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By Leslie-Anne Kennedy, EC S Dressage Judge, FEI Dressage Steward, MMCP, Int’l DipAO

with Rien van der Shaft, international rider, trainer and team coach

Consult glossary and reference list at the end of the blog.

The purpose of dressage

According to the FEI, “The objective of dressage is the development of the horse as a happy athlete in a positive mental and physical state through harmonious education, allowing the horse to be calm, supple, loose and flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, thus achieving perfect understanding with the riders.

• These qualities are revealed 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
• the acceptance of the bridle, with submissiveness or ‘throughness’ (Durchlassigkeit) without any tension or pressure.¹

In 1968, renowned riding master Alois Podhajsky wrote: “The idea of dressage is to cultivate and improve the natural movements of the horse so that he executes them upon the slightest aids of the rider. Teach the horse to move correctly with suppleness and balance to make him understand his rider and follow him without reserve.”²

Maintaining social license

Despite these agreed-upon principles, it is no secret that, in recent years, dressage training and competition has been in peril of losing social license. We have all heard stories and seen apparently damaging photos on social media.

We agree with Douglas et al who wrote in the FEI Equine Ethics & Wellbeing Commission’s Final Report (2023): “Equestrianism must adopt an ethics-based proactive, progressive, and holistic approach to the protection of equine welfare to ensure the ongoing trust of all stakeholders, including the public.”³ We must return to the root foundations of correct classical riding and judging if we want to safeguard the physical integrity of the horse’s body and conserve the art of riding.

Current state of affairs

So, what is the actual state of affairs in the dressage world?

Are expressive, tense performances really favored over less expressive but fundamentally correct presentations of training that demonstrate quality gaits, clear relaxation, suppleness and ‘throughness’?

According to international rider, trainer, and team coach Rien van der Schaft, this may have been the situation 10 years ago, but things have improved since. The FEI has been working very hard to make sure that judges, judging panels and dressage committees understand that it is imperative to stick as closely as possible to classical riding.

Rien regularly attends world class dressage events, including the 2024 Paris Olympics. His observation is that “more and more of the top international riders and judges go for a combination of activity (impulsion) and relaxation (looseness) instead of ‘controlled’ tension with tight backs and hind legs that are not coming under the body and spectacular front legs that do not land where they are pointing.”

However, Rien does see too many horses still being ridden – for instance in passage – with too much pressure and tension, being pushed and pulled at the same time versus demonstrating that the horse is truly in self-carriage.

Should we re-think the Grand Prix test to include movements that clearly demonstrate relaxation and suppleness? Perhaps include uberstreichen in the test – the giving forward of both hands creating a loose rein (no contact) for a few strides during a specific Grand Prix movement? In other words, when riding a line of passage or a half circle, the rider would, between specific letters*, clearly ‘give the rein’. Including a movement such as uberstreichen could result in a significant positive change in the test riding because competitors would have to practice it at home. Even such a small exercise as this, performed once or twice during the passage, would demonstrate that the horse is in self-carriage.

*In dressage, letters are placed around the perimeter of the arena to indicate where the rider must travel.

The way forward… and who’s responsible for what?

Judges and stewards at all levels – grassroots, provincial, national, and the FEI – all have a very important duty to uphold, first and foremost: the welfare of the horse. This responsibility is shared by the respective federations, trainers, coaches, owners, riders, show committees, as well as the general public.

Both judges and stewards need to be able to recognize signs of discomfort and pain in the horse – some of these are obvious while others are more subtle. In the warm-up ring, any concerns should be addressed immediately. In the competition ring, the ride should be stopped, in the best interest of the horse.

During a 2024 FEI updating clinic for stewards, held at the World Equestrian Center (Ocala, FL), FEI Chief Dressage Steward Lisa Gorretta led a constructive discussion about recognizing signs of discomfort and pain, based on Dr. Sue Dyson’s The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE). The document is also an important reference for judges.

At that same meeting, guest speaker FEI veterinarian Dr. Mike Tomlinson spoke about the importance of recognizing the correct and incorrect use of restricted supportive therapies during events, e.g., the TENS device. This is also an important aspect of monitoring equine welfare at competitions, and necessary knowledge for stewards when monitoring the stable area.

An important aspect of stewards’ responsibilities is to help, prevent, and intervene. A steward must be knowledgeable – and brave enough – to step forward to intervene on the horse’s behalf when something is ‘not right’… no matter how famous the horse and rider may be. They are also present to serve as a witness should an unfair accusation be made against a rider during the warm-up period. According to Rien van der Shaft, the FEI has begun taking action on this matter and stewards in the warm-up rings are “doing a great job”.

Also, importantly, we professionals all need to pay attention to how dressage trainers and instructors are being educated. Top trainers, coaches and competitors have an enormous influence on aspiring trainers, coaches, and competitors, which means that education or re-education may need to begin at the top. The FEI is doing its part but cannot control everything; each national federation can and should be playing an important role in educating new trainers to ride in a correct classical way.

Leslie’s judging approach

As a judge working in Canada, I give priority to the quality of the gaits, the suppleness of the back, and acceptance of the bridle, and I penalize less for minor mistakes. If a mistake is made, e.g., a circle is a bit too small or too large but is otherwise fundamentally correct, should this not be rewarded over a performance that is expressive but fraught with ‘negative’ (excessive) tension? In my opinion, care should be taken to recognize and not reward exaggerated expression and excessive tension over correctness.

When judging whether a horse is correctly accepting the contact or is ‘on the bit’, it is not enough to look only at the head and neck. Judges need to look at the whole horse – its position, carriage, an absence of ‘negative’ tension, suppleness, and especially the way it moves.⁴ Judges need to continually educate their eye: Are the horses we see in front of us truly relaxed, ‘through’, supple, and moving with fluidity and calmness, presenting a harmonious picture?  Correct standards need to be respected. 

Riding quality and equine well-being

As an equine osteopath and bodyworker, I am, of course, always concerned about the potential effects and damage that poor riding could have on the horse long term, both mentally and physically.

For instance, since the head and neck position of the horse can directly influence the training of the horse – either positively or negatively – let’s talk about the neck. If only the neck of the horse is ridden (i.e., the horse is ridden from front to back) instead of the whole horse, not only does this have the potential to damage tissues within the cervical region, but the back and limbs are also affected.

Recent studies have been conducted on the effect of head and neck positions on the back, nervous system, upper airways, and behavior. ^{5, 6, 7}

Horses ridden, over any length of time, in a false bend, where excessive flexion occurs in the upper cervical region (C2-C3), will over-develop their brachiocephalic muscle, causing the splenius muscle – an important stabilizing and mobilizing muscle of the cervical region – to become under-developed.

When the head and neck are held in excessive flexion by ‘riding from front to back’, the back hollows, the spinous processes move closer together, the forelimbs may present with false elevation, and the hind limbs travel out behind. The front and hind limbs will likely not move in the proper sequence.

In this posture, the horse is unable to round his back which can lead to impinging spinous processes (kissing spine) and other physical problems. Horses not ridden in a healthy biomechanical posture are at risk of losing core stability, leading to weakness and increased risk of physical injury.

In closing…

Much progress has been made over the past 10 years to steer the dressage competition culture back on track. But there is still work to do. 

We need to influence the younger generation of trainers, riders, coaches, owners and anyone else involved in the dressage discipline, to challenge their current ideology, to rewire their thoughts through new or re-education. We all need to work together, on a global level. Not to point fingers, but to come up with fair and workable solutions together. It is always challenging to turn things around, but the positive changes we are seeing in this discipline are very encouraging.