Organisers are delighted to announce the Degree of Difficulty (DoD) Freestyle Judging System will be introduced for the first time in Australia at the OTTO SPORT AUSTRALIA 2018 Sydney CDI, to be held at Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC) from May 2 to 5.

Created by FEI 5* Judge Katrina Wüst (Germany) in collaboration with computer scientist Daniel Göhlin, the system has been developed to make judging the degree of difficulty in freestyle competitions more transparent and to ensure that the assessment of the various difficulties is the same for each rider, depending on the quality of the execution.

Furthermore, the rider has the chance to declare all difficulties in advance and will benefit from the judges becoming equally aware of the difficulties scheduled.

Under the system, riders transform their choreography with the help of an electronic system, "The FEI Freestyle Creator", into an electronic test sheet and this is available to the judges prior to competition.

Using SAP technology, the scoring system has been leveraged to an easily accessible and scalable solution available world-wide.

Following a successful introduction of the system in the World Cup™ Dressage Western European League, the FEI Dressage Technical Committee suggested that in 2018, CDIs that include a Grand Prix Freestyle will be given the option to use the DoD Freestyle system at the discretion of the Organising Committee (excluding Championships and Games).

Katrina Wüst gave a very informative and well attended presentation on the new freestyle judging system to riders and judges at the Pacific League FEI World Cup Dressage Final held at Boneo Park, Victoria, in January 2018.

The DoD will apply only to the CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle at the Sydney CDI, and event manager Toni Venhaus extended her thanks to those who made it possible for the system to be included.

“The Sydney CDI would like to thank SAP and their technology partner Daniel Göhlin from Black Horse One for making it possible for us to offer the Spectator Judging App again in 2018 and for their support to enable us to implement the FEI Degree of Difficulty System for the first time in Australia,” she said.

The 2018 OTTO SPORT AUSTRALIA Sydney CDI will be held at SIEC from May 2 to 5, and is an Equestrian Australia Nomination Event for the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

This year's event will feature competitions spanning levels from Advanced to Grand Prix and Para Equestrian, as well as young horse classes, attracting top riders from around Australia.

Included in the line-up are CDI 3*, CDI-U25 (for riders under 25 competing at Grand Prix level), CDI-Y for Young Riders 16 to 21 years, CDI-P (International Pony) for riders aged 12-16 years and for the first time, a CDI-J for Junior riders aged between 14 and 18 years.

Tickets for the event have already gone on sale, and seats for the ever-popular Saturday evening Grand Prix Freestyle to Music event are selling out fast.

For more information about the event or to purchase tickets, visit the event website at www.sydneycdi.com

sydneycdi18 #ridewithus

Information on OTTO SPORT AUSTRALIA: http://www.bsmsportequestrian.com.au/ottosport/

For more information on the Degree of Difficulty (DoD) Freestyle Judging System, click here: http://dressagefreestyle.fei.org/data/pdf/Creator-Manual.pdf

Further reading, an interesting article appeared in Dressage Headlines. http://www.dressageheadlines.com/articles/dressage/value-new-grand-prix-freestyles-degree-difficulty-dod