United States Eventing Association

Evaluating Events and Judges - Does It Matter and How Does It Work?

I've never met an eventer without an opinion. We are all obsessed with our horses and our sport and will freely provide our thoughts on eventing-related topics to anyone who will listen. But, too few of us direct this enthusiasm to the sport's most crucial feedback mechanisms - the event and officials evaluations.

Each event evaluation that is submitted goes to the Area Chair and the Event Organizer to provide feedback on the event. The evaluations are very important and the information in them is taken very seriously by the Area Chairmen and the organizers. These evaluations are the best way to point out issues that can be fixed during the Event's next run or to compliment the event on an outstanding effort. They are always interesting to read and I am happy to say that most of the evaluations contain largely positive feedback.

Please complete an evaluation after you attend an event, even if you only have comments about one or two things. Your opinions can help identify trends in the sport overall and can bring attention to issues about which the organizer may be unaware. Of course, no organizer can know about every problem (or good thing!) that occurs during hundreds of rides over hundreds of acres, so help them out by being their eyes and ears on the ground.

To submit and event evaluation, you can either use this general form (click here) and fill in the event’s information yourself, or if you can find the specific event’s Omnibus listing, and click “Submit and Evaluation for this Event” which will be bolded at the top. This will fill out the event’s information, and you will only be responsible for filling in your evaluation.

About those officials! You will note that the regular event evaluations do not contain a place to offer feedback about the officials. Sometimes people will include comments about judges and technical delegates on the regular Event evaluation form, and those can be helpful to the organizer. However, if you want to offer significant feedback about a judge or Technical Delegate's (TD) performance or would like their oversight body to know about something good or bad that they did, there is a separate process to follow.

All eventing officials are licensed by the USEF (not the USEA), and they are monitored by the Licensed Officials Committee of the USEF. The Committee has a process for gathering feedback about its licensees. This process is confidential and may be used for both positive and negative comments.

To provide feedback to the USEF about a judge or TD, you must submit a Member's Confidential Evaluation Form. Events should have these forms available on site, along with their other forms, but you can also find the form online on the USEF website. (Click here for that form).

Under the USEA affiliate agreement with USEF, any USEA member may submit an evaluation of an official, regardless of whether they are a member of the USEF member or not (i.e. this is available to Beginner Novice, Novice and Training members who may not be USEF members as well). However, it is imperative to sign your name. Anonymous complaints will not be considered. You should address your evaluation to the Licensed Officials Committee and mark it Confidential. It will then go to the Committee unopened.

When the USEF receives your evaluation form about an official, they will send you a letter of acknowledgement. If the evaluation contains positive information, the Committee will inform the official of your comments (without telling them your name so as to avoid any future bias). If the evaluation contains very negative information, or, if an official receives three or more negative complaints in a year, the USEF will inform the judge or TD and ask for a response to the allegations. The Licensed Officials Committee will then review all the materials and decide if action should be taken.

This is a typical process for receiving complaints and feedback for licensed professionals. Although it may seem odd that an immediate charge may not be taken against an official when a competitor levies a complaint, there are certain due process rights that are obtained by an individual once they are granted a license. The system for monitoring licensed officials in the USEF context is consistent with that used by other professions, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, etc. There is an administrative process that is followed and governed by the rules of the association.

What is most important for those of us who compete and enjoy this sport is that feedback be regularly given to those in a position of governance of the sport. If you have a concern or think that an event did an amazing job in some way, please do tell your friends down the stall row, but also notify the association that governs it all. The organizers and the officials deserve to hear from competitors, trainers and those who pay the bills about what is working well and what needs to be improved. If you can say there is one trend in Eventing, it is that there has been constant change. It is the responsibility of all of us to keep up communication through the proper channels if the sport is to evolve in a manner that is beneficial to us all, and especially, to our horses.

If you have questions about the event evaluation process, please contact your Area Chairman.

If you have questions about the officials evaluation process, please contact the Licensed Officials Department at USEF, 859-225-6948.