Before I headed off to the airport yesterday, I rode Alf, Andy and Schufro. Luckily I think I have cracked the passage to extended trot transition on Andy, shoving my legs forward seems to do it - so he can't think of canter!
It's interesting to be at Academy Bartels in Holland attending the Global Dressage Forum for the first time. Lots of open discussion - not of all of which I agree with. There was also a discussion comparing two tests from the Olympics - I think its great to encourage such a forum where trainers, riders and judges are actually able to start a dialogue. I also think though, that the judges as a whole could be a little less defensive - I understand how tough it is for them and that they often feel attacked but at the same time, in a forum like this, discussion and openness is the aim. Is it possible that riders in their 8 mins in the arena make mistakes and are self critical, of course! Yet judges who have to sit there and concentrate for hours don't make the odd mistake? Come on! Everyone gets it wrong sometimes and that's fine and natural - we should be able to discuss it openly. I hope the forum brings more transparency to this concept, so we can talk without anyone feeling put on the spot or attacked.
Emma rode Lancet at the end of the section on Dutch breeding and horses - they were awesome and got lots of spontaneous applause as Lance performed all the moves with expression and ease and 100% regularity. In the evening the French Cadre Noir did a great display of horsemanship with all the classic military moves performed in a very horse-friendly way.
On the second day I watched a very interesting talk by a Dutch Sports psychologist who stressed the importance of moving on from a mistake during competition, in the right mind set. Our team physio' Andy did a brilliant talk on rider strength and conditioning and Emma and I were his guinea pigs. At the end I was kneeling on a ball and she was sitting on the wobble board and we threw a ball to each other. Andy was massively popular as he is funny but uses really great science to support him, at the same time as making it all totally practical to the rider and horse. (At the end we got Dutch team rider Laurens Van Lieren to have a go on the wobble board after a slightly cockey remark he made - thank god he struggled!!)
We had to leave half way through the last feature - Hubertus Schmidt's demo - a shame as I would have liked to see that but my Andy (four-legged) was on his way to Lyon with Claire - a girl at home who hasn't been to an international before so I wanted to get there before her to help sort everything out! My dad and I left the forum feeling like the forum itself was a great thing - well organised, friendly open atmosphere and interesting workshops. The only thing concerning me is the number of comments by judges, on Olympic tests, regards expressive front legs with little attention to irregularity behind, that so often coupled them! I flag up a warning about the direction our sport is heading in, if expression is deemed more important that regularity and throughness.
In the evening I got to Lyon just in time to sort Andy's stable before he arrived. He had travelled well and I gave him a little hand walk before having a good look at the impressive arena and set up of this 5* indoor facility.