The colour of dressage horses...

I've written for a couple of dressage judges, and would be interested in judging myself one day. The only "prejudicial" treatment I've noticed is that before the test starts and you are judging actual movements, the horse and rider are trotting round and I find myself assessing the overall picture. Not the type or the colour of the horse, more the turnout, riders style and conformation of the horse etc. I have a "type" that I prefer but as long as the overall picture is good I would not dream of penalising the combination because of my own opinion.

There was a notorious judge where I grew up who hated cobs - Why???? If someone is that narrow-minded I wouldn't care if they placed me last, I'd just try again under someone who was less judgemental.
 
B-B said:
So if there is a chestnut prejudice and uneven marking dislike, how do you explain Laura's success with Alf?
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Four white feet and a blaze bang down the middle of his nose? ;)

(I know one of his socks is a bit odd but seen from the side they're pretty even and, most importantly for the optical illusion issue, all the feet are the same colour.)

The chestnut bias is simply not true. There have been lots of chestnut winners, including World Champion Brentina . . . who had two white feet, one in front, one behind. :D Warum Nicht, Briar 899 (who had three high white socks), Pop Art (who has one small sock and one half foot) . . . oh, and Woodlander Farouche. ;)
 
Foxford said:
I've written for a couple of dressage judges, and would be interested in judging myself one day. The only "prejudicial" treatment I've noticed is that before the test starts and you are judging actual movements, the horse and rider are trotting round and I find myself assessing the overall picture. Not the type or the colour of the horse, more the turnout, riders style and conformation of the horse etc. I have a "type" that I prefer but as long as the overall picture is good I would not dream of penalising the combination because of my own opinion.
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When judging and the organiser has only give you 6-7min per horse and time is tight..especially if they lose their way...you are too busy writing up the summary of the last horse whilst reaching for the bell to start the next.....

You are looking at the way of going. The prettiest dark horse with even markings, fashionable plaits and smartest rider still has to present the best test to win. And first impressions can disappoint!
 
frodo, i must say i was thinking gigolo, sheer style, and sorry but i am not a warmblood person, but think the word great does apply there, don't forget goldstern either.
 
My Jack isn't really a dressagey horse, and I am not sure that I have done enough tests under different judges to comment, but in the first ever test we did together, one of the comments from the judge was on how his markings seemed to 'frame' his body and how it made him look more 'together'.

I'll show you a picture of him next to the white boards of the arena. In a school with white boards, it is harder to pick him out and see how he is moving, but outside, or in a school with brown walls/boards he really stands out.

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Also, have you ever tried to get a grey/white horse to shine? They can and do, but never look quite as polished and shiny as a bay/chestnut, even if they do take twice the ammount of work to clean :rolleyes:



I think that it is hard to look at a horse and not to see its colour.
 
Haven't managed to read everything in this thread so apologies if I am repeating anything. But colour and markings must be the last thing on the list, surely? You can have a horse with perfect conformation, perfect markings, but the wrong mind set and you will get very poor marks.
 
B-B said:
When judging and the organiser has only give you 6-7min per horse and time is tight..especially if they lose their way...you are too busy writing up the summary of the last horse whilst reaching for the bell to start the next.....

You are looking at the way of going. The prettiest dark horse with even markings, fashionable plaits and smartest rider still has to present the best test to win. And first impressions can disappoint!
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^^^^^this
 
Sportznight said:
I can certainly think of one up and coming coloured Dressage horse - Bananaman's Spider!

I'd like to think my 3yo coloured has dressage potential, esp. considering the person who is extra keen to produce her!
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Spider is stunning and qualified for the Nationals yesterday!!
 
Disagree about the Chestnut bias in fact I think that knowing the reputation for being slightly hotter they are an asset to dressage.
Was talking to SC the other day about socks as her friends horse failed a vetting (it was bought for dressage). They got their own vet to look at it and he said it was fine but it had uneven socks which gave an optical illusion. Vet said this is why dressage people will never get uneven socks.
 
I was standing next to someone at the Highland this year watching one of the welshie classes, and they were insisting to their companion that one of the ponies was lame. It wasn't, it just had one white and one dark leg.

I think any decent judge should and will look past colour and uneven marking.

However, the colour of horses comes down to genetics. Certainly at the top levels, the vast majority of horses are bred purposely for dressage. There are only so many top dressage stallions, so only so many colours in the gene pool. You also need to take into account that some gene have a more dominant strength to others, so those of a weaker strength will be gradually disappearing anyway. I'm sure an expert on equine colour genetics could explain it all clearly in a formal paper.

As for the lack of usual white markings, the reality is simple. If you are going to go out and spend so much money on a dressage horse, then why put yourself at a disadvantage by buying one with uneven markings? Yes, the judge should look past it, but they are human. You never know what their eyes might see, so why take the risk?
 
LEC said:
Vet said this is why dressage people will never get uneven socks.
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If anyone has heard Sally O'Connor's (fantastic) dressage commentary at Burghley she talks about uneven leg markings quite a lot, and how they are a disadvantage because of the optical illusion that they can cause.
 
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