As I have said (many times) the current dressage judges are either blind or asleep. I have been criticized for this opinion in the past.
I have never seen a horse in side reins…regardless of how tighly they were adjusted…to pull against them so hard as to make it’s tongue blue.
A horse in overly tight side reins will either yield…and curl up…or it will go up and flip over…thus giving the “trainer” a clue that perhaps…just perhaps…the side reins are too short.
I have long thought ill of Natalie Lamping (and boy did it take me a while to figure out how to word that without getting banned). I scribed for her once a number of years ago. It was at a championships and she was judging 3rd level. She handed me a folded up newspaper and had me helping her solve a crossword puzzle while she judged. I was horrified, but didn’t want to stop the show to argue with her about it. That wasn’t my place. Another time at the same show, she was judging freestyles. At one point she threw her pen in the air and declared “I swear if I see one more 10m circle, I’ll puke!” I swore that I would never scribe for such a person again. How she continuously gets hired to judge is a mystery to me, but I will never, ever, show a horse if she’s sitting at C. All of the foregoing to say that anything that comes out of her mouth (keyboard) is extremely suspect to me.
Exactly! Horsemanship 101 - a horse will not pull unless he has something to pull against.
It is very telling that a horse would choose to pull hard enough and long enough on the bit to make its tongue turn blue, rather than face the risk of getting beat by a whip for not going forward enough.
I have to say that my horse can “pull like a freight train” on occasion. Mostly when he gets wound up. If I forget to let go, the pulling will continue. The last recognized show we went to, he was completely wired and of course I rose to the occasion by being totally tense myself. He pulled, I held on - we got terrible scores because he was behind the bit the whole time. But nobody said his tongue was blue.
I have gotten a LOT better at letting go, and he no longer pulls unless I let him. But I am not sure I would have the mental capacity to think about that at an important show. But I am not an international, experienced competitor.
Let’s for the sake of argument say a rider went in and showed a horse with a blue tongue - in my opinion they should be rung out. That is abuse, plain and simple. Accidental tug of war with a horse doesn’t blue the tongue - and the strength it takes to do it AND ride a whole test semi accurately doesn’t happen on accident just at a show. They’re doing it at home and in the warmup too.
Again, the judging here is the first and foremost reason that people do this and get away with it.
How bad is it that you guys know how to avoid a blue tongue but the “best” riders on the planet do not AND a FEI judge makes excuses for them?
Seriously banning those shows seems to be the answer more and more.
I mean that’s a bit extreme - change the judging, and people will follow suit. They’re investigating blue tongues already, if RELEVANT people keep pushing (likely through social media), things can and WILL change. Maybe not as immediately as we might like, but it will change fast.
Banning one discipline where there are CHOICES just puts the next on the chopping block. Better to change the rules (or enforce them as they are).
A new FB post says that the reporter digitally manipulated the color on the photos. The riders and judges are now getting hate mail.
The sad thing is - this is not the first time for Kittel. https://www.writingofriding.com/in-the-media/blue-tongue-disgrace-but-wait-theres-more/
This was all over the equine world in 2014. I’m sure there are more instances. Things flare up, and then they die down. No one is paying attention…no one.
My meaning wasn’t clear, my point was doing whatever it takes to win. Wanting to win and training for that is one thing, wanting to win and abusing the horse to achieve it is another.
Ms. Lamping says that a blue tongue is “not right, but it’s not always the rider. Sometimes it’s the horse that pulls.” So what has she done about it when she sees a blue tongue it in a test ?
Both options are quite sad in this case. That if the photos have been altered, someone would launch such a deceptive and destructive campaign against the already fragile sport of dressage - or the fact that the riding is often so bad at GP that we all believe the top 3 riders could have had blue tongues (and have before).
This photos went viral so I can see why someone would alter the pictures for financial profit.
Big fat nopetey NOPE - Getty Images the worlds biggest picture agency also have images showing the horses with blue tongues - taken by different photographers.
So obviously fake even the FEI themselves are in on the anti dressage conspiracy and faking blue tongue pictures /s
I’m not defending any of them, but I couldn’t see any blue tongue photos on Getty Images for Isabel Werth or Charlotte Fry at the Amsterdam event.
Everdale:
Quantaz:
There weren’t any photos of Touchdown with his tongue out, but this one with Patrik Kittel looks questionable, although not clear:
Whether that’s true or not, scroll through those photos. The horse is salivating excessively, in most of the photos, the rider’s contact on the curb is clearly tighter than on the snaffle, 
and in a few of the photos, the horse’s mouth is open and the tongue is visible. To me, the fact that the tongue is pink is immaterial. That’s a horse that is feeling discomfort due to too heavy contact on the curb. Plain and simple.
And as an aside, it’s easy to change the color in a digital photo. How do we know Lars Le didn’t turn the tongue pink again? (I don’t think that’s what happened, just suggesting that it’s easy to suggest digital manipulation.)
Bingo!!! Forget the blue, pink or purple tongue…the horse is saying it is in discomfort.
The judges just need to judge to the currently existing rules…which address this issue quite clearly. See below…
Per the FEI Dressage Judging Manual…
The object of Dressage is the development of the Horse into a “Happy Athlete” through harmonious education. As a result, it makes the Horse calm, supple, balanced, loose and flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, thus achieving perfect understanding with the Athlete.
These qualities are demonstrated by:
• The freedom and regularity of the paces.
• The harmony, lightness and ease of the movements.
• The lightness of the forehand and the engagement of the hindquarters, originating from a lively impulsion transmitted through a supple back.
• The acceptance of the bit, with submissiveness/throughness (Durchlässigkeit) without any tension or resistance (e.g. open mouth or swishing tail).
On page 24 of that document
The most important task for the Judge is to keep the Welfare of the Horse in mind. Therefore, he/she must pay special attention to all signs of discomfort and penalizethem significantly -be it by deductions from the originally intended mark for minor mistakes or in case of serious mistakes by a ‘Firewall’, i.e. by a mark that shall not exceed five (5).
Apart from irregularities in rhythm or severe suppleness issues, such as a tight or hollow back, a severely agitated tail or arrhythmic, compressed breathing in certain movements, Judges must pay special attention to all contact problems. A neck that is pulled together, an unsteady contact or a very busy, clearly open mouth with the tongue drawn up must be seen as fundamental mistakes. If the tongue is clearly hanging out to the side the mark cannot be higher than 5, whenever it occurs or is noticed by the Judge - maybe even lower when the tongue is in addition over the bit.
IF the blue tongues in the pictures are not faked, will there be a new fashion in dressage shows to dye the tongue blue?
After all if top international riders can WIN with blue tongues it must be worthy of imitation. If the rider dyes the tongue blue then the rider will not have to abuse the horse’s mouth to WIN!
Sarcasm, of course.
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