Dressage Divas – thoughts on Prix St James?

SusannaF

SusannaF

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The other night I met someone who trained under the guy who came up with the Prix St James. He said it was unpopular in Germany, but had been readily adopted in the USA.
My dressage knowledge is low, but I'm curious to ask what dressage divas here think of it. Any thoughts?
 
Mystery! OK, I found this article by the guy (who is an old cavalry man):

http://www.cynthiahodges.com/dressage/pages/wanted.html

In the USA, there is a Prix St James, which is a combined dressage test that consists of Part I (Basic Test) and Part II (Prix St. Georges.) The total points from both tests determine the winner. In Part I, 280 points can be earned from 24 movements, and 200 points from the collective remarks (10 elements). This is a relationship of 1:4:1. Here, the goal is to show that no "tricks" lead to FEI, only solid basic training, whose fundamental elements of submission, throughness and impulsion are highly valued. Too bad that there is not something like that here. It would serve the purity of our system well -- and our horses would thank us for it...
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The person I met the other night explained it to me as a way of getting back to basics, and that anyone who could truly do it would have no problems with the Prix St Georges.
 
Interesting idea, but I'm not sure how necessary it it in reality? I really don't think (barring blatantly poor judging) that people do get round the current PSG with a plus 60% score on a horse without the basics correctly established. I'm also not keen on increasing the influence of the collective, especially the collective for paces, which will handicap those with a correctly trained, but less naturally big moving, horse.
 
I'm not sure about "readily adopted in the US", to be honest, unless that's very, very recent (like the last year). I'm not an authority by any means but I'm still relatively in touch with the scene in North America, still regularly read Dressage/Dressage Today/Practical Horseman and I've never heard of it. It's not unusual for regions/shows/clubs to have "different" tests and it sounds like something the "classicists" have got hold of. ;)

Interestingly from that quote, the lower level tests used to be called "Basic" tests but that was eons ago now - makes me wonder if it's an old idea that's resurfaced.

I'd agree with Halfstep. It's true that people move up without the basics but it always ends up showing in the scores eventually. (And the horse usually breaks. :) ) Sure, there are people teaching their horses "tricks" but they're not going to go for something like that, anyway. And yes, it would seem to favour a big moving, impressive horse - one of the good things about the FEI levels is you do start to see more horses whose correct training takes them in front of horses with spectacular movement but incorrect training. (Of course, spectacular movement and correct training will still win but that's the way of the world and hardly unfair.)
 
Thank you for the insights :) The author is now ninety plus and has written lots of widely read books on dressage, so it might well be a relatively old idea. From the description I was given the other night, he sounded more horse friendly than some dressage practitioners. I think he pre-dates the Xenophon Society by a long way, but may well have inspired them.
 
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