Not-So-Speedy Dressage
From Endurance to Dressage
I am back on the Centerline Scores thing. I know many of you don't care about scores, but I do. Scores are feedback for me; they tell me how I am improving and where I still need to focus my energy. You already know that I show at a variety of show types: unrated schooling shows, California Dressage Society (CDS) rated shows, and USDF/USEF shows. I choose my shows based on a wide variety of criteria: price, distance from home, time of year, etc. While I value the comments from all judges, whatever the show rating, I recognize that the most critical, and hardest earned, scores come at USDF shows. which is why I love Centerlinescores.com. Jay Stevens, the creator and mastermind, designed the site just for me; I know it. I love how I can track my progress at USDF shows through his multiple "windows." Lately, I've been watching my scores grow at Training Level Test 2 and Test 3. Granted, there aren't that many scores to compare, but even so, there is a small pattern of improvement emerging. My favorite feature of the site is the Lifetime Median Scores percentage. For a while, my median score at Training Level was hovering at 59%. My goal has been to push my median to over 60%. I am curious to know why Jay chose to show median scores (the score in the middle) rather than mean (the average). My median score is 60.893% while my mean score is 60.387% - very close to one another.
I would guess that it is because an outlier score (an overly high or overly low number) would tip the mean up or down which could create a number that doesn't really reflect a typical average. For example, if you scored 60%, 61%, 63%, and 80%, your mean would be 66% but in actuality, you were mostly a 60%ish rider. Using those same scores, your median would be 62% which seems more in line with your typical scores. In order to raise my median score of 60.893%, I need to earn scores higher than 60.9%. This goal fits right in with my goal of eliminating the 5s from my score sheets. A sheet filled with 6s and 7s will easily be in the 65% range - that kind of score will push my median ever upward.
Karen
5/6/2013 10:25:40 pm
In my limited experience, it seems as though people who train to show care a lot more about scores while people who train for the sake of training care less about scores. Since I don't have an actual dressage trainer, the scores are our best indicator of my rate of progress. We both know that Speedy and I are showing forward progress, but the scores are an indicator of how much. :0) Comments are closed.
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About the Writer and RiderI am a lifelong rider.
I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010. Welcome to my dressage journey. About Speedy GSpeedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. After helping me earn a USDF Bronze medal in the summer of 2020, he is now semi-retired. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.
About IzzyIzzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are showing at the lower levels. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.
National Rider AwardsState Rider Awards
State Horse Awards
Working Towards:
CDS Sapphire Rider Award Third Level: 63.514% Third Level: 62.105% Fourth Level: Fourth Level: 2023 Show Season
Show Rating (***) CDS/USDF/USEF (*) CDS (s) Schooling (c) Clinic (r) Ride-a-Test Clinic 2023 Show Schedule
TBD 2023 Completed … Pending 2023 Qualifying Scores
Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC) Qualifying Training Level 3 Scores/2 Judges/60%: Score 1: Score 2: Score 3: Archives
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