'What are we waiting for?'

Carl Hester on adding give and retake of the reins to the grand prix test

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I WAS doing a clinic in California while the FEI General Assembly 2025 was taking place in Hong Kong, so with a long flight home and then starting teaching at what to me was lam with the time difference, I was reliant on WhatsApp for a full catch-up.

As I wrote in my column last year (26 September 2024), the introduction of a give and retake the reins at prix st georges and grand prix level was Kyra Kyrklund’s idea, which she had already put forward to the International Dressage Riders Club (IDRC) and the FEI.

As I said then, I think this is a brilliant idea. Correct stretch is a key sign of how your horse's work is progressing. It shows whether the outline just looks right - or if the horse is truly in self-carriage, without the rider hanging on. In a give and retake, if the horse stretches to the bit and doesn’t go behind the bit, it shows the horse is using its back, from hindleg to hand.