last updated on November 04, 2009 15:14

The ninth annual Global Dressage Forum was held at the Academy Bartels, Hooge Mierde, Holland, 26-27 October 2009, and provided a platform for top trainers, riders, officials and dressage enthusiasts the world over to discuss current training techniques and trends.

Team GB Dressage Captain Richard Davison chaired the two day conference and was interested to see the progression from previous years.

“I have moderated at each of Global forums for the past nine years so it’s interesting to compare the development,” said Davison. “This time around I really had the feeling that people felt everything was up for discussion. All issues were discussed with respect and recognition for differing opinions. I have always strongly believed that the Global Dressage Forum is THE open face-to-face universal forum and as delegates travel thousands of miles to attend, nothing should be swept under the carpet.”

“We had some hot topics this year and whether they come in the first five minutes, or the last, doesn’t matter to me as long as they are aired and people have their say as to the development of their sport. The quality of the technical presentations and expertise behind them was outstanding,” he added.

Trond Asmyr, the dressage director of the FEI said: “It is very interesting to be the dressage director of the FEI nowadays, as more things are going to change now than in the past twenty years.”

During the two days of lectures and demonstrations, many of the changes Mr Asmyr spoke of were highlighted by officials, trainers and scientists. There are proposals for a new Olympic format, with the team result no longer decided in the Grand Prix and the reserve riders to be permitted to start as individual entries. Also, the FEI representatives predicted that the kür to music will be even more prominent in dressage. Official Olympic judge Katrina Wüst gave her proposals for a new way of judging the kür in a more objective way by using a set point system for the degree of difficulty.

World Cup winner Steffen Peters from the USA was widely acclaimed the star of the Forum. During his first demo, he trained four advanced combinations from the ground then rode two horses he hadn’t ridden before - a 9 year old son of Jazz and Imke Schellekens-Bartels’ Ferero, a gelding by Ferro. The next day he trained some younger partnerships and he also rode an inexperienced three year old horse. Peters showed how training in dressage has proceeded over the last years, as he demonstrated the perfect combination of classical background and modern sports principles.

Other interesting items included a demonstration by physical sports specialist Dr Eckart Meyners and Heike Kemmer, a lecture on doping by Dr Frits Sluyter, a lecture on the prevention of injuries by Dr Rachel Murray and a lecture on the specialised treatment of hooves by master farrier, Rob Renirie.

Professor David Stickland presented the findings from his statistical evaluation of five years of international judging. His huge work, the analysis of all individual judges’ scores at many hundreds of events, gave a great insight into the judging process. Overall, the five judges at international shows have an average deviation of 1.6%. Stickland has calculated that that an average deviation of 1% is possible, and was almost reached at the European Championships, Windsor.

Stickland concluded that the judges are quite okay, but the system of judging is not. He commented that there is not enough evaluation, which is necessary for the educational process and a supervising panel must be introduced, as is the case with many other sports.

The Forum came to an end with a clinic by top German trainer Ton de Ridder on the preparation for dressage tests. He presented some talented riders and horses and showed the details which are important during the warm-up and can make a difference in the test.

For more information on the World Dressage Forum visit www.globaldressageforum.com