https://www.facebook.com/TheHorseMagazine/posts/1475243549178485
This was fascinating, thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing. 
Thanks!
Very interesting read. I did think, though, that the author was quite argumentative. I cannot fathom that a current 5* judge would want on record himself slamming a lot of current riders or trainer. In private, I’m sure he agrees, but it wasn’t a good set up by the author.
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I didn’t find it interesting at all. What did you guys find interesting? When I spend time reading an article, I expect to learn something that will help me in my riding. This article didn’t do that. It reminded me of those old forum discussions on classical vs competitive.
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I agree with don’t think the article would improve the riding of somebody reading it. One thing I thought was interesting about it was really the big amount of history of dressage discussed in it. Most of these horses I admired and it was interesting to see them arranged in an overall picture. What I also liked was the idea (and I am aware that not everybody agrees with that) that a good trainer should also be a rider. Thats my credo as well. Of course this judge is the husband of one of the nicest riders ever and he is still riding with her so it must be a joy to be taught by him. And some of the things he said about the development of the extended trot was so true. IMO it was just an interview with an amazing person of the recent dressage history. Most of the time there are interviews with the famous riders but this was a judge who is not in the front row of being famous but still has a lot of experience and knowledge.
To me it’s more like an essay/op ed, and judging retrospective/timeline mixed with a clinic report, not a training article.
I thought the language was very basic, but it could be from being translated?
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I thought it was well said and needed saying. The pendulum has swung and about time, too. Dressage has come a long way and the horses these days look happier in their work.
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Amen! I am so so so happy this is finally able to be said! Tide is turning- a ways to go yes, but I’m glad she is calling a spade a spade.
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I enjoyed getting a good photo of Granat. I have also clicked on the link in the article to another article about judging and will be reading that. It was a discussion held at a clinic and the clinic was mentioned a few times. There was a bit of history and a discussion about lightness and correctness in dressage. I think that publicly criticizing current riders when you are a dressage judge is perhaps unwise.
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He must have known the deep waters he was stepping into. It’s not that it has not been said before.
I think that the riders with whom he doesn’t agree are probably already aware of his opinions. If he is judging them they will have read his comments on their tests.
They aren’t fragile flowers ;).
Interesting read Manni.Thanks.
“I can assure you if you look at photos of my wife and Marzog, you cannot find one single picture that is bad, you cannot, it is not possible.”
My response would be - Different time - very few pics taken and published - it was expensive to take photos, mostly the pros did it, who only released the good photos. Now days, every person carries a camera and video recorder (on their phone, or a small portable, or a DSLR), pictures are digital, it costs zero to take and process them. I can assure him, if I shot pics of his wife and Marzog, I could purposefully take some that did not look good - the downward phase of the canter, for instance, is never pretty.
In some ways, this is very indicative of the arguments between “Classical” and “Modern” (or competition) dressage - people have to accept, times have changed, technology has changed, horses have changed, our knowledge of biomechanics has changed. Some things are better, some things, maybe not. We can’t look at the past with rose colored glasses - it wasn’t perfect then, it isn’t perfect now.
This article is interesting for its history, and agree, the pendulum may be shifting a bit (as it always does, in all things). But I didn’t find it all that enlightening, to be honest. I DID enjoy the old photos - always appreciate those bits of history!
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Seemed like the interviewer was criticizing the Dutch and trying to get Leif to agree with him. Did Leif actually slam any riders in the article?
Would be in poor taste in general, and he can’t really say “Yeah, they were/are awful” if he was giving them high marks like every other judge.
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That was strange. While I enjoyed the photos and some of the history, overall it was confusing and disjointed as to the purpose and organization. Was it a clinic summary, a lesson in the history of dressage, an interview? But what stood out the most was the interviewer egging on Leif to trash other riders - that was terrible, even if Leif had gone on record in the past about his views.
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I take no issue with Leif’s answers: tension is bad, lightness is good. Some top riders train with lightness, and it shows. Some top riders train with tension, and it shows. Nothing new here. But the interviewer was awful! Really leading with his questions and trying to insert his own opinions and bias into Leif’s answers.
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Sometimes one needs to learn several viewpoints on different approaches to riding. This is a viewpoint, that may or may not influence a person’s choice of instructors.
There are few articles or books that help riders as much as an instructor on the ground riding that horse with you, stride for stride.
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I hope he is trying to shine some light on the “how.” How the standards change(d.) How what is presented as “dressage” evolves. How the judges have struggled to cope with what is presented.
Because really, these issues are similar in other disciplines where subjective judgement sets the standard.
It is interesting he feels that a larger pool of judges has contributed to a difficulty in achieving a consensus on A Standard. As any pursuit grows, the increasing participation pool will make it more likely that distinct “varieties” will emerge from the pool of participants.
I wish the article would have discussed how commercialization of sport can effect the standards. When professionals are under pressure to produce, they will do what is necessary. Full stop.
This is true for any sport that seeks to expand itself through commercial association and endorsement.
To expect that dressage will remain immune to the forces that have contorted other sports, (including bicycle racing, western pleasure, and women’s basketball, etc) is to hide our heads in the sand and hope for better results than we work for.
Perhaps it needs to remain a part time pursuit? These animals are (with increasing frequency) treated and formed as if they are used for Dressage WAR. As opposed to Dressage Art.
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I agree Mystic Oak Ranch- I would love to see a direct comparasion for study between the older GP riders who had very edited very self-selected photos by nature of the (limited) technology, compared with the 24 hr/everyone has a smart phone, easily accessible internet cache of photos and videos of today.
That is why I don’t put as much stock in the “older is better”, as we do not have a taste for what the reality was like in order to give both timepoints a fair comparasion.
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