Karen Robinson
On November 2nd through 4th, Dressage Canada Canada's new national dressage organization presented the biggest dressage-focused symposium ever to be held in the country. Three day seminars were held with the same clinicians on consecutive weekends in Ontario and Southwestern BC. In all, close to 500 participants, attendees, volunteers and speakers gathered over the two weekends to share ideas and learn more about their sport. At the BC symposium, visitors came from as far afield as southern California to attend the three days of lectures and demonstrations. Heritage Park, a brand new equestrian facility built by the city of Chilliwack, was an excellent venue for the weekend, and its location a little outside Vancouver was convenient for visitors coming from outside of the area.
Unlike last year's national symposium series with Conrad Schumacher, the seminars involved a number of speakers and topics, as well as a greater number of horses and riders. The first day was devoted to the riding of the FEI five year old, six year old, and Prix St. Georges tests. Dr. Volker Moritz, who was the head of the dressage ground jury at the Olympics in Sydney, and who will again be the judge at C at the World Equestrian Games in Spain next year, judged the tests, and shared his scoring in great detail afterwards. Videos of the tests were shown as Dr. Moritz went through his test sheets and explained the marks.
AHSA (or USAE) 'S' level dressage judge Jane Weatherwax traveled from San Diego specifically to attend the symposium. She had been to a judging forum with Volker Moritz in Europe and was interested in learning more from him. "I think Volker Moritz is one of the most fabulous judges in the world right now." She was also eager to see some of the horses that she had judged at the BC Championships earlier this year. "I've judged in Canada a few times and you have wonderful horses up here, and so I thought: 'Nice horses, I actually have this weekend off, let's go to Canada!'" Weatherwax, who is working on obtaining her FEI judging status, found the work with young horses in the FEI five and six year old tests to be beneficial: "It's a fairly new thing for both your country and the States; it was nice to have that part."
Using the results of Dr. Moritz's judging of the FEI tests, Canadian Olympian Christilot Boylen and her partner Udo Lange, from Germany, worked with each horse and rider on the second day to enhance the performance of elements of the tests that showed a need for improvement. Boylen is directly involved with identifying, coaching and advising Canada's up-and-coming and international level dressage horses and riders. She lives and works in Germany with Lange, who has trained over 50 horses to Grand Prix and continues to actively compete in Europe. Dr. Moritz observed the sessions and gave feedback on the improvements, as well as suggestions for making a movement better still. Christilot and Udo also rode several of the horses to show specific movements performed correctly, and gave demonstrations of using work-in-hand and lunging as training tools.
German trainer Ingrid Klimke was also on the panel of speakers at the Ontario symposium. She was unable to attend the BC session due to a conflicting date with a memorial service for her late father, the great horseman Reiner Klimke; video footage of her demonstrations were shown at the BC session during breaks. Klimke's presentation focused on the use of dressage and gymnastic jumping for young and advanced jumping and event horses. Dressage Canada plans to continue to offer multi-disciplinary presentations at future dressage symposiums, to make them interesting and valuable for riders and trainers in all disciplines.
In addition to the mounted sessions, there were several presentations that didn't directly involve riding, but complemented the focus of the weekend. Fitness specialist Judith Hutchison gave a lively lecture on improving balance, strength and posture as they relate directly to riding. She used willing volunteers from the audience to demonstrate a number of exercises. There was also a highly energized presentation given by Vic Lindall, a coach and motivational speaker. Lindall managed the BC Best Ever program that was initiated in order to get as many BC athletes as possible to the 1988 Olympics. He has worked with athletes in every Olympic sport, including the equestrian disciplines. His presentation concentrated not on riding, but on achieving personal excellence, whatever the goal.
Another session of importance to members of the dressage community was an Equine Medication Forum held during the symposium. This forum was in response to a request for a change to the CEF Dressage rules regarding the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Currently, the Canadian dressage rules forbid the use of all drugs except for two brands of ulcer medication. The drugs of primary interest in the proposed rule change include Bute, Banamine, and Clenbutarola medication used to treat respiratory conditions. A panel of four speakers presented information and issues pertaining to the proposed changes. One of the main issues surrounding the possible rule change would be the impact it would have on Canada's dressage community as it relates to other governing bodies. If the changes were made to allow limited therapeutic use of NSAIDs, Canada would come into line with the USAE and USDF drug rules, making it simpler for American competitors to come to Canadian dressage shows without having to worry about different drug regulations. If the proposed changes are ratified, they will become effective within the next two years.
One of Dr. Moritz's main messages throughout his presentations and one that he reiterated in his closing remarks was that "Riders must try to ride the horse in the way that the judges expect." He acknowledged, however, that if judges have differing opinions, it is impossible for riders to do this. He stressed that, "The standard of judging must be the same everywhere in the world," and that this could be achieved only through educating judges and improving communication and understanding among judges, trainers and riders. By collaborating with the trainers Christilot Boylen and Udo Lange in the symposium, and communicating directly with the demonstration riders, he proved the depth of his beliefs in the importance of everyone "having the same goals".
The Dressage Canada organizing committee and its members look forward to hosting another successful symposium next year. They hope to see even more riders, trainers and judges come from the around western Canada and the U.S. to participate in this important and exciting exchange of ideas.