It’s not an either/or. It’s definitely not black or white. Good for you that you have a teenage horse that is still performing, but I’m not sure how longevity got into this discussion. If just one horse is ridden in obvious distress at a show and the rider is not somehow penalized for it, it’s one too many. There is not enough attention paid to how rules impact the treatment of the horse. Sure, you cannot police what goes on in private, but you can thoughtfully reconstruct the showing so that quiet and harmonious training becomes the pinnacle, not the gaits. You can more severely penalize things that demonstrate distress. I don’t think anyone thinks this is the most abusive sport of all horse sports–but I don’t think comparisons are warranted until you clean up your own house. It’s not a “dressage is less abusive than, say, endurance riding, so therefore we should keep doing what we are doing” kind of thing.
Have you seen the trot up with top level eventers? Usually not restricted to trot
Tack check will be figured out. Why worry about the bit if the noseband is tight?
Education, education, education, education, education. If the judges are not sufficiently educated, they can not correct wrong or poor training by riders and their trainers. It takes an educated eye to see poor training rather than just looking at flashy gaits. Educate Judges and the benefits become evident down the levels of competition. Riders need to be educated to understand what “training” means. They need to understand that dressage is far more than just a style of saddle, long stirrups and a horse with a cranked in head position. Education means both trainers and riders comprehend the particular stresses and strains on a higher-level dressage horse and use varied training techiques, not just endless, mindless repetitive drilling. Education means using horsemanship to combine mind, body and spirit into a beautifully trained horse. Education means every riders comprehend that “dressage” starts as basic good training for every horse, from racehorses to stock horses. Dressage is not a specialised discipline until one reaches a certain level.
Do you really think that S judges don’t have the education?
They have the education, but seem to need a stern reminder of the rules.
And per another thread, the FEI judges “standards” for gaits etc. are now just “guidelines.”
That basically means that the standards apply to you if you aren’t a big gun international rider or are otherwise in favor with the judges.
But if you ARE a big gun international rider or are otherwise in favor with the judges, the standards aren’t mandatory.
(And yes, I am a cynic.)
This thread seems to have taken a turn from where it started, but having now shown under the new rule, it worked fine. There were still ring exit checks, they just didn’t include the bits. I was the last ride before a break, so the TD followed me back to my trailer and looked at my bits after the bridle was taken off the horse. Super easy, actually. She then saw some people tacking up a horse at the trailer next to mine, and headed over to check theirs before the ride.
