Who Wants To Be A Grand Prix Horse? If it were up to the riders and owners, becoming a GrandPrix horse would be as easy as becoming a millionaire: just go on a game show. Yet only a minuscule percentage of all the wonderful “dressage prospects” ever reach the Grand Prix, and of those who do, only a fraction become good Grand Prix horses. I guess that’s why they call it Grand Prix.

And, of course, the ambition of every serious rider and owner is to see that horse of theirs in the Grand Prix ring. Breeders breed for it, owners search for it and riders dream of it.

When we write inspirational introductions to dressage, there is almost always some reference to how “natural” all the movements required in the tests are to the horse. Well, you can take that with a grain of salt, if not a handful.

Certainly even your most arthritic school pony, turned out on a brisk winter day, will raise his tail in the air and passage loftily in the snow. And on occasion a horse stuck by the gate and anxious to escape will piaffe a step or two. Flying changes are quite common when a horse changes direction, but 15 one-tempis in a row? And when did you ever see even the best-trained horse bend on a turn while galloping around the field? In truth, many of the Grand Prix movements are quite a mental and physical challenge for any horse.

A couple of years ago the Federation Equestre Internationale initiated a new division for 5- and 6-year-old horses, in order to encourage the breeders, showcase exceptional young horses, and supervise the proper training of talented equines.

I attended the judges’ forum in Warendorf (Germany) when these tests were introduced to the judges and the trainers. After watching the select German 6-year-olds struggle with the requirements, one of the judges cautiously asked if the trainers did not find this test a bit too demanding? Absolutely not, replied Johann Hinnemann. If a 6-year-old horse cannot deal with these requirements, he’s not a good candidate for the Grand Prix ring.

I believe most of us judges were a bit taken back with this statement, especially since Klaus Balkenhol appeared to feel exactly the same way. Since then I have judged a fair amount of the young horse classes, and although I have no objection to the 5-year-old test, I still feel that the 6-year-old test is on the cutting edge of what horses that age should be asked to do.

Because the test asks for half-passes, flying changes and several fairly sophisticated transitions, the actual quality of the horse at times succumbs to the demands of the test.

So here is the question: What is the true purpose of these tests? Is it to promote the future Grand Prix horse, or is it to show off lovely young horses who still may not have a prayer to reach beyond the national levels? The more of these performances I judge, the more evident it becomes that we judges do not have a clear “mission statement” about what we want to accomplish with these tests.

Let me give you an example: We were three judges sitting at our separate letters at a show, judging a class of seven lovely young horses in the 6-year-old division. When the class was over, we were all touchingly in agreement about which horse had won. Unfortunately, we also completely coincided in our prediction that the winning horse had less than a fighting chance ever to make it to the top of the training scale.

The winner was a huge mover and very elastic, with natural cadence to spare. He literally “floated” around the ring, as the ads like to boast. In addition, he was obedient, supple and by far the most accurate performer in the class.

So, what’s the problem? At the present time, there is none, but to us judges, who all had trained horses through the FEI school of knocks, it was clear that it may become extraordinarily difficult to guide this animal to Grand Prix. The task of creating a quick and weight-carrying hind leg out of his slow and pushing action, not to mention containing and compacting all that long and buoyant motion, was daunting.

Each of us had at some time been charmed by “expensive trots,” lofty canters that never return to earth, and ground-devouring walks