Salute
THE JUDGE: Zang (right) judging Totilas and Edward Gal at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky
PASSING IT ON: Teaching fellow dressage pro Nuno Santos at Idlewilde
Naturally, when in 2011 the FEI created the six-member Judges’ Supervisory Panel in an effort to ensure fair, equitable, and transparent judging in dressage, Zang was among the international judges and trainers selected. “We attend the Olympic Games, World Equestrian Games, and Dressage World Cup [Final] to oversee the judging,” Zang says of the JSP. “We watch the live performance while also having the ability to immediately play back a [videotaped] movement, as well as to see scores in real time from each judge for each movement. We monitor and watch for any big differences between scores; if there is a twoor-more-point difference between judges, we evaluate. If there is a technical mistake [such as an error of count in a flying-change series], we can make the decision to change the score. This is only if a judge missed the technical [error] and has nothing to do with the opinion of a performance. We do this before the scores go up, so everything is quite fast. Immediately after the class, we
meet with all of the judges, discuss, and do a playback, spending about two hours afterward going over everything with the judges. This isn’t fault-finding, but an educational discussion to improve judging and raise the level of judging all over the world.” Zang points with pride to the elevation of excellence in dressage, both in execution and in judging. “Every year, you see an improvement,” she says. “From the dressage I started with in the 1960s, the standard has gotten better and better. If you look at the old masters, like from the first Olympic Games, sometimes the horses don’t even look on the bit. This was nothing wrong; that was the best at that time.” Top training and riding, combined with breeders’ success in producing increasingly talented horses, means that “we are no longer judging for fives, sixes, and sevens in international competition, but eights, nines, and tens,” Zang says. “We do see tens—absolutely fabulous horses and fabulous performances.”
36 November/December 2019 | USDF CONNECTION
For Zang’s part in advancing our sport, we owe her this grateful salute.
IN THE NEXT ISSUE • 2020 sport-horse stallion and breeding guide • Made in America: US-bred horses are coming out on top • USDF GMO Education Initiative explained • Master Training Level with trainer/author Beth Baumert
JENNIFER BRYANT; SHERRI HOLDRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY
Natalie DeFee Mendik is an awardwinning journalist specializing in equine media. Visit her online at MendikMedia.com.