Article 17 — Sanctions (1/2)

A SANCTION DOES NOT PUNISH A COMPETITOR: IT PROTECTS THE OTHERS. It guarantees that everyone presented themselves under the same conditions. That is why it applies, and that is why it applies in the same way to all.

THREE LEVELS, AND ONLY THREE

PENALTY — points are deducted from the total. The competitor stays ranked. ELIMINATION — the competitor competed, the performance is not ranked. NON-ADMISSION — the competitor did not compete: the performance is neither judged nor ranked.

17.1 — NON-ADMISSION

The following failings mean that the competitor did not compete.

• Dress holding the discipline up to ridicule (article 13).
• Assembling several pieces of music under free music (article 11).
• A whip at a level where it is not allowed, whether used or not (article 14).
• A restraining device (article 14).
• A video edited, shot in several takes, retouched, or filmed vertically, in online competition (article 12).

This last point is the most important of all. The single take is the only thing that guarantees a program is being judged, and not an edit that succeeded on the tenth attempt. Without it, online competition is worthless.

Editing and multiple takes moreover amount to fraud, and are treated as such (17.5). A vertical or badly framed video is only a failing: it is not admitted, with no further consequence.

17.2 — FAULTS DURING THE PROGRAM

• Length not respected: elimination. Beyond 4 min 30, a tolerance of 10 seconds is allowed for completing the salute; beyond that, the performance is not ranked. A program of less than 3 minutes is treated the same way. Time is counted as stated in article 10.

There is no points scale for length, and that is deliberate: a penalty that costs less than it gains is not a sanction, it is a price. Since the length is decided in advance and the music may be shortened, no one can overrun by accident.

• Lying the horse down: elimination (article 10).
• Sitting the horse: elimination (article 10).
• Leaving the saddle for more than 5 seconds, or parting from the horse: elimination (article 10).
• A required element announced and not shown: elimination (article 10).
• Outside assistance during the program: −20 points.
• Dangerous dress — a mask, or an accessory liable to frighten the horse or hinder the rider: elimination.

At live competitions the supervisor points this out before entry to the arena and allows it to be corrected: elimination strikes only the competitor who does not correct it. In online competition nothing can be corrected afterwards; the performance is not ranked.