Where does one start when you talk about the year of dressage in Australia?

Its  Christmas time and for many people it’s time to down bridles and saddles but how can you when there is the Boneo CDI and then Bradgate Park CDI, then  there is the Sydney CDI to mention just a few competitions all before the end of April and that’s a mere four months away.  It’s a nonstop sport and we still just keep mucking out stables and training our beloved equine partners! Pushing on to get better scores and impress the judges and that’s perhaps a deeper statement than first appears.

It may seem like forever ago, but it’s only a few months ago that we stayed up all night to watch the dressage from the Olympics. It was Valegro who stole the show and it is Valegro who has stolen the show at Olympia, his first start since the Olympics and he has set a new world record. Simply amazing indeed and to be better than Totilas is truly some feat!  It’s all happening to the Brits and to the standard of dressage.  How great for the sport to see that it’s more global and that not dominated by one country. What about the Aussies…… when is it going to be our turn?

That does pose a lot of questions. What is happening here to our good horses and riders? Why are the marks still not improving? We have a better quality of horse being purpose bred and the availability of trainers is wide and diverse and for sure better than ever before!  Why are the scores and the sport at a stale mate?

Lyndal Oatley is out there giving it her all and with Sandro Boy at Olympia was in the top ten. What a great effort and Lyndal is one of those inspiring riders who oozes positivity and forward thinking. What a great effort and every mark well deserved and there is no looking over Lyndal’s shoulder she is one forward, on a straight line, mover!

I guess by now every person that reads this far, hopefully will have a reason already in their head about exactly this, and are thinking about it. Is that thought going to match what I may be about to say!

The answer is unknown yet everyone has an opinion. Nothing is being done with these ideas and the sport is going around and around in circles and as my father told me, “it’s better to move in straight lines than in the best circles”

I think that was about life and not dressage but by the same token I can run with that. The sport of dressage has grown very quickly in the last 5 years. In every aspect from the breeding, breaking, training, riding, to the gear and the presentation and to the conditioning. Times have changed and times are evolving, yet I don’t see the scores on the improve. Are we the same as we were five years ago? At the lower levels on the way to FEI I have seen some very flash horses indeed. The novice and elementary horses at the Nationals were so strong and some wonderful horses and they are battling to score over 70%. And so it was up through the ranks. It was probably the strongest small tour field ever and when the international judges are giving higher scores than the locals you have to wonder.

I think that there needs to be a lot more cohesion in the sport. I believe from the grass roots up and from our federation to the riders and the coaches and the judges there needs to be more cooperation and positivity. Are all the facets of the infrastructure pulling together? I don’t think so. It’s time that we all got together to make the sport progressive here. I am sure that the judges are to a degree correct and that the riders do need to sit up and take note but are the judges along a way that encourages riders to take note of their comments and are the judges along a way to try to be more positive and look for the good rather than the bad.

Every dressage person whether it be judge, coach, friend or mentor will always, after a test, or training session, say immediately what the areas were that lost marks and were not great! This negative feedback is helpful for sure but I believe it is the reason that the handbrake is on in the sport here.

Dressage is just as much a mental sport as a physical one yet we ignore that mental abilty to ride with confidence. Its knocked out of every dressage rider and its all about our downfalls and the mistakes and the bits we don’t do well.

If only the emphasis was on the good.

Judges should mark up the better parts of a test with confidence yet they don’t. The better movements are lucky to be 1 mark higher than the bad parts. It becomes depressing as no matter how hard you try to show good parts so often the test is a conglomerate of averages.  I hate to mention it but judges lack a confidence to step outside the square when a well known horse that normally scores, say 65%, does a blinder or on the contrary a shocker the judges will be modest in their appraisal and then after the test and a discussion decide that they were too hard or lenient depending. No matter what happens the next time that horse enters the arena under those judges that discussion will determine the up or the down of that combination. Go score watching and it’s obvious and that’s human nature no one wants to be publically out of line, but with better training and ways to become more competent and thus confident this will not eventuate and the judges will mark irrespective of expectations. Its about a better education system that enables judges to have a good time and become more competent.

We simply all need to get better together and I am sure that the judges do as they think fit and rely on their education and experience, but I have to say that they need to be given more input and training. Riders get out there every day and work with their horses and they watch videos, and they train hard almost on a daily basis. They pay a lot of money for expert training and pay a lot of money on the upkeep of their horses, not to mention entry fees and so on. Do the judges train and keep their eye in between judging appointments. Do they realize that there marks and placings affect the value of the horses they judge and they also affect the riders opinion of the trainers. Also the judges do their best but sometimes due to lack of experience or lack of mentoring and integrated training they fall behind the trends and the reality of judging they of course loose confidence and this is not a good thing and needs to be recognized and dealt with. Judging is really and art. Judging comes from within and a confidence that only competence can give. 

So competence, how can that be improved. That’s up to the judge educators and that in turn needs to come from the ADC and have plenty of input and funding for training programmes from EA. It is absolutely vital and with a better respected judging system so riders and coaches will pay more attention to the comments as at the moment I have the feeling that even though many judges are along the right track with many horses, the riders and trainers do not pay enough attention and continue on right or wrong on their own tangent and this is not right!

I hope I am trying to go in straight lines here and not in circles!

Have a great Christmas season and love your sport of dressage.

My New Year’s resolution is that I will always say a positive comment before any other one.  

I want to praise the good before the less good. 

I want to enjoy watching all riders and horses and see the best in them before anything else no matter what level horse or rider. 

I want to see the sport of dressage progress in Australia as it deserves and that will only be through a more exciting education system within the sport for all, especially the judges who all scream for more input to help them gain experience and be better judges. It is where the improvement in the total sport lays.

Written by Roger Fitzhardinge exclusively for Equestrian Life.