The method of judging Dressage competitions and its fitness for purpose

With the system of sport being based on the absolute prerequisite of fairness, all kind of sports which are judged in a more subjective manner (especially those where aesthetic aspects have to be judged in order to determine the winner) often have to defend their judging system in terms of its fairness. This Bachelor Thesis is thus concentrating on the current judging system of equestrian Dressage and is putting the judges in the center of the analysis. The theoretical part of this work is based on Schimank's Theory of Action with its four different acting characters of human beings (Homo Sociologicus, Homo Economicus, Emotional Man, Asserter of Identity). Based on the description of the current Dressage judging system, this work will then analyze in which way those several characters are able to influence the judging system which might then result in a lack of objectivity. With the determination of the Homo Sociologicus as the desired judging character, the subsequent chapters will derive proposals on how the current system could be improved in order to boost judges to act as a Homo Sociologicus and to limit their possibilities to act as one of the other three characters.