Wise Woman of Dressage - Mary Seefried

By: Kerry Mack

This is the third in a series of interviews I think of as “The Wise Women of Dressage” series. A definition of wisdom I found was “knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgement as to action: sagacity, discernment, or insight”. 

I think Mary Seefried is one of the people who generously bring wisdom to our sport. While we riders ride there is a whole group of volunteers working diligently and tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that the sport develops and grows, that we have appropriate tests to ride, that judges are educated, that show organisers are supported, and that the staff in the EA office have guidance from the sport.

Mary Seefried was chosen by the Australian Dressage committee (ADC) to chair the committee in January this year. She is one of the leading judges in the world, a five star judge. She has been spending many hours on behalf of the sport performing tasks such as leading the consultation process about the membership changes, reviewing the rules in view of the changes and performing a myriad of tasks needed. Not only that, but she was appointed to the FEI Judges Supervisory Panel this year, making her one of the most influential Judges in the world. This is a huge honour and I have no doubt that this appointment was also made in respect not only to her judging expertise, but to the intelligent and inclusive approach she quietly brings to everything she does. Mary is undoubtedly a perfectionist, passionate about standards and excellence, with a wealth of experience. I asked her about the role of the ADC and about the FEI Judges committee and about the pleasure she has had from judging. This is what she told me...

The ADC reports to the Board of Equestrian Australia and has been a skills based Committee since April 2007. The five members are appointed by the State Dressage Associations (SDAs) from those applications received from the general membership and, in addition, there is a Rider’s Rep elected by the riders at the National Championships Riders Forum. 

The ADC is responsible for development of national policies and national rules for the sport of dressage to ensure its ongoing growth and development for all levels and all participants. We work cooperatively with the High Performance Manager (Chris Webb), the National Performance Director (Julia Battams), and the State Dressage authorities and other key stakeholders.

For example the ADC has been consulted in relation to the current High Performance programs within Australia and also the Selection Policies for WEG 2014, which is to be released shortly and will be consulted in the future for the Selection Policy for Olympic Games in Rio 2016.

At its January 2013 meeting the ADC held a short strategic planning meeting and developed a vision statement:

“To develop a pyramid for dressage which has a strong , wide, inclusive base where all members can achieve their aspirations and which acts as a springboard to enable our elite athletes to achieve excellence in high performance.” 

The ADC is keenly aware that the base of the pyramid is made up of dressage riders with various goals whether to ride just at club level or regional, state or national level. All of these aspirations must be able to be met within the structure of the sport developed by the ADC and applicable throughout Australia.

To this end the primary strategy of the ADC is to ensure that structure and policies of the sport increase participation in the sport. Now that the Membership Review has been completed by the Board and revised Dressage rules will be in place in 1 July 2013, the ADC sees this as an opportunity to introduce a rider grading system for the Competitive Members who have licences in order to allow riders to compete against their peers and increase their chances of recognition and success through a Leader board system. A draft should be ready for the September ADC meeting. In addition the ADC would like to encourage states to have leader boards for Participant member classes as well. 

The ADC is also committed to integrating para-dressage fully into the current competition structure and encourages OCs to run the EA para tests which are a little easier than the FEI Para Equestrian tests. 

Promotion of the sport and communication to the membership of important issues are also vital. The ASC Review and the EA Review post London have both indicated that communication at all level and between all stakeholders needs improving – in other words we should not shy away from transparency. The sport needs to build confidence not only with riders but also with potential owners who wish to invest in the sport. At the recent Sydney CDI a small function for owners was arranged by Kerry Mack (ADC member and rider) and Julia Battams (NPD). It was so well revived we intend to arrange more at major events with the support of the EA Office. 

Live streaming of dressage events is something the ADC needs to encourage and support as it is one of the best ways to raise the profile of the sport so if anyone has some ideas out there please let us know. 

The ADC implements FEI policy and rules as appropriate and applicable to the sport in Australia. We are also part of the consultation loop for the development and review of FEI Dressage Rules. That cycle is coming up shortly and we expect a consultation paper from the FEI in early July. 

As a 5* judge I meet with my colleagues once a year to discuss matters related not only to judging but also to do with judge education and other aspects of the FEI Rules. This means I am able to alert the Committee well in advance to future direction and FEI policies in the pipeline - this really helps to keep Australia current and up to date on these matters. I may add that Australia is very well respected at the FEI in terms of the administration of the sport of dressage and this is partly because we are quick to implement new FEI policy as applicable. 

I am proud for Australia that I have just been appointed to the FEI Judges Supervisory Panel which is a body of six judges and trainers whose main role is to monitor the judges marks at major championships to ensure the judging is fair. A further outcome of that is a more generic picture of judging issues which can be brought to the appropriate forums, such as the 5* clinic each year, for discussion and resolution. Again I am able to bring that knowledge and experience back to Australia in a confidential and timely fashion. 

One of my main passions is the education of our dressage judges in Australia. The judges are fundamental to the sport and essentially are mentors through feedback at competitions for all dressage riders at all levels – they are part of the feedback loop to improve our standards of performance. 

Therefore it is essential that our judge education system supply well educated judges – our riders deserve the best judges. That means we need to be continuously identifying new good people and training them the best we can. Our Australian judge accreditation system is based on the FEI model and is best practice in the world- just like that system we have prerequisite training such as sit-ins and shadow judging, theory and practical examinations. I have been very pleased to hear from the A and B level judges who have recently gone through the rigorous process and passed that they have said it was very worthwhile – they have been set up to succeed and learnt a great deal along the way to their examinations. 

We also must keep our judges contemporary and in touch with international standards – the dressage judging changes incrementally as new protocols are developed – and that means our judging officials like those in all of our other disciplines, must go through a regular updating process. The framework for judge education must be accessible within reason anywhere in Australia. Hence the Australian Dressage Judges Committee (ADJC), a subcommittee of the ADC, in conjunction with the National Education Manager, Ben Harris, is developing national resources such as PowerPoints and Workbooks for all Judge Educators to use. The ADJC creates the policy which is implemented by the State Judge Committees. 

However we must find the right balance between producing the best educated judges we can, versus accessibility to the training requirements throughout Australia.

We need to bring new people into the system all the time – as encouragement I can say that it certainly is the best seat in town and I have had such a great deal of pleasure in seeing good performances. I have met wonderful colleagues throughout Australia and internationally and it is like another family. Judges like to get it right and this is the challenge, and it certainly is an area where you never stop learning - so if you think you would like to become a dressage judge just get in touch with your state dressage judges committee – they will help and support you along the way. 

In conclusion, I would not like to overlook the significant work which Chris Sutton, our Dressage Sports Consultant in the National Office does. Whilst he has only been in the job a couple of months he has picked it up quickly and is already an asset to our Dressage Team.