'Radical new thoughts for dressage

Anna Ross on the recent winter championships and potential rule changes

- Anna Ross

ADDINGTON was a roaring success for the winter dressage championships. The excellent organisation from Show Direct carried the championships seamlessly over from Hartpury, with more space to ride and a stunning feature arena.

A bonus this year was the combination of live scoring and expert commentary by Judy Harvey, which brought the championships alive and were super-educational for those tuning in.

There has been some negative press about dressage recently. However there was a lot to be positive about at these championships: the beautiful riding, and seeing riders supporting one another in person and online, for example.

The number of successful British-bred champions – including Dannie Morgan’s Fever Tree, bred by David Stone, and Sadie Smith’s Swanmore Dantina, bred by Ben St John James – was great to see. 

A RULE REVAMP

TO criticise is the easiest job in the world, so it’s good to see solutions coming forward, however controversial they may be – it gets the conversation going past the naysayers.