THE HORSE MAGAZINE

It's a decision that often produces the most amazingly bizarre choices. In an effort to return some sanity to the situation, we have asked an all star panel of experts to list the factors they take into account before they move to the ultimate 'S' factor - the Sale.

S is for Schooling

Clemens Dierks is Australia's Olympic Coach, and is the trainer who is credited with single handedly ushering in real FEI level competition in Australia. We asked him, how much schooling should my new dressage purchase have?

"There are two reasons for buying a dressage horse. Either to train a horse up to in the long term to be competitively successful at the highest level, or a horse to enjoy competition immediately. It is better in my opinion to buy a horse with schooling of a very light medium level, that will show up rideability, trainability, movement, submission - all basic requirements - and it will also show up, the ability to do a flying change, and a few half steps (beginnings of piaffe/passage). The horse should show walk, trot, canter, all transitions, go on the bit with impulsion, go straight, be supple, be relaxed, be submissive. From then on, a rider with some talent should be able to make it."
For a young rider would you go for a schoolmaster or a horse that was slightly less educated but with a lot of talent?
"I don't mind a schoolmaster for a young rider, provided the price is reasonable. Schoolmasters are sometimes a bit expensive but they can be very good."
When I go to buy the medium level horse, how do I know that it hasn't been tried in the higher movements, and failed, and that is why the horse is for sale?
"If you have a horse with very good paces, that shows a little bit of half steps, with no resistance - or minimal normal resistance - then any professional can tell that everything is okay. At medium level you look at one flying change left and right, and if that is working very well, then you shouldn't have any problems."
How do I tell the difference between a horse that is genuinely educated and one that has just been 'tricked' up?
"That is normally very simple. If a horse has been educated in a proper way - let's say to Prix St Georges - then it will have a history of competition, which is part of the education. The horse cannot be a Prix St Georges horse unless it has competed Prix St Georges, it cannot be upgraded at home. If you have a tricked up horse, whatever tricks it will do, will be bad. They may fool people with no knowledge, but in general a tricked up horse would not even perform the tricks well enough. You can tell from the basic qualities: submissiveness, if it goes over the back, if it maintains straightness - if that is not there, you know that it has just been tricked up to sell to someone with no knowledge."
So what do you look for?
"I basically look for good paces and good rideability. Even the level of temperament must be different for each rider. Some can handle horses that are totally unsuitable for others. The talented rider who can cope with a bit of nerve, can make something brilliant out of a difficult horse."
Rideability or paces - which is the most important?
"I go for both, but it is no good if you have a rideable horse that cannot move..."
"But remember, the horse will only go as well as the talent of the rider, that is always true."

S is for, Soundness

Trevor Robson practices veterinary medicine in the heart of Australian dressage territory, near Windsor, and he was the dressage team vet at the last World Championships in Rome. A large part of Trevor's practice revolves around the soundness - or otherwise - of dressage horses...

"The most important areas of soundness are their feet and their joints. There are two main things you need when you buy a dressage horse - one you need a good mind that is trainable. Now I can't pick that, and I don't think anyone can really. Certain horses will train well to a particular level, then they say, 'bugger it, I'm not doing any more movements', and just refuse. There's certainly a big mental element involved that you can't really measure until you start training them. Some horses train really well, some refuse to learn after a certain point."
"The second thing you have to look at is leg soundness, which is also very important. Because they are not working with a lot of adrenalin, they've got to be absolutely level in their movements. It's important that they don't have a lot of arthritic changes, and generally are pretty sound."
"What you would like to see with a horse that is just setting out on its dressage career, is a horse that is dead level in its gaits, and even. You would like to see it show little pain on flexion and on flexion tests, and you would like to see it level and even on the lunge. On top of that, especially if you are paying a lot of money, you'd like to do quite a detailed series of radiographs. This is to make sure there is nothing going on inside the joint that is not visible to the naked eye, which may, under a little bit more work, develop into a problem. You are looking for evidence of an early arthritic change or a little chip just sitting there, that may be trouble further down the line. Putting all these things together, you can make a decision."
"Obviously if you are buying an older dressage horse, or a horse at the Grand Prix level, then the horse has been schooling for years and years, very few of them will pass on that criteria, because most of them have got some sort of arthritic change somewhere. If you are buying that sort of horse, you have to be prepared to accept some sort of arthritis, and then you have to make a decision to determine the balance between their schooling and their arthritic changes. You've got to make some assessment of how much wear and tear they've got, whether they start a bit scratchy and warm up quickly, whether they warm up slowly, how they feel when they are being ridden."
Mary Hanna said to me one time how impressed she was that when you vetted Mosaic for her, you said 'well there is degeneration, but you should be able to manage it' - and that was several World Cups and an Olympic Games ago...
"There are changes on a radiograph that aren't going to worry a horse too much. We are a little bit lucky these days in that most dressage riders are getting very clever and most do ride on very good surfaces. Chronic foot concussion effects, like side bone and pedal ostitis usually come from working on hard ground - most people who are serious riders have brilliant arenas these days, which means you can carry and manage feet problems really well."
Do you need a vet with some knowledge of what a dressage horse actually does, to give you good advice?
"For sure, the more experience you've got, the better you can talk to a client. The unfortunate thing whenever you buy a dressage horse is that at some point, most of them go sore. That's just a sad fact of life. It's like buying a new car, at some stage you are going to have trouble with it, maybe fifteen years down the line. You can even make some assessment of the horse's pain tolerance, to determine whether it is going to react violently to minor little problems, or tolerate them."
Are there some things you just won't tolerate in a dressage horse?
"It comes down to the level and the amount of work you are doing, but certainly young horses that haven't done much work that show reasonably advanced arthritic changes; horses that are young and haven't done much work, that are not moving evenly; horses that show significant changes on their navicular bones without having done much work - those are all things you would be very cautious about."
Do you want to take blood to check for things like bute?
"What we always do these days at a vet check, is offer the client the option of taking a blood test. Unfortunately you can never tell, and never predict, who will, and who won't, give bute. Clients are always offered that option of having bute and sedative tests done on the horse. Bute is not a major problem in the dressage horse world, most come back clean, but we always offer the option of a test."
Are you interested if the horse has been on a course of joint helpers - like Pentosan?
"It's probably not a question we ask in too much detail. On your examination, if the horse needed a lot of joint help, you would have found some arthritic changes. If the horse's joints feel sensational, the x-rays are good, then if they have been giving the horse Pentosan or something like that, then it has probably only been precautionary, so it's probably not a major question."
Foot problems a worry?
"Degenerative joint disease involving the foot, like navicular, is certainly a concern. Because dressage horses spend their whole lives going in circles, which in nature they weren't really designed to do, the joints below the fetlock, like the pastern joints and the navicular joints, get a lot of wear, and they are the joints you have to put a lot of pressure on. The other area of focus is the lower joints in the hock, the turning joints. The dressage horse's legs are probably getting more turning than they were designed to cope with."
Was it a problem with some of the earlier, more old fashioned Warmbloolds, with very large horses and very small feet?
"It was but I think people are getting smarter these days, and they know a lot more about what to look for. At the end of the day, buying a dressage horse is like buying a second hand car, there is always a bit of a risk but all the vet has to do is tell the client as much as he possibly can about the horse's health and status, and radiographs, at that time - then the client at the end of the day has to think about the horse's good points, think about the horse's bad points, think about how much money they are paying, and then they've got to make a decision."

S is for Sex (and Size)

Caroline Coleby has a formidable reputation as an FEI level dressage competitor, trainer, stud manager, breeder and judge. Caroline has also stood a number of stallions - we asked her how factors of sex and size affected the choice of a dressage horse?

"The sex of the horse is really immaterial, but I don't think anyone needs to be buying a stallion or a colt unless they know what they are doing. My inclination is that I wouldn't not buy a stallion, just as I wouldn't not buy a mare or a gelding, but you've got to look at who is doing the buying. You have to be very experienced to buy a stallion. If you have an inexperienced young buyer who buys a young stallion, then they are going to have far more problems than if they bought a young gelding. If I was buying for myself and the best horse available was a stallion, I would buy it."
And keep it a stallion?
"If it was well behaved, and suitable to keep as a stallion. Technically the stallion is a commercial horse, whereas your mare can't be commercial while she is being competitive. I've seen horses that have competed, and been breeding stallions, and it wasn't a drama. Certainly it can be more complicated - there are incidents all the time, of breeding stallions that act dangerously in company. You have to weigh it up. You've got some stallions that have never bred that are dangerous, and some that breed 60 mares a season and who know their job and are not a problem to take out and do things with. Stallions are certainly not suitable for inexperienced riders, but having said that there are always exceptions. You see stallions now that are plonking around with inept riders on them, and they cope perfectly - but I certainly would not recommend it."
Mares?
"Mares themselves, I find are no drama. I've got people I teach with mares, and I've always wanted mares myself. My mares are not interested in other horses, they are boss mares, they are there to do a job, they are work horses and they know it. I like mares because you have an entire that has not got its hormones ruling its brain."
The myth that mares are more moody...
"I've got two mares that I show and compete with, and they are never moody. I don't even know it when they are in season. I've seen mares that are a drama when they are in season, but touch wood, I've never worked with them.
Geldings?
"I know people who 'can' mares on their sex, but I've seen a lot of geldings who are not 'canned' because they were geldings, but they were certainly difficult to deal with. Gelding takes away the hormones and makes them easier to deal with - if you've got a stallion that is being a problem, geld it, and it will be easier to deal with."
What about size, it's a cliche, the five foot nothing lady dressage rider on the 18 hand horse?
"I always think that you are better off under mounted on a horse that is a bit small, than over mounted. I tend to advise people to do that, yet my own inclination is always to have more power rather than less. More power doesn't necessarily mean 17 hands - you can have very powerful 16 hand horses, and you can really manage that power... whereas you get the 17.2 horse and it is like a Mack truck without the power steering. When you get a smaller horse with heaps of power, it is easier to deal with."
"Supposedly some horses are too small to be dressage horses, but there are always people who will produce the exception. There are 14.3 horses overseas that have gone to the World Games, we've got very little horses in Australia that are competitive at Grand Prix. All other things being equal, you couldn't not buy the horse because it was a little bit smaller. I'm sure Mary Hanna is quite happy she bought Mosaic who would be classified as a slightly smaller horse. I'd go for smaller rather than gigantic, because they are sounder, easy to travel, easy to stable, everything fits them - you get a really big horse and you need a new float, a new stable, you pay the farrier extra for size 19 shoes. And then the horse doesn't stay sound because it is too big and clumsy. I am anti-size - despite the fact that I always seem to end up with quite big horses."

S is for Swoon

That secret added extra! Victorian FEI rider, Emma Youngman shot into the Grand Prix ranks on the chestnut Jahnus. Now she is turning heads with the black imported Swedish stallion, Rasputin and has another Swedish stallion, Magritte ready to start out on the Australian competition scene. How important is that first impression?

"I think a horse with a lot of presence will go a long way. It's just a personal thing, everyone has different tastes in horses, but if you look at my three at the moment, and the ones I have bought in the past, the feature that stands out is the eyes. That seems to be my soft spot, big expressive soft eyes. The swoon factor is important because it means the horse has that 'look at me' quality."
And Rasputin seems to be the one that gets spectators swooning, did he have that effect on you?
"Right from the start. That first ride was so special, his back was so supple and soft - then when they were untacking him in the stables, I looked at his little face, and thought, 'yes, I have to take you home'. It's a very personal thing for me. It's like when you really hit it off famously with someone, first time you meet them. I don't know why, but you think, 'Yep, that's it' - it is the same quality with horses. If you have to look more than two or three times at the horse, then perhaps it is not the horse for you. To be right the horse has to stand out and smack you in the face and say 'I'm going to be your friend and we are going to get along'. If you can't get along with a horse, if you don't like the way they look at you, then you are on the back foot right from the start. When you find the horse you ought to buy, you should know it straight away."

S is for, So what do you pay?
Overseas
Mary Hanna right now has a stable of competition horses, all of which she purchased overseas and she has been 'shopping' in Europe for over a decade now . Just what has she learnt?

"If you are shopping overseas, the first thing to remember is that most people barter. If they quote a huge price to you, and you are amazed, keep trying - sometimes, not always, they will bargain a lot more than we do here in Australia."
"If I am shopping overseas, I try to give them a rough idea of how much I am prepared to spend, and I probably make that a bit less than what I am really prepared to spend. If they then show me something that I don't like, I ask to see something better, because if it is a dealer you haven't dealt with before, usually they will try to show you something a bit ordinary at first."
Mary has bought everything from weanlings in the paddock to FEI horses - what's the best way to go?
"I've had success and failures at all levels. I think basically the best horses I've bought, have been when I haven't been looking to buy a horse at all. When I bought Limbo, I was not looking for a horse at all..."
Are horses more or less expensive in Europe than they are in Australia?
"The really good horses are very expensive in Europe, ordinary horses are sometimes more expensive here in Australia."
What should I expect to pay in Europe?
"Obviously the younger they are the cheaper they generally are - you should be able to buy a nice weanling for around $10,000, that should get you a real top-of-the-line weanling. I think good young horses are cheaper in Europe, and there are a lot more to choose from."
A nice three year old just broken horse?
"It varies a lot on the quality of the horses. You'd be looking at spending $50,000 to $80,000, that's a gelding. A good stallion could be a lot more expensive."
For a horse ready to go FEI?
"On our experience, a minimum of $200,000 and then the sky is the limit. If you connect with someone good, who will sell to you privately, then you can buy a good horse for around $200,000, you've just got to be in the right place at the right time."
And what about horses in Australia?
"If I see a nice horse at a competition in Australia, and as soon as I am interested, they are never for sale. All my horses I've got now, I've bought overseas."

And in Australia?
Australian born Andrew and his German born wife, Steffi Stevens run a small European style dressage yard - Courtland Horses at Coolana, just outside Brisbane. They specialise in producing dressage prospects - we asked Andrew to give us an idea of Australian prices:

"People talk about the really highly priced dressage horses on the market, but really the volume is in the under $10,000 bracket - you can sell as many of them as you can find."
What do you buy for under $10,000?
"You probably get a Warmblood - everyone wants Warmbloods - without the big movement. If they want the Warmblood dressage prospect that is a big mover, they are going to have to spend $15-20,000. Our Queensland prices are a bit lower - they are higher in Sydney and Melbourne. You can buy a nice 3 to 5 year old dressage prospect, not a super mover, but a very nice sound proposition for eight to ten grand."
The horse that looks as if it will go Grand Prix?
"You can get something pretty flash for 15 to 20."
Moving up the scale, I don't want to muck around with all those lower grade tests, I want FEI and I want it now?
"If you want to go to the CDI, State or National finals, you'll probably have to spend $80-100,000, but if you just want to compete Prix St Georges on something that can do the movements, maybe with not a great deal of talent, then you might find an old one for say $30,000."
When you are advising your clients, would you try to steer them in the direction of the younger, scopier horse - or the more schooled model?
"It depends on the client. If it is a sixty year old lady, and she is timid, I'm not going to put her on something scopey. The clients come to us with such a definite list of requirements. We have very little role in deciding what they want - they already know what they want: it's impossible to find, so the whole operation revolves around how far they are prepared to compromise. They are not going to get a 16.3 hand, stunning looking five year old Warmblood that has been started by the best German bereiter, black with four white socks, and floating round for 70% in every class, on their budget of $5,000. It's not always the budgetary constraints, it's often unrealistic expectations of a certain colour, or a certain sex - some would not look at a mare, must be a gelding, must be bay, won't look at any greys, won't look at anything that is under five. The horse that fulfils all their other requirements may be available but it is four - people have to learn that a good horse is a good horse, and they are not going to get everything on their list."

So there you are - a brief tour of some of the factors you have to weigh up in purchasing a dressage horse. Please take time, seek out genuinely independent advice (and results!) and take a long hard look at yourself and just what you want from that future dressage horse.
Oh, and, good luck!

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	AUSTRALIA'S NUMBER ONE EQUESTRIAN MAGAZINE
		It's a decision that often produces the most amazingly bizarre choices. In an effort to return some sanity to the situation, we have asked an all star panel of experts to list the factors they take into account before they move to the ultimate 'S' factor - the Sale. S is for Schooling Clemens Dierks is Australia's Olympic Coach, and is the trainer who is credited with single handedly ushering in real FEI level competition in Australia. We asked him, how much schooling should my new dressage purchase have? "There are two reasons for buying a dressage horse. Either to train a horse up to in the long term to be competitively successful at the highest level, or a horse to enjoy competition immediately. It is better in my opinion to buy a horse with schooling of a very light medium level, that will show up rideability, trainability, movement, submission - all basic requirements - and it will also show up, the ability to do a flying change, and a few half steps (beginnings of piaffe/passage). The horse should show walk, trot, canter, all transitions, go on the bit with impulsion, go straight, be supple, be relaxed, be submissive. From then on, a rider with some talent should be able to make it." For a young rider would you go for a schoolmaster or a horse that was slightly less educated but with a lot of talent? "I don't mind a schoolmaster for a young rider, provided the price is reasonable. Schoolmasters are sometimes a bit expensive but they can be very good." When I go to buy the medium level horse, how do I know that it hasn't been tried in the higher movements, and failed, and that is why the horse is for sale? "If you have a horse with very good paces, that shows a little bit of half steps, with no resistance - or minimal normal resistance - then any professional can tell that everything is okay. At medium level you look at one flying change left and right, and if that is working very well, then you shouldn't have any problems." How do I tell the difference between a horse that is genuinely educated and one that has just been 'tricked' up? "That is normally very simple. If a horse has been educated in a proper way - let's say to Prix St Georges - then it will have a history of competition, which is part of the education. The horse cannot be a Prix St Georges horse unless it has competed Prix St Georges, it cannot be upgraded at home. If you have a tricked up horse, whatever tricks it will do, will be bad. They may fool people with no knowledge, but in general a tricked up horse would not even perform the tricks well enough. You can tell from the basic qualities: submissiveness, if it goes over the back, if it maintains straightness - if that is not there, you know that it has just been tricked up to sell to someone with no knowledge." So what do you look for? "I basically look for good paces and good rideability. Even the level of temperament must be different for each rider. Some can handle horses that are totally unsuitable for others. The talented rider who can cope with a bit of nerve, can make something brilliant out of a difficult horse." Rideability or paces - which is the most important? "I go for both, but it is no good if you have a rideable horse that cannot move..." "But remember, the horse will only go as well as the talent of the rider, that is always true." S is for, Soundness Trevor Robson practices veterinary medicine in the heart of Australian dressage territory, near Windsor, and he was the dressage team vet at the last World Championships in Rome. A large part of Trevor's practice revolves around the soundness - or otherwise - of dressage horses... "The most important areas of soundness are their feet and their joints. There are two main things you need when you buy a dressage horse - one you need a good mind that is trainable. Now I can't pick that, and I don't think anyone can really. Certain horses will train well to a particular level, then they say, 'bugger it, I'm not doing any more movements', and just refuse. There's certainly a big mental element involved that you can't really measure until you start training them. Some horses train really well, some refuse to learn after a certain point." "The second thing you have to look at is leg soundness, which is also very important. Because they are not working with a lot of adrenalin, they've got to be absolutely level in their movements. It's important that they don't have a lot of arthritic changes, and generally are pretty sound." "What you would like to see with a horse that is just setting out on its dressage career, is a horse that is dead level in its gaits, and even. You would like to see it show little pain on flexion and on flexion tests, and you would like to see it level and even on the lunge. On top of that, especially if you are paying a lot of money, you'd like to do quite a detailed series of radiographs. This is to make sure there is nothing going on inside the joint that is not visible to the naked eye, which may, under a little bit more work, develop into a problem. You are looking for evidence of an early arthritic change or a little chip just sitting there, that may be trouble further down the line. Putting all these things together, you can make a decision." "Obviously if you are buying an older dressage horse, or a horse at the Grand Prix level, then the horse has been schooling for years and years, very few of them will pass on that criteria, because most of them have got some sort of arthritic change somewhere. If you are buying that sort of horse, you have to be prepared to accept some sort of arthritis, and then you have to make a decision to determine the balance between their schooling and their arthritic changes. You've got to make some assessment of how much wear and tear they've got, whether they start a bit scratchy and warm up quickly, whether they warm up slowly, how they feel when they are being ridden." Mary Hanna said to me one time how impressed she was that when you vetted Mosaic for her, you said 'well there is degeneration, but you should be able to manage it' - and that was several World Cups and an Olympic Games ago... "There are changes on a radiograph that aren't going to worry a horse too much. We are a little bit lucky these days in that most dressage riders are getting very clever and most do ride on very good surfaces. Chronic foot concussion effects, like side bone and pedal ostitis usually come from working on hard ground - most people who are serious riders have brilliant arenas these days, which means you can carry and manage feet problems really well." Do you need a vet with some knowledge of what a dressage horse actually does, to give you good advice? "For sure, the more experience you've got, the better you can talk to a client. The unfortunate thing whenever you buy a dressage horse is that at some point, most of them go sore. That's just a sad fact of life. It's like buying a new car, at some stage you are going to have trouble with it, maybe fifteen years down the line. You can even make some assessment of the horse's pain tolerance, to determine whether it is going to react violently to minor little problems, or tolerate them." Are there some things you just won't tolerate in a dressage horse? "It comes down to the level and the amount of work you are doing, but certainly young horses that haven't done much work that show reasonably advanced arthritic changes; horses that are young and haven't done much work, that are not moving evenly; horses that show significant changes on their navicular bones without having done much work - those are all things you would be very cautious about." Do you want to take blood to check for things like bute? "What we always do these days at a vet check, is offer the client the option of taking a blood test. Unfortunately you can never tell, and never predict, who will, and who won't, give bute. Clients are always offered that option of having bute and sedative tests done on the horse. Bute is not a major problem in the dressage horse world, most come back clean, but we always offer the option of a test." Are you interested if the horse has been on a course of joint helpers - like Pentosan? "It's probably not a question we ask in too much detail. On your examination, if the horse needed a lot of joint help, you would have found some arthritic changes. If the horse's joints feel sensational, the x-rays are good, then if they have been giving the horse Pentosan or something like that, then it has probably only been precautionary, so it's probably not a major question." Foot problems a worry? "Degenerative joint disease involving the foot, like navicular, is certainly a concern. Because dressage horses spend their whole lives going in circles, which in nature they weren't really designed to do, the joints below the fetlock, like the pastern joints and the navicular joints, get a lot of wear, and they are the joints you have to put a lot of pressure on. The other area of focus is the lower joints in the hock, the turning joints. The dressage horse's legs are probably getting more turning than they were designed to cope with." Was it a problem with some of the earlier, more old fashioned Warmbloolds, with very large horses and very small feet? "It was but I think people are getting smarter these days, and they know a lot more about what to look for. At the end of the day, buying a dressage horse is like buying a second hand car, there is always a bit of a risk but all the vet has to do is tell the client as much as he possibly can about the horse's health and status, and radiographs, at that time - then the client at the end of the day has to think about the horse's good points, think about the horse's bad points, think about how much money they are paying, and then they've got to make a decision." S is for Sex (and Size) Caroline Coleby has a formidable reputation as an FEI level dressage competitor, trainer, stud manager, breeder and judge. Caroline has also stood a number of stallions - we asked her how factors of sex and size affected the choice of a dressage horse? "The sex of the horse is really immaterial, but I don't think anyone needs to be buying a stallion or a colt unless they know what they are doing. My inclination is that I wouldn't not buy a stallion, just as I wouldn't not buy a mare or a gelding, but you've got to look at who is doing the buying. You have to be very experienced to buy a stallion. If you have an inexperienced young buyer who buys a young stallion, then they are going to have far more problems than if they bought a young gelding. If I was buying for myself and the best horse available was a stallion, I would buy it." And keep it a stallion? "If it was well behaved, and suitable to keep as a stallion. Technically the stallion is a commercial horse, whereas your mare can't be commercial while she is being competitive. I've seen horses that have competed, and been breeding stallions, and it wasn't a drama. Certainly it can be more complicated - there are incidents all the time, of breeding stallions that act dangerously in company. You have to weigh it up. You've got some stallions that have never bred that are dangerous, and some that breed 60 mares a season and who know their job and are not a problem to take out and do things with. Stallions are certainly not suitable for inexperienced riders, but having said that there are always exceptions. You see stallions now that are plonking around with inept riders on them, and they cope perfectly - but I certainly would not recommend it." Mares? "Mares themselves, I find are no drama. I've got people I teach with mares, and I've always wanted mares myself. My mares are not interested in other horses, they are boss mares, they are there to do a job, they are work horses and they know it. I like mares because you have an entire that has not got its hormones ruling its brain." The myth that mares are more moody... "I've got two mares that I show and compete with, and they are never moody. I don't even know it when they are in season. I've seen mares that are a drama when they are in season, but touch wood, I've never worked with them. Geldings? "I know people who 'can' mares on their sex, but I've seen a lot of geldings who are not 'canned' because they were geldings, but they were certainly difficult to deal with. Gelding takes away the hormones and makes them easier to deal with - if you've got a stallion that is being a problem, geld it, and it will be easier to deal with." What about size, it's a cliche, the five foot nothing lady dressage rider on the 18 hand horse? "I always think that you are better off under mounted on a horse that is a bit small, than over mounted. I tend to advise people to do that, yet my own inclination is always to have more power rather than less. More power doesn't necessarily mean 17 hands - you can have very powerful 16 hand horses, and you can really manage that power... whereas you get the 17.2 horse and it is like a Mack truck without the power steering. When you get a smaller horse with heaps of power, it is easier to deal with." "Supposedly some horses are too small to be dressage horses, but there are always people who will produce the exception. There are 14.3 horses overseas that have gone to the World Games, we've got very little horses in Australia that are competitive at Grand Prix. All other things being equal, you couldn't not buy the horse because it was a little bit smaller. I'm sure Mary Hanna is quite happy she bought Mosaic who would be classified as a slightly smaller horse. I'd go for smaller rather than gigantic, because they are sounder, easy to travel, easy to stable, everything fits them - you get a really big horse and you need a new float, a new stable, you pay the farrier extra for size 19 shoes. And then the horse doesn't stay sound because it is too big and clumsy. I am anti-size - despite the fact that I always seem to end up with quite big horses." S is for Swoon That secret added extra! Victorian FEI rider, Emma Youngman shot into the Grand Prix ranks on the chestnut Jahnus. Now she is turning heads with the black imported Swedish stallion, Rasputin and has another Swedish stallion, Magritte ready to start out on the Australian competition scene. How important is that first impression? "I think a horse with a lot of presence will go a long way. It's just a personal thing, everyone has different tastes in horses, but if you look at my three at the moment, and the ones I have bought in the past, the feature that stands out is the eyes. That seems to be my soft spot, big expressive soft eyes. The swoon factor is important because it means the horse has that 'look at me' quality." And Rasputin seems to be the one that gets spectators swooning, did he have that effect on you? "Right from the start. That first ride was so special, his back was so supple and soft - then when they were untacking him in the stables, I looked at his little face, and thought, 'yes, I have to take you home'. It's a very personal thing for me. It's like when you really hit it off famously with someone, first time you meet them. I don't know why, but you think, 'Yep, that's it' - it is the same quality with horses. If you have to look more than two or three times at the horse, then perhaps it is not the horse for you. To be right the horse has to stand out and smack you in the face and say 'I'm going to be your friend and we are going to get along'. If you can't get along with a horse, if you don't like the way they look at you, then you are on the back foot right from the start. When you find the horse you ought to buy, you should know it straight away." S is for, So what do you pay? Overseas Mary Hanna right now has a stable of competition horses, all of which she purchased overseas and she has been 'shopping' in Europe for over a decade now . Just what has she learnt? "If you are shopping overseas, the first thing to remember is that most people barter. If they quote a huge price to you, and you are amazed, keep trying - sometimes, not always, they will bargain a lot more than we do here in Australia." "If I am shopping overseas, I try to give them a rough idea of how much I am prepared to spend, and I probably make that a bit less than what I am really prepared to spend. If they then show me something that I don't like, I ask to see something better, because if it is a dealer you haven't dealt with before, usually they will try to show you something a bit ordinary at first." Mary has bought everything from weanlings in the paddock to FEI horses - what's the best way to go? "I've had success and failures at all levels. I think basically the best horses I've bought, have been when I haven't been looking to buy a horse at all. When I bought Limbo, I was not looking for a horse at all..." Are horses more or less expensive in Europe than they are in Australia? "The really good horses are very expensive in Europe, ordinary horses are sometimes more expensive here in Australia." What should I expect to pay in Europe? "Obviously the younger they are the cheaper they generally are - you should be able to buy a nice weanling for around $10,000, that should get you a real top-of-the-line weanling. I think good young horses are cheaper in Europe, and there are a lot more to choose from." A nice three year old just broken horse? "It varies a lot on the quality of the horses. You'd be looking at spending $50,000 to $80,000, that's a gelding. A good stallion could be a lot more expensive." For a horse ready to go FEI? "On our experience, a minimum of $200,000 and then the sky is the limit. If you connect with someone good, who will sell to you privately, then you can buy a good horse for around $200,000, you've just got to be in the right place at the right time." And what about horses in Australia? "If I see a nice horse at a competition in Australia, and as soon as I am interested, they are never for sale. All my horses I've got now, I've bought overseas." And in Australia? Australian born Andrew and his German born wife, Steffi Stevens run a small European style dressage yard - Courtland Horses at Coolana, just outside Brisbane. They specialise in producing dressage prospects - we asked Andrew to give us an idea of Australian prices: "People talk about the really highly priced dressage horses on the market, but really the volume is in the under $10,000 bracket - you can sell as many of them as you can find." What do you buy for under $10,000? "You probably get a Warmblood - everyone wants Warmbloods - without the big movement. If they want the Warmblood dressage prospect that is a big mover, they are going to have to spend $15-20,000. Our Queensland prices are a bit lower - they are higher in Sydney and Melbourne. You can buy a nice 3 to 5 year old dressage prospect, not a super mover, but a very nice sound proposition for eight to ten grand." The horse that looks as if it will go Grand Prix? "You can get something pretty flash for 15 to 20." Moving up the scale, I don't want to muck around with all those lower grade tests, I want FEI and I want it now? "If you want to go to the CDI, State or National finals, you'll probably have to spend $80-100,000, but if you just want to compete Prix St Georges on something that can do the movements, maybe with not a great deal of talent, then you might find an old one for say $30,000." When you are advising your clients, would you try to steer them in the direction of the younger, scopier horse - or the more schooled model? "It depends on the client. If it is a sixty year old lady, and she is timid, I'm not going to put her on something scopey. The clients come to us with such a definite list of requirements. We have very little role in deciding what they want - they already know what they want: it's impossible to find, so the whole operation revolves around how far they are prepared to compromise. They are not going to get a 16.3 hand, stunning looking five year old Warmblood that has been started by the best German bereiter, black with four white socks, and floating round for 70% in every class, on their budget of $5,000. It's not always the budgetary constraints, it's often unrealistic expectations of a certain colour, or a certain sex - some would not look at a mare, must be a gelding, must be bay, won't look at any greys, won't look at anything that is under five. The horse that fulfils all their other requirements may be available but it is four - people have to learn that a good horse is a good horse, and they are not going to get everything on their list." So there you are - a brief tour of some of the factors you have to weigh up in purchasing a dressage horse. Please take time, seek out genuinely independent advice (and results!) and take a long hard look at yourself and just what you want from that future dressage horse. Oh, and, good luck! 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