The results of our study show a significant change in HNP during specific gaits (Pa and Pi) between horses that performed in 2008 and those that performed at a similar level in 1992. Although the FEI rules (FEI, 2007) on the required head position have not changed, judges awarded higher marks to horses whose heads were BHV in 2008 than in 1992. A recent study (König von Borstel et al., 2011) obtained a similar result: horses that were ridden with their heads predominantly BHV received higher scores from judges for ‘rideability’ than horses ridden with their head on the vertical. These findings indicate that, in recent years, competitors have been rewarded for meeting criteria other than the horse’s head’s being on the vertical. Using eye-tracking technology, Wolframm et al. (2011) found that judges pay most attention to the complete front part of the horse when assessing performance. More specifically, in Pi and Pa, the judges focus significantly more on the horse’s forelimb than on the head, mouth, poll, neck, or chest. This suggests that HNP might not be a priority for judges when they are awarding points. HNP is one of the factors judged on a movement-by-movement basis and is also considered when awarding the collective scores, especially those for submission. The collective scores are the four final scores at the end of the test, and consist of the paces, impulsion, and submission of the horse, and the rider’s position and seat. Although all four collective scores are highly predictive of the final score, submission has the smallest regression coefficient (Hawson et al., 2010). Submission also has the fewest correlations with individual test movements, which might explain, at least in part, the judges’ failure to mark down horses that were BHV. To help dressage judges evaluate performance in accordance with the specified criteria, the use of modern, objective, mobile gait analysis tools, such as Inertial Measurement Units (Voskamp et al., 2012; van Weeren and Back, 2014), should be considered as part of future visual attention training sessions for judges.
