Dressage Scribe: A Pocket Guide to Scribing at Dressage Competitions

The best dressage lesson you'll ever have costs nothing - and you don't even get on a horse.

Scribes are the silent witnesses of dressage. They sit beside the judge for an entire show, recording every score and every comment, and in doing so they receive something no clinic can offer: a full day inside an expert's head.

But most scribes arrive in the judge's box with no idea what to expect.

The Dressage Scribe is the pocket guide that fills the gap. Written by a South African dressage judge who came to judging through scribing, it covers what nobody tells you before your first show:

- What to pack, and what to leave at home
- How to set up the box before the judge arrives
- Keeping pace with a judge who speaks faster than you can write
- Recording scores, corrections and errors of course correctly
- The etiquette of the box - when to speak, when to stay silent, and what must never leave the booth
- Freestyle, young horse and rider tests, which are scored differently
- What to do when you miss a score, or when the judge does

Includes diagrams of both the small and standard arenas, a full glossary of scribing shorthand, a plain-language guide to the terms judges actually use, and a checklist to run through the night before a show.

Small enough for a jacket pocket. Written for the scribe who has just said yes and isn't quite sure what she's agreed to.