Saturday February 28, 2004

Californian Premier of Electronic Score Board at Mid Winter Dressage CDI

The show's spectators enjoyed a welcome addition to the Equidome in the Los Angeles Equestrian Center: an electronic scoreboard with immediate, movement-by-movement scores. The scoreboard was installed by Ed Sauer of Equiview, used last year at Devon.

Everyone can see every judge's mark for each movement—and everyone can instantly note any variations in the judging.

Judges realize they are now “onstage,” and definitely accountable for their marks. During the test, riders can be distracted by seeing their scores.

Jan Ebeling commented, “You see the score—and you say to yourself, 'I can make that better!'”

Along with the scoreboard, Fox Village debuted Wi-Fi access to all logged scores. Anyone in the Equidome can view any test scored on a Wi-Fi-enabled PC or PDA.

“It's all new,” said Pete Jorgensen of Fox Village. “This is the first time the scoreboard linked to the scores.” Both the scoreboard and Wi-Fi access will be used at the Olympic Trials in June.