On Feb. 8, England’s Hartpury College will host an International Eventing Conference entitled “Training for Safety.”

This is an admirable aim, without a doubt, and some great sessions are scheduled, so the organizers are to be congratulated. However, the description of one of the presentations worries me greatly. The title is “Dressage—The Relationship With Jumping.”

The description notes that Pammy Hutton FBHS will dispel the “myth” that the higher level of dressage can be detrimental to jumping. I hasten to add that Pammy Hutton did not choose this description herself.

Everything Is Fine And Dandy

So does this mean that everything is fine and dandy with regard to dressage training in relation to jumping?

It certainly suggests there’s not going to be much objective analysis and debate about both sides of this argument. It also suggests that some people ignore the central truth that everything has advantages and disadvantages.

An awareness of the advantages and disadvantages obviously allows us to make better use of the advantages and avoid the disadvantages as far as possible. Being blind to the disadvantages makes us less effective and often less safe. The phrase “if you keep doing the same, you’ll keep getting the same result” also comes to mind.

It’s just beyond logic and flies in the face of the evidence to believe that we cannot do better with our dressage in relationship to jumping, especially cross-country jumping. I believe that the negative side of bad dressage is too often glossed over and that this isn’t just an occasional problem but a significant challenge facing our sport.

We should not run away from the fact that some types of dressage training are without a doubt dangerous for horse and rider—at any level.

For example, there was a talented and forward-thinking but safe horse at a CCI*** that was bought to be ridden by an experienced advanced rider. The one main task left to fulfill this horse’s potential was to “fix the dressage,” so an international Grand Prix rider and trainer was engaged.

Unfortunately, the result was rows and resistance. After a short period of time, the horse learned to fight the forced shape he was being put in, thrusting his head up and running blindly toward the corner of the school.

Not long after this experience, when going across country, the rider asked the horse to slow down in front of a fence. The horse switched straight away to his head-in-the-air, running-blind mode and literally ran into the next fence. He fell on top of the rider, who was killed on impact.

Acceptance Not Submission

Yes, this was lousy dressage training, but it happens, and it happens at all levels from novice to international.

In pure dressage and show jumping flat work, a “very strong style of riding” is considered acceptable by a number of trainers.

So, at the very least, the seed could be sown for all people reading the above blurb for this conference that aggressive dressage training is potentially dangerous for event horses. This is not splitting hairs, and who can argue against the fact that a life may be saved because a particular rider and horse worked in harmony instead of fighting each other in front of a fence?

This is a dual challenge because we have to work with, not against, our horses, seeking acceptance, not submission, and we also have to proceed a step at a time.

It all comes back to that famous quote by Gustav Steinbrecht: “…all [training exercises] follow one another in such a way that the preceding exercise always constitutes a secure basis for the next one. Violations of this rule will always exert payment later on; not only by a triple loss of time but very frequently by resistances, which for a long time, if not forever, interfere with the relationship between horse and rider.”

The second sentence of this quote is of the greatest importance in relation to safe jumping.

We need joyful, easy dressage with an absence of forced, over regimented, mechanical work. Good behavior has to be achieved by acceptance and understanding—not by treating horses as foot soldiers, which destroys trust and partnership.

Sadly, the type of training given to some riders makes it virtually impossible for them to do nothing even when things are going well, particularly in front of a fence. This over riding and over complication at best distracts the horse and at worst removes his responsibility in taking “ownership” of the jumping effort. This is the opposite of fifth-leg training and contributes to too many accidents.

A Team Of Trainers

Eventers also have the challenge of training holistically with an integrated program for all three phases rather than separating the training into three separate boxes with three separate coaches. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but this is exactly what happens so often.

I don’t mind the use of specialist trainers, especially for advanced riders, but at the least the trainers involved should communicate with each other and fully assess and agree on the priority needs and overall strategy for each rider and horse combination.

Therefore, each coach needs to really understand the demands of all three disciplines in horse trials.

In rugby and football, for example, it’s now common to have a team of different specialist trainers, but they work to a common agenda and agreed priorities, and they usually work at the same location, which allows ongoing communication and reassessment.

This scheduling is difficult to arrange with event training and makes the value of a genuine horse trials coach even greater. Unfortunately, the true, all-around horse trials coach is becoming a thing of the past as coaches and riders follow the modern trend of specialization.

I see no difficulty in bringing together good dressage, jump and cross-country training. Indeed, I believe it produces a better, more efficient and humane training program, a point also made by dressage legend Reiner Klimke, who also rode at the international-level in eventing and show jumping as a young man.

So, the dressage helps the jumping, which in turn helps the dressage. At the end of the day, it’s all about an integrated program and having the flexibility to choose from the fullest range of exercises to benefit each rider and horse combination.

What Would You Do?

As a parent and coach concerned for the safety of my children, I would specifically forbid them to train with several well-known dressage trainers because their methods do not allow what I would describe as cross-country essentials, and they do not take into account the training for all the phases of eventing as a whole.

Sadly, once again I can give a specific example of a fatality for which this was a contributory factor. The rider in question was an amateur, with a suitable horse who in the past was successful across country, taking care of the rider and having a good fifth leg.

The rider had ambitions to compete at the CCI** level and took the preparation seriously. To this end, the rider took a series of lessons with two international coaches—one from dressage and one from show jumping—but without any communication between coaches.

The dressage coach concentrated on submission, and the show jumping coach concentrated on grids, related distances and even stride patterns, and the rider became more dominant and did less cross-country work.

This training substantially reduced the horse’s freedom to respond to bad distances and be proactive in front of a fence. The cross-country rounds gradually deteriorated as the horse jumped with decreasing confidence and involvement as the rider made mistakes.

In consequence, the rider started riding more strongly because of the lack of confidence. It was a vicious circle that culminated with the horse falling, when half stopping on a bad stride, and landing on the rider.

I have little doubt that this type of training scenario has been a contributory factor in other serious accidents. So this is not something to be taken lightly.

Prix St. Georges

The “higher level” of dressage referred to by some as a potential danger is Prix St. Georges, the introductory level for international dressage. Lucinda Green quotes Jack Le Goff as saying that doing dressage at this level is detrimental to a cross-country horse—and certainly anything said by Jack Le Goff should be heeded because he was an outstanding coach.

However, I cannot see that this level of dressage is harmful if the training is done with good steady progression and real partnership, and if it is part of an overall strategy and program that allows sufficient time for all aspects of an integrated training program.

Therefore, if the training to a Prix St. Georges level is of the domineering type and prevents a well-rounded education, it’s no myth that it will be detrimental to the jumping.

There is always an “opportunity cost” of preparing a horse to do this level of dressage; if you spend time preparing him for Prix St. Georges you cannot spend time on something else that may be more important in the preparation of a particular event horse.

I Love Dressage

This scenario doesn’t make me anti-dressage.

Let me make it 100 percent clear that I love good dressage at any level, and I’m in love with seeing a rider and horse working in harmony and with real quality.

To me, each moment is then something of great beauty and still gives me enormous pleasure on a daily basis. Good dressage training is vital for event horses and is the core of the jumping training. Everything I have ever written endorses this opinion, and I still spend many hours of my life selling the crucial importance of dressage.

My own moral conundrum is to decide what degree of responsibility I have for riders in the sport. Increasingly, I feel that I should speak out more, as we only have to stand by the warm-up arenas of international competitions for a short time to witness some well-known riders and coaches at best training mechanically and at worst being brutal in their quest for submission. I have heard no logical argument that this makes cross-country riding safer.

If we dismiss this conundrum without a mention, we discourage a search for better ways, and we may well be increasing the risks and reducing the room for error for a number of riders.

In addition, it will only be a matter of time before some more film of this type of dressage riding will be put up on www.YouTube.com and further damage our wonderful sport. This is a sport that does more for raising stable management and riding standards than any of the other major disciplines—a sport that is full of humane and skilled trainers and riders and wonderful people.

Let’s use riders such William Fox-Pitt, Phillip Dutton, Mark Todd (his famous Charisma competed at Prix St. Georges level), Tina Cook and Ruth Edge as role models and show that overall we can do better.

I’m concerned that the description of Pammy Hutton’s talk will be seen by hundreds and will potentially mislead some of them to just keep repeating what they’ve always done.

Certainly those coaches who go to the conference have a duty to ensure that the potential dangers of bad dressage training are raised, otherwise it would suggest that they are blind to the evidence.

I cannot believe that this is the case, so as I said, let’s do better—together. Together let us inch forward to better training and an even more magnificent sport. Onwards! 

William is an international coach and educational and motivational speaker. He is a Fellow of the British Horse Society and author of The DK Complete Horse Riding Manual, the world’s top-selling training manual. He found Karen and David O’Connor’s three Olympic medalists Biko, Giltedge and Custom Made and breeds event horses, including Karen O’Connor’s Olympic horse Mandiba and Zara Phillip’s High Kingdom. He is also the inventor of the Micklem Bridle, which is now approved for use in dressage by the FEI. www.WilliamMicklem.com