In this lesson
The conduct, ethics, and conflict-of-interest standards USAWE sets for officials, why they matter more early in your career than they will later, and how to apply them while you are still a volunteer.
Why this lesson comes before the technical work
You can learn to score a shoulder-in. Judgment about conflicts of interest is harder to retrofit, and getting it wrong ends officiating careers before they start.
Working Equitation in Florida is a small community. You will know competitors. You will have trained with some of them, bought a horse from one, boarded at the same barn as another, and had a beer with a third. That is not a problem to be eliminated — it is the condition of the sport. What is required is that you handle it transparently and consistently.
The standard USAWE sets
USAWE’s Code of Conduct for Licensed Officials requires that an official represent USAWE with honesty and integrity. Licensed officials also sign a Code of Ethics requiring them to execute their duties without bias or prejudice, and to ensure that every horse is treated humanely at all times.
Source: USAWE Technical Delegate Handbook
Specific restrictions
The TD Handbook is concrete about conflicts. A TD may not compete at a show they are officiating. A TD may not officiate if any of the following are competing:
- A person with a close relationship to them
- A trainer, coach, or student of the TD within thirty days of the competition
- An employee or employer of the TD
- Anyone who purchased a horse from the TD within ninety days of the competition
Source: USAWE Technical Delegate Handbook
The judge-side rules are the direct parallel, and they live in Section 3.20 of the USAWE Rulebook, “Conflict of Interest Restrictions.” The general bar comes first: a person may not serve as a Licensed Official and compete at licensed competitions, subject to a narrow exception for multi-day shows described in the rule itself.
Beyond that, a Judge may not compete at any competition where they are judging, and a horse owned or leased by the Judge may not compete under them. The following may not compete under a Judge:
- Anyone with whom the Judge has a close personal relationship — family member, domestic partner, business partner
- A trainer, coach, or student of the Judge within the thirty days before the competition, with narrow exceptions for pre-competition clinics limited to riders who have not competed above Level 1, and for officials’ seminar sessions held immediately before or during the competition
- An employer or employee of the Judge
- Anyone who bought a horse from or sold a horse to the Judge within ninety days of the competition
- Anyone who leased a horse to or from the Judge within ninety days of the competition
A Judge must notify show management of any conflict that arises.
Source: USAWE Rulebook Revision 9.1, Section 3.20. Current as of 2026.
Notice the structure of those rules. They are not vague appeals to good faith — they are bright lines with specific timeframes. That is deliberate. Bright lines protect the official as much as the competitor, because they remove the need to argue about whether you felt biased.
The principle underneath
Every one of those provisions expresses the same idea: an official must be, and must appear to be, impartial.
Both halves matter. Actual impartiality is not sufficient if the arrangement looks compromised from the rail. A judge who scores a former student honestly but has not disclosed the relationship has still damaged the competition, because the other competitors cannot know that.
The practical test: if this relationship were printed in the program, would anyone be uncomfortable? If yes, disclose it. If it crosses a defined line, decline the assignment.
Declining well
Declining an assignment is a professional act, not a failure. “I trained with two of the competitors in that division within the last month, so I should not judge it” is a sentence that increases the respect people have for you.
Say it early. A conflict raised the week before is an easy scheduling adjustment. The same conflict raised on show morning is a crisis.
Conduct in the ring and around it
- Demeanor. Courteous, calm, consistent. You are a representative of the sport, and for many competitors you are the sport, that day.
- Consistency. The same standard applied to the first ride of the morning and the last ride of the afternoon, to the child on the schoolmaster and the professional on the imported horse.
- Discretion. You do not discuss scores, competitors, or other officials outside the appropriate channel. Not at dinner, not in the parking lot, and emphatically not on Facebook. This community talks, and it screenshots.
- Social media. Assume anything you post about a show, a competitor, or a judge will be read by that person. Extend that to the private community group in this program: it is a safe space for questions, not a safe space for gossip about named individuals.
- Horse welfare above all. The obligation to ensure horses are treated humanely is unconditional. It does not defer to your seniority, your comfort, or the schedule. If you see something and you are unsure of the procedure, escalate to the Judge or TD immediately. Uncertainty about protocol is never a reason for inaction.
Applying this while you are learning
You are not licensed, and most of you will start in support roles. The standards still apply, in some ways more strictly, because you are building a reputation from zero.
Three rules for the volunteer stage:
- Never offer an opinion on a ride. Not to the competitor, not to their trainer, not to the person next to you at the gate. As a scribe you will have opinions constantly. Keep every one of them.
- Never repeat what you heard in the judge’s box. A judge who dictates candid remarks to you is trusting you completely. Betraying that once ends your access permanently, and Florida is small enough that it ends it everywhere.
- Ask, do not assume. “Should I be handling this, or should I get the TD?” is always the right question.
Summary
- USAWE requires honesty, integrity, freedom from bias, and humane treatment of every horse.
- Documented TD conflict rules cover competing, close relationships, trainer/student within thirty days, employment, and horse purchase within ninety days.
- The principle is that officials must be, and must appear to be, impartial.
- Declining an assignment for a conflict is professional, and should be done early.
- While volunteering: no opinions, no repeating the box, always ask.
Behind the Bell™ is a program of Working Equitation Florida. WEFL does not license or certify officials. USA Working Equitation is the licensing body. USAWE membership and Licensed Officials Program fees are separate from this program.