camillapk
New User
Went to a Hickstead dressage qualifier in Ireland today and was so concerned by what I saw I felt I had to ask is this a general problem with dressage still. I watched one of the Medium classes and saw a well known rider have a lot of problems with a very naughty horse even though the rider rode beautifully the horse clearly did not want to play dressage, the comments around me were that it was an awful shame and the general concensus that the score would be very low as most movements were poorly done. The class was a mixed bunch but later on a very smart little horse came in who did the smoothest test of the day, it was the first test I saw where the hocks were underneath and the horse was relaxed and swinging through the back. It was a pleasure to watch, so I was shocked when I saw the results, the obedient horse with the faultless test ended up practically last and the difficult horse in the first three. Apparently the reasoning of the judge was that the first horse held his neck up like a giraffe and had flashy movement and that was enough for a prize despite not actually being able to do the test and having hocks strung out behind whilst the obedient horse, being more of a working hunter build was not "up" enough for the judge. My question is if the horse is working up and through should that be penalised because its conformation will never allow the extremes of vertical necks seen now? Has dressage regressed again to the point that conformation not way of going is the most important factor in being placed? If that is the case then breeding dressage horses faces the same problems that dog breeding has had to face where form takes preference to function with long term implications for the horse. I made a point of approaching the losing rider to express my opinion that their test was the best I had seen but in the circumstances it was scant consolation. Hopefully this is not widespread as many non professionals would be discouraged very quickly with the sport.
. I have seen poor judging at several events since and have been really dispirited. I'm doing a lot more showjumping now as there's less controversy over marking your round!!