This year’s prestigious Dressage Affaire at Del Mar Horsepark in San Diego will have all the fine trappings for which the show is known: high-level competition, excellent footing, a Saturday party and a champagne brunch.
But one thing will be missing: a handwritten scoreboard. The show, which will be held from April 15-18, has gone high tech, with instant scoring provided by EquiVu.
“This show will premiere instant scoring, and it’s amazing,” says show manager Kim Keenan, a dressage trainer from Encinitas.
The EquiVu company, which is based in Pennsylvania, will roll in with a production trailer and crew, and will network all three arenas. The main arena, which is the covered arena in which all the FEI rides will take place, will have a 15-foot LED screen that will show the scores for each movement as it takes place.
The process requires that each of the three judges have not only a regular scribe, who will hand write a score sheet, but an e-scribe who will punch the results into a computer, Kim says.
“It doubles the number of volunteers needed, but there is so much less work in the office, and competitors will not have to wait but a second to know how they did,” she says.
Scores also will be available at kiosks that will be set up in the hospitality area, near the show office and in the barn area.
Instant scoring means more than simply having computers and big screens to allow spectators and competitors to learn immediately what the judges have decided.
Because EquiVu uses three cameras in each arena, the videographers can select the best angle from which to show each movement, Kim says. Riders will be able to purchase DVDs that will show their rides from various angles and with the score for each movement on the screen.
Snowballing Success
The Dressage Affaire began in 2004, but this year will be its third year, as concern over a possible strangles outbreak caused the show to be canceled last year.
The special touches at the show, in addition to the Saturday night party with a live band and free hors d’ oeuvres and wine, include the fact that stalls are bedded and ready for the horses when competitors arrive. Competitors also receive welcome bags with free treats. The show usually attracts between 150 and 200 entries.
“It’s a really great show,” Kim continues. “Everyone has been so happy with it. It gets rave reviews.”
Judging will be two “O” level judges: Dr. Volker Moritz from Germany and Linda Zang from the United States as well as Anne Gribbons “I,” Louise Koch, “S,” Sue Curry Shaffer, “R,” and Elizabeth Searle, “S.”
This year’s show is a USEF High Performance Qualifying Competition for the USEF National Dressage Grand Prix and Intermediaire I championships, the Selection Trials for the Pan American Games, the Brentina Cup Championships and the Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Qualifier.
Next year the show will be a CDI-WYJ, which is a world-class internationally rated dressage show governed by the FEI (Federation Equestrian International) that can serve as a qualifier for the World Cup and North American Young Rider championships.
CDS San Diego also has added a show in November 2007 that will be a CDI-WYJ.
Kim explains that the selection rules for the World Cup have changed. Previously, she says, interested competitors could go to the qualifiers and then on to the National Freestyle Championships.
Now, she says, competitors will be ranked according to points that they acquire based on their placings at CDIs worldwide.
That could put West Coast riders at a disadvantage because roughly twice as many CDI shows were held on the East Coast last year than on the West Coast, Kim says.
So CDS San Diego has stepped up to help by adding the November show and bumping up next year’s March show to CDI status.
“Everyone loves Dressage Affaire,” Kim says. “It’s a lot of work, but as the show has grown, so has our volunteer base, which helps a lot.”
Sometimes, Kim says, things are running so smoothly she even has time to help her students warm up for their classes at the show!
Contact Kim Keenan at 858-528-4128 or visit www.sandiegodressage.com for more details.