September 1995, Dressage and
Combined Training
To Those Concerned....
by Mari Monda Zdunic
Here we go again. I thought for certain we
were past Bay Watch Dressage. Initially, horses placed that
simply did the movements correctly, period. Evolving into horses
winning that moved spectacularly with decent training, to horses
with perfect tight looking frames yet lacking technical
correctness.
Judges need to be educated beyond the frame
of the horse and have a better understanding as to what is the
correct performance of the movements at the different levels i.e.
clean changes, piaffe with energy and height, correct frame
corresponding with movement required by test specifications, and
so on. Additionally, judges should ask themselves questions; such
as, is the horse being ridden between hands and legs, is the
horse in his correct frame for his conformation?
After all, this is an aesthetic sport so
appearance is important - but folks, training counts also.
Make the sport fun by mathematically
allowing the properly trained horse to at least end up close to
the current style of horse. This will keep the door open to
encourage people with average horses to aspire to train to Grand
Prix.
Drop the Bay Watch approach, reward for
movements performed technically correct!
