DESPITE all the restrictions and lockdowns in the past 18 months or so, the Judges Committee of Dressage Ireland managed to arrange training for those on List 6 to 3A while around a dozen people moved on to the overall list or upgraded.

Unfortunately, Britain-based training for higher level judges was not possible although some did take place during the Horse Sport Ireland National Championships at Barnadown in September. The Committee plans to re-establish training in Britain in the New Year.

In early November, the Committee organised a two-day Judges’ Gala at Spruce Lodge where Christoph Hess, former Head of Education and Training at the German Equestrian Federation, was the guest speaker on the theme of the principles of judging young horses.

“The Gala was amazingly successful,” said Committee Chairman Dermot Cannon. “Christoph showed how young horses immediately improved when kept in front of the leg. He commented that all 11 of the Guinea Pigs needed to be more in front of the rider to show their quality and potential.”

The Gala, which was supported by Horse Sport Ireland and was open to all, was covered for the Irish Horse World by Siobhan English who noted that “those in attendance over the two days clung onto every word” Hess uttered. Among those words was his comment on the use of FEI tests in dressage in Ireland.

Using the FEI tests “will bring the sport more and more to an international level,” he said. “I wouldn’t do this today or tomorrow but slowly, perhaps in the next three years.

“The riders need to know what level of tests they have to ride. They have to be able to train the horses. We need to realise that the test for the six-year-old horses is much more difficult than we have seen this weekend. The riders have to train to do flying changes in the winter before the horses are six. If they don’t, they have no chance of competing at international level.”