Exciting Global Dressage Forum

The Global Dressage Forum, organised by Academy Bartels with the trainers club IDTC, took place on 30 and 31 October in Hooge Mierde, the Netherlands. It turned out to be an exciting event, with lectures and clinics by horse whisperer Monty Roberts, Olympic champion Anky van Grunsven, top trainer Hubertus Schmidt and FEI chief Mariette Withages. Highlight was the discussion about the training methods of Anky, including some real ‘hot’ moments.

Over 350 riders, trainers, judges, scientists and officials from 25 countries came to the Academy in Hooge Mierde for the dressage Forum of the year, taking place for the sixth time. The first day was opened by a lecture and demonstration by German team rider Hubertus Schmidt. Schmidt showed his abilities with the 7-year old Rhinelander gelding Furst Fabio, an ex Bundeschampionat winner, underlining the importance of looseness and suppleness with the achievement of “schwung” as goal. Schmidt’s told that the horse has to maintain a light contact with the bit while stretching towards the bit at all times. The second speaker of the day was the Dutch sports psychologist Dr. Rico Schuijers who showed useful techniques to acquire the right frame of mind and concentration for a competition. Dutch team member Laurens van Lieren as well as Olympic archery medallist Wietse van Alten demonstrated certain relaxation and focal strategies to come into the right frame of mind for competitions. During the evening session The American horse whisperer Monty Roberts spoke for the first time at a dressage forum and showed the importance of trust and communication with the horse in order to achieve a positive relationship with it.

The second day started with a lecture by the Australian zoologist and ex 3-day event rider Andrew McLean, who explained equine psychology. Dressage riders mainly apply operant conditioning by pressure-release, and negative and positive reinforcement. McLean demonstrated his theory by working Imke Schellekens’ young stallion Aachen (by Arpeggio) in-hand, who was very naughty in hand and McLean showed that by telling the horse to rein back each time he wants to go forward, you give a clear signal to him that he has to wait for your sign to move. Mariette Withages then reviewed the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen. The audience was invited to judge the Grand Prix Special test of Mexican Bernadette Pujals, Danish Andreas Helgstrand and German Isabell Werth. Each movement and its score were publicly discussed and the audience finally got the opportunity to voice their opinion on why they did not agree with the judges’ marks. The final session of the day was on coaching and hyperflexion. Dr. Rene van Weeren discussed his observations on his scientific research studying the low-deep and round (LDR) head position of the horse. So far he has come to the conclusion that from a biomechanical viewpoint there is no reason to contest this method. Sjef Janssen spoke about his training and coaching methods, followed by a training demonstration in which Van Grunsven rode Painted Black in the LDR position. The panel discussion, including a rather hot debate between van Grunsven en 2 German journalists, was the end of 2 most interesting days. Many people in the audience, who had been at the GDF for several years, agreed that this was the most interesting dressage Forum ever. See the February issue for a full report from Karen Robinson.