The fifth Global Dressage Forum seemed like a perfect place to debate training programs and methods, but it never quite happened.

The 325 trainers, riders, judges, journalists and dressage enthusiasts from 23 countries absorbed a great deal of information and insight from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 at the Academy Bartels at Hooge Mierde, the Netherlands, but the busy schedule precluded much insightful conversation.

And anyone who wanted to engage in a frank dialogue got a clear warning in the welcome speech of David Hunt, president of the International Dressage Trainers Club, the forum’s co-sponsor.

Hunt criticized the recent magazine articles that questioned some riders’ training programs, most notably that of two-time Olympic gold medalist Anky van Grunsven. He called such analysis bad for the sport, especially since the level of competition has risen so dramatically as the sport has become dramatically more popular over the last few decades.

Mariette Withages, chairman of the FEI Dressage Committee, seconded his remarks.

Hunt emphasized that the IDTC wouldn’t favor any one training method as long as they each focused on the welfare of the horse and the development of the movements.

To underline the extent to which dressage has developed since the mid-19th century, on the second day Hunt showed videotapes of Olympic medal-winning rides from 30 or more years ago. He insisted these tapes proved how dressage training had improved since then, although he didn’t mention the enormous improvement and expansion of sport horse breeding in that time and its effect on performance.

Four Trainers One Theme
Nevertheless, the trainers whose presentations formed the heart of this year’s Global Dressage Forum took pains to emphasize the careful and classical training of young horses that’s necessary to produce confident Grand Prix performers.

The four trainers each had different approaches to the topic, but the theme of all was that correct training for the dressage ring requires an extended period of time. They also emphasized that relaxation comes from the horse searching trustingly for the rider’s hand in a forward-downward movement of his neck.

George and Monica Theodorescu, who rode a 7-year-old named Whisper, focussed on the daily basic work. They emphasized the necessity to make the horse supple?of riding the corners as a quarter-volte (which today isn’t often seen, not even in a Grand Prix test) and the value of riding serpentines, half-halts and frequent transitions between the different gaits.

Klaus Balkenhol showed a horse who had not been broken to ride, describing which physical requirements should be fulfilled before a horse is put under the saddle.

And he spoke up clearly against overtaxing horses in the championships for young horses and in preparation for auctions. He noted that these events aim only for the prospects’ spectacular presentation, but that they totally disregard the relaxation and suppleness that should first be developed in young horses.

Balkenhol used a stallion named Royal Highness, winner of his 5-year-old stallion testing, to demonstrate how a 5-year-old horse should go in accordance with its age.

Kyra Kyrklund of Finland began her presentation with a speech emphasizing her belief that a trainer should be able to realize what aspects of a horse’s performance and training they can change and what they cannot. She said that trainers must have the wisdom to be able to decide between the two situations.

“When a rider comes in my barn and tells me he or she would like to compete at the Grand Prix level, then I have to be realistic. I must consider carefully if this will be a reachable aim or not for the particular horse,” said Kyrklund, the silver medalist at the 1990 World Championships.

“If I have the opinion that this is not the case, then I refuse to take the combination into training. More honesty toward the horse, but also by everyone involved in the dressage sport, would be desirable,” she added.

No Suspension
Much of the research presented by Dr. Hilary Clayton, the accomplished researcher from Michigan State University, regarding bits and equine biomechanics wasn’t what the dressage world wanted to hear.

Using her light-sensitive photography, she proved that the passage has a moment of suspension, but that the piaffe does not. Some weren’t surprised by Clayton’s pronouncement since the piaffe should be performed on the spot.

The professor also proved with the help of video analysis that in a settled, well-executed canter pirouette the three-beat canter has to be lost since the horse–who is trying to keep his balance–has to keep the inner hind leg on the ground for a longer period. Consequently, he has to put it down earlier than in the normal canter.

This was a realization that experienced dressage trainers had made decades ago but which the judges have been denying. Now the scoring will need to be changed to reflect reality.

Dr. Clayton’s newest research wasn’t covered in Dr. Volker Moritz’ presentation of the new FEI Dressage Handbook, which was revised an astounding 15 times before it could be published.

The handbook gives detailed explanations about how to score the execution of the movements, and it should bring a more standard level of uniformity to the judging around the world.

The handbook also emphasizes, as do the current FEI regulations for dressage, the training scale.

The forum participants were especially interested to hear Cees Slings and Victor Kerkhof, the producers of Anky van Grunsven’s freestyle tests, explain their methodology, and they asked many questions.

One question that no one answered concerned the cost and the value of specially written tests like the ones van Grunsven–and others–commission to win international shows or the FEI World Cup Final.

If it costs $20,900 for Slings and Kerhof to custom-create a freestyle using existing songs–or $59,000 for them to write the music and fully coordinate it with the choreography they create–and the musical score has a co-efficient of 6, some wondered if the music was valued too highly and if it was pricing riders who can’t afford it out of the competition?

It was a question some pondered as the FEI Dressage Committee insists that dressage is and should be accessible to riders around the world.

Happy Horses?
The expression “happy athlete” was often repeated during the Global Dressage Forum in the Netherlands. But it’s an expression, some thought, that sounds ridiculous on close consideration.

Perhaps, said one participant, it’s time for some researcher to determine if and when horses do actually produce hormones of happiness.

Does it happen in the dressage ring, or in any other ring? Probably it happens when they’re grazing or when they’re socializing with other horses. So why the attempt by Federation Equestre Internationale leaders to humanize the horse, an animal that cannot smile?

The FEI regulations used to describe the aim of dressage to be to develop a content, confident partner, a horse who moves in a relaxed manner and frame, with a soft contact to the rider’s hand and in harmony with the rider.