Back to Normality
Olympics is on everyone’s lips these days, and with the rain of medals in eventing and dressage, our Olympians have performed splendidly. Nevertheless, the criticism does not subside; in dressage especially, emotions are running high, and unethical training practices, overly tight nosebands, insensitively handled curbs, hyperflexed horse necks (rollkur), exaggerated leg actions, and much more are (rightfully) criticized. And one begs the question—how could it ever come to this? How could such an animal-unfriendly riding spectacle evolve from classical horsemanship (l’Art pour l’Art, art for art’s sake)?
A comprehensive answer cannot be squeezed into the 3,000 characters available for a foreword, but in my eyes, there are three ‘main culprits’: the judging system, the judges, and the money. These connections can also be transferred to other areas outside of dressage—just think of the show ring for our Arabian horses! More and more, I am becoming convinced that the scoring system and the judges who apply it are the root of all evil, and this applies to dressage just as much as to the show ring. It makes no difference whether the 10-point or 20-point system is used, whether 5 or 10 judges evaluate, or whether the highest and lowest scores are dropped. These are all merely (futile) corrective measures that bear witness to the helplessness of those responsible for this misery.
The scoring system inherently promotes a tendency toward extremes, whether these are exaggerated leg movements or dished heads. In the past, this form of evaluation might still have worked. Back when dressage judges were actually still experts committed to classical horsemanship, and back when conformation judges were still recognized hippologists committed to the breed of the Arabian horse—back then, the scoring system might still have worked. But those days are over. Today, no judge wants to step out of line with ‘realistic’ grading and risk being booed by an unknowledgeable audience. Today, people want to please everyone, because otherwise, you end up in obscurity and won’t be invited back.
Money, the third main culprit, does the rest. It incites riders to tease out even more spectacular movements through even more dubious ‘training methods.’ And it incites handlers to use similarly questionable training methods to make the horse freeze in a state of shock during the line-up. The absurd millions now being flooded into the show ring by Qatar (Global Champions Arabians Tour) and the UAE (Emirates Global Cup) will by no means serve the welfare of the Arabian horse. Rather, it will fuel the ambition of everyone involved to finish further ahead through even more ‘tricks’ just to get a few crumbs of the pie.
We should get back down to earth and return to normalcy. The ‘Wüstenadel’ (Desert Nobility) show program put together by the Asil Club was a start. Yes, they were ‘amateur actors’ from the breeding community itself and not spectacular presentations that would have brought the audience to their feet. But it was horse-friendly. And that is where we need to return, because the majority of horse lovers do not want to see mistreated horses.
Gudrun Waiditschka
