thanked her, got in the truck and while we were on our way home, it occured to us that she placed him 1st in two different Working Pleasure classes, his divisional class and Gentleman to Drive. If the horse was judged, and he was bad enough to be placed 5th, why did he win the other two classes? You could say because it was a different class, but if Spider is one thing, it is very consistent, especially when he is "on".
Nevertheless, no more Designer Reinsmanship for us.
There is way too much subjectivity there, with everybody doing something different. At least with a standard dressage test, the judge can compare rationally which horse did the test the best.
