Our 1st warmblood purchase, Oldenburg premier colt, Fenix, Furiano/Aktuell/Weltmeister. Everything in life comes full circle and in horse breeding it is apparently no different. As dressage competitors/clinicians we began our horse owning experiences with two geldings, a Morgan and a Standardbred. The former was trained to do anything but stay grounded with four legs on the floor is seemed. Meanwhile the 16 year old Standardbred had spent his previous six years as a successful Grand Prix horse before we bought him. Only trouble was, the Grand Prix experience was in the showjumping arena not the dressage one. Of course since those early years in 1981 and forward from that time there were many breeds of horses that found their way into our yard, initially mostly male gender. But then of course the horse breeding bug began. And after several OTTBs, Quarterhorses, an Appendix Quarterhorse, an Arabian and Welsh pony for the kids, we branched out into more mare ownership and stallions wit
It's not the judges' fault there is no open option to offer advice My attendance at a recent show that was a non-dressage event revealed to me the reality of what showing and competition is for most equestrians. Although I competed in multiple disciplines in my youth I had simply forgotten how things worked outside of our lettered arena. This reveal was the seemingly outdated system of merely issuing points for qualifiers for future competition and placement of 1-6 and nothing further. In dressage test sheets offer comprehensive help In dressage we are fortunate that every score for every aspect is defined in our tests, and that beside each score the judge offers a comment or two. Sometimes positive, often negative (but hopefully always constructive) critical comments. At the end of the test sheet there are collective remarks that further help the competitor understand the errors of their ways, areas where improvements can be made and offer praise where it is due. We are so l