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<\/h3>\nAn interview with Chris Hector –\u00a0I conducted this interview with Christoph over a decade ago, the observation still resonate today…<\/em><\/h2>\nA conversation with Christoph Hess, educator, judge, commentator, is always a roller coaster ride. Christoph thinks even faster than he talks (and that is fast) and when he talks, it\u2019s a good idea to listen hard. Christoph is a key player at Germany\u2019s feast of young horses, the Bundeschampionate, sitting in the box with the judges in the five and six year old dressage classes, with the job of conveying the reasons behind their marks to the super knowledgeable audience. Recently there has been a distinct change in the style of judging at the Bundeschampionate, the judges seemed to be looking for a more natural, relaxed way of going and marking down the spectacular but tense tests that were highly marked in previous years\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree 100% – at the end, the judges\u2019 assessment has to develop as well. If we look at history, sometimes we were very happy sitting in the judges\u2019 box seeing dressage tests from five and six year old horses that showed spectacular gaits, but horses that were not absolutely supple. Horses ridden by professional riders who have a special feel to ride these horses and some of them do this with a lot of pressure. We didn\u2019t realise enough that these horses are not trained in a natural way, but trained with a lot of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cThen we changed our national tests to have more and more questions that involved work on a long rein, and giving the rein, hoping to see if the horses are truly supple \u2013 and to show up the ones that were not supple.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is sometimes good to have discussion of negative elements in dressage \u2013 like hyperflexion \u2013 because it means that the judges have to examine their own reactions. I think this discussion of hyperflexion and training horses in a wrong way was good for us to clarify what we want to see. The more we discussed these things, the more we saw that we need proper relaxed and supple horses and not these horses full of tension with spectacular gaits. Now we are looking to truly supple horses, easygoing horses, trained in a correct way. The less the rider is doing, the less the rider is working, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
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At the 2019 World Young horse championships, Christoph really liked the way
\nMatthias Rath showed Destacado FRH<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cThe last two Bundeschampionates we have changed the way we give our marks. In the old days, we gave only one mark for the total test, now we give five marks \u2013 walk, trot, canter, the way of going, and general impression, the suppleness of the horse. I think this way of judging makes the judges\u2019 focus more precise; you now have to give very precise marks. Last year in the five-year-old class, we had a horse ridden by an experienced rider, and for the fourth mark, we gave a 6.5 because we thought the horse was too much under pressure and he was working too much with his hands to bring the horse up. The horse was a nice Thoroughbred type of horse, maybe a little more of a lady’s horse in type, and we thought the horse was too much under pressure. Therefore the horse had good marks for walk, trot and canter, then the low mark of 6.5. For me it was quite interesting that the spectators seemed to see it the same way. The next horse also ridden by an experienced rider was a little bit similar, it was a super star in trot but a little close to passage, the walk was a little bit limited\u2026 it was a little the same way of going. We hope that with our judging we can bring the horses back to a more normal way of going, back from the spectacular way of going. We hope that by going back to the roots, we can change the schooling of the young horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Do you think this change in thinking now has to go to the Grand Prix as well \u2013 it is not only in the young horse classes that we see \u2018spectacular\u2019 movement that is produced under tension, we see it at the highest levels of dressage, and the judges give this incorrect work, 8s or 9s\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting question but you are absolutely right. Okay, this is a process, and the way the judges are judging when they are sitting together and giving the five marks, the more they start to think about the right way of training and the way to educate horses. The more you come from this point of view, the more you look to the suppleness of the horse and the less you look only to the quality of the special movements, then the more critical you become of the basic things. This is my personal opinion, I think it will take a little time, but I think as the influence of young horse classes becomes greater, then judging will change all around the world. I think it was a terrific move that the FEI made ten years ago to include the young horse classes in the FEI rulebook. The more young horse classes we have in international CDIs, the better the level of judging in the international classes as well, from Prix St Georges through to Grand Prix.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\nMatthias Rath showed Destacado FRH<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cThe last two Bundeschampionates we have changed the way we give our marks. In the old days, we gave only one mark for the total test, now we give five marks \u2013 walk, trot, canter, the way of going, and general impression, the suppleness of the horse. I think this way of judging makes the judges\u2019 focus more precise; you now have to give very precise marks. Last year in the five-year-old class, we had a horse ridden by an experienced rider, and for the fourth mark, we gave a 6.5 because we thought the horse was too much under pressure and he was working too much with his hands to bring the horse up. The horse was a nice Thoroughbred type of horse, maybe a little more of a lady’s horse in type, and we thought the horse was too much under pressure. Therefore the horse had good marks for walk, trot and canter, then the low mark of 6.5. For me it was quite interesting that the spectators seemed to see it the same way. The next horse also ridden by an experienced rider was a little bit similar, it was a super star in trot but a little close to passage, the walk was a little bit limited\u2026 it was a little the same way of going. We hope that with our judging we can bring the horses back to a more normal way of going, back from the spectacular way of going. We hope that by going back to the roots, we can change the schooling of the young horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Story continues below the advertisement<\/em><\/p>\n Do you think this change in thinking now has to go to the Grand Prix as well \u2013 it is not only in the young horse classes that we see \u2018spectacular\u2019 movement that is produced under tension, we see it at the highest levels of dressage, and the judges give this incorrect work, 8s or 9s\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an interesting question but you are absolutely right. Okay, this is a process, and the way the judges are judging when they are sitting together and giving the five marks, the more they start to think about the right way of training and the way to educate horses. The more you come from this point of view, the more you look to the suppleness of the horse and the less you look only to the quality of the special movements, then the more critical you become of the basic things. This is my personal opinion, I think it will take a little time, but I think as the influence of young horse classes becomes greater, then judging will change all around the world. I think it was a terrific move that the FEI made ten years ago to include the young horse classes in the FEI rulebook. The more young horse classes we have in international CDIs, the better the level of judging in the international classes as well, from Prix St Georges through to Grand Prix.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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