Volunteer roles

 

Fence Judge

This job is usually done in pairs and sometimes even in teams of three or four depending on the type of event, the fence and the level of competition. Typically a Fence Judge’s day starts at approximately 7.30am with a briefing from the Technical Delegate explaining the relevant rules, how to fill in the XC jumping faults report, the flags and stopping procedures and things to watch out for. Following the Fence Judges’ briefing, and a cup of coffee or tea, you can expect to be at your fence from about 8.30 onwards. Don’t worry if you haven’t done it before, you can still help as the Organiser will most likely team you up with someone experienced. You can come along on your own or bring a friend. You will be provided with a packed lunch, and the day will finish anywhere between 2 and 4pm, depending on the time of year and the amount of competitors.

Being a Fence Judge is a great opportunity to see Eventing right up close, and spend the day in the countryside in some beautiful surroundings. NCHTA especially encourages members and riders to offer help at events.

Start/Finish

There are usually up to six members in a Start and Finish team, a Chief Time Keeper, a Start Time Keeper, a Finish Time Keeper, a Recorder and one or more Collecting Ring Stewards. The Chief Time Keeper, or Starter, has a start clock to count the competitor down and set them on there way. There is communication via radio between this team and the Controller (and Commentator) as to who is the next starter is and who has finished on a provisional time and score. This way Control can keep track of who has started and who has finished.

Dressage Stewarding

This job is important as the Dressage starts the day off and so can affect the rest of the day if not started on time. The Dressage Steward generally keeps the order running to the scheduled times although there are moments when some flexibility is needed. Communicating with the Dressage Judges to accommodate any changes is required.  Dressage judges put in a long day to communicating well with them as well as all the nervous competitors is desired.  Depending on how many Dressage rings are set up there will be two or three of you, keeping order in what may seem like organised chaos!

 

Dressage Writing

The Writer sits with the Dressage Judge in the car and writes down the comments and marks as the judge gives them. A plea from the riders will be for some legible writing! A basic understanding of riding and Dressage is essential, as terms will be used that a non-horsey person may not understand! A Dressage Judge will only judge one section in a class and at the lower levels there is usually no more then 32 competitors in a section, but this can still take most of a day to finish. Dressage Writers tend to be people who really enjoy Dressage, and in return you will learn an awful lot from the Judge’s viewpoint.

 

Show Jump Collection Arena Stewarding

The Stewarding role is similar to the Dressage Steward but sometimes the running order can change. There can be two or even three people to help manage this arena and keep things running smoothly. Breaks are scheduled in for course walking for the competitors and changes to the course when classes change.

 

Show jumping arena maintenance

Here you help set up and maintain the Show Jumping Arena during the competition. You take your instructions from the Course Builder and the Show Jump Judge. It may not be the most glamorous job at an event, but it is an important one! As there is usually only one or two Show Jumping rings running, all competitors have to go through the SJ ring before they go to the cross country, and so a smooth running of the SJ arena is very important. You will be close to the action, the trade-stands and Secretaries.

 

Score Collector

Scores do not only get collected from the cross country Fence Judges but also from the Dressage and Show Jumping Judges and Stewards. For the cross country phase, the Organiser asks people with two or four wheel motorbikes, but it can also be young people from the local Pony Club on their own horse or pony. Score collecting from dressage and show jumping tends to be on foot, or perhaps push bike – consider it as a way of keeping fit! It’s a fun role because Volunteers get to see many parts of the competition and meet lots of like minded other people who help run an event.

 

Scoring Team

The Scorers collate all the scores, which can be up to four or five people with calculators in a quiet location, who then provide the information to the Chief Scorer who puts it into the computer for the final results. A Scoreboard Writer then puts up all the results for everybody to see. All results from an event still need final validation by the TD before the results are final. Competitors must lodge any objections on the day with the TD.

Additional roles

Other roles depend on what the Organiser needs doing, such as Car Parking Steward, XC Sector Stewarding, lunch preparations and deliveries to the entire site or even just general handy person and gopher! All perform vital roles to help make an event run.

These are most of the roles explained that are necessary to run an Event.  Depending on how the Organiser runs the event, other roles such as Hospitality and Sponsorship, PR are available.  Organisers try very much to keep the roles interesting and rewarding by swapping people around and providing breaks, but this is of course entirely dependent on how many volunteers they manage to recruit.

We hope you enjoy your Volunteer experiences. It is a great way to enjoy the countryside and get some fresh air and meet like-minded new friends and see Eventing from a new angle. You should expect a friendly welcome, drinks and refreshments, lunch and snacks during the day and hopefully an enjoyable experience seeing our great sport.