‘Some of the best horses were, quite frankly, underwhelming early on,’ says Anna Ross reflecting on how good training can pay off

Anna Ross on the dressage at London International, young horses and why good training is rarely flashy or instagram worthy

As the horse world moves through the darkest, shortest days of the year and starts to seriously question its life choices, the perfectly timed glitz and glamour of the London International (LIHS) thankfully comes along to remind us why it’s all worth it.

Glamourdale and Lottie Fry appeared to have taken their fluency, power, and movie-star quality to a new level. “Glammy” has always been special, having won the dressage World Breeding Championships for Young Horses en route to grand prix greatness. But not all grand prix horses start out like that.

By their riders’ admissions, neither Swanmore Danitina nor Jagerbomb – the rides of Sadie Smith and Becky Moody – stood out as young horses. But with three solid paces and superb training, both have become megastars, inspiring in a different but equally compelling way.

Some of the best horses I’ve worked with were, quite frankly, underwhelming early on. They did, however, turn up every day, stay sound and quietly become very good while flashier horses were busy having “a few issues”.

Young horses can be a particular danger zone for human enthusiasm. “He finds it easy,” they say, but so does a child riding a bike downhill – it doesn’t mean we remove their brakes.

All our riders in London have worked the hard yards on their way to stardom. So it’s cheering to see that the best way to have top horses is still to be a very good rider.

It was great to see riders having fun with their music and the audience admiring Susan Pape’s classical elegant ride. We don’t get to see Team Pape much over here as they run a busy stud with many top stallions in Germany so tend to compete in Europe. They’re a force for good in dressage, sticking to classical values while still producing superstar horses that can compete in today’s climate.

Critical thinking

Of course, with LIHS comes opinion. David Sheerin, who is best known for running Wellington Riding, wrote a great post about critical thinking on his social media.

In critical thinking we ask awkward questions such as what happened before, what happened after, and whether the person watching might be missing information, enquiries that tend to be unpopular with those using the “town crier” approach to make their point.

Algorithms prefer emotion to accuracy so strong opinions travel further than careful ones. And ironically those eagle-eyed dressage enthusiasts who demand feel, timing and judgement in the saddle sometimes seem to abandon all three the moment they log on.

To suggest that a single clip may not represent an entire training system is to be accused of “normalising” something abhorrent. So where does that leave us? Possibly with a radical proposal: think before you react. If that sounds dangerous, don’t worry as it probably won’t start trending.

Meanwhile – in actual yards – training continues in its usual, unremarkable way. Riders try something, it doesn’t work, they adjust. Horses have opinions. Progress is incremental. None of these benefit from commentary.

In reality, most good training looks dull. Straight lines. Transitions. Circles. Not exciting or Instagrammable. But if your horse finishes a session thinking, “Well, that was quite reasonable,” you’ve probably done it right.

Depending on who you follow online, dressage is either in mortal danger or being saved by someone with a ring light and strong opinions.

“A blessed relief”

The new year brings new rules. I’m thoroughly looking forward to the introduction of the “use of voice” element. After years of honing the art of ventriloquism, it will be a blessed relief. But it raises questions. Are we working from the Oxford Dictionary, or is there a separate, more celestial glossary?

One rider’s perfectly innocent exclamation is another person’s blasphemy. Tone, of course, is everything. A cheerful “good girl” or an under-the-breath “really?” can all sound identical on paper, yet mean entirely different things in real life.

I look forward to discovering how these nuances will be officially classified.

Still, rules are rules. And if nothing else, the collective reduction in the rider’s facial contortions alone should be considered a Christmas welfare win, and those who can lip-read might have a jolly good chuckle!

● What is your best story of a horse who’s improved with time and training – and what do you make of online dressage commentary? We’d love to hear from you at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your thoughts to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine

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