watching dressage

[eahotson]

Went to watch some BD dressage yesterday.My honest opinion, for what it is worth,is that standards have risen.This was fairly grass roots.I didn't see anything at all I disliked.All the horses appeared to be relaxed and happy to do what they were doing.There was one that was a bit spooky by the door but the rider remained calm and handled it beautifully.They finished their test and she gave him a very nice pat before leaving the arena.
It was nice to see a lovely little coloured cob that did very well and a welsh stallion with lovely paces (be still my beating heart) who also did a lovely test.
Riding is getting such a bad press at the moment but it isn't all bad at all.

 

[SEL]

Went to watch some BD dressage yesterday.My honest opinion, for what it is worth,is that standards have risen.This was fairly grass roots.I didn't see anything at all I disliked.All the horses appeared to be relaxed and happy to do what they were doing.There was one that was a bit spooky by the door but the rider remained calm and handled it beautifully.They finished their test and she gave him a very nice pat before leaving the arena.
It was nice to see a lovely little coloured cob that did very well and a welsh stallion with lovely paces (be still my beating heart) who also did a lovely test.
Riding is getting such a bad press at the moment but it isn't all bad at all.

That's been my view at getting out to a raft of BD and UA last year. I needed to get over the exuberance at new locations so we just kept rocking up to Intros & then Prelims and generally the riding was fine. I did watch someone seesawing their horses mouth but given they ended up with a lower score than my spooky (but sensitively ridden - quote!) test I'm guessing they were penalised. As they should be.

 

[NiceChristmasBaubles]

I write pretty regularly at all levels for BD, and I would agree with you - there are generally happy combinations, and nothing that I would call a welfare concern. Obviously you get some tense horses, and some tense riders (!), but they tend to be at the lower levels, and could possibly be new to competing/the venue etc. There was one pretty bad test a few weeks back, but it was more the presentation, unpreparedness, and crookedness of everything, rather than anything else. The horse looked happy enough bumbling around and got a pat at the end, and the score reflected the training gaps.