“IT’S basically ‘wow’!” said international judge Jo Graham when asked about the standard of horses and riders at the Dressage Ireland 2018 National Training and Judges Gala at Spruce Lodge in Wicklow last Monday.

Together with international rider and trainer Gareth Hughes, four-star judge Graham kept the 80-strong audience of Irish judges, coaches and riders spell-bound through a full day, during which the British duo shared their immense experience and intriguing insight.

After an early morning classroom session it was Rachel Dowley’s guinea-pig ride with her five-year-old gelding Instigator that first took Graham’s breath away. “Super riding, a super horse, one that could go to Grand Prix with the right training and development, they did a great job,” she said.

The format of the day also saw Dowley ride a Prix St George test with Cadens, while Ria Tansey performed Medium with Laoch an Tanaiste.

Eventing world championship team silver medallist Cathal Daniels steered OLS King Aragon through a one-star B test and Belinda Brereton and Captain Negro brought the day to a close with Grand Prix.

TESTS

Each rider performed their test with Graham announcing the mark for each movement as it happened, and quickly explaining how she arrived at that mark.

“Today is about trying to achieve unity and understanding between trainers, riders and judges.

“There are certain things we do as judges that the riders need to understand, and things the judges need to understand from a training point of view to make their judging better, so that what we are writing on the sheet is constructive and helpful in developing that partnership and where it needs to go,” she explained.

Then it was over to Hughes who demonstrated how to improve each test through coaching. It was fascinating to see the difference in Tansey’s lovely six-year-old chesnut who was transformed after just 20 minutes under the eagle eye of the British rider and trainer.

“Bad training makes a good horse not good, good training makes an average horse better, and everything revolves around training and having the mind-set to be trained,” Hughes insisted.

The man who has been coaching the Australian eventing team since 2012, and now also works with the Swiss dressage squad, added: “A horse can make a mistake through good anticipation. It’s important that the judge is able to see that and reward the effort with the right kind of comment.”

Graham pointed out riders often get “stuck” because “instead of enhancing the paces through suppleness and balance they tried not to make mistakes and they shut the horse down, but actually training is about making mistakes and learning from them.

“That’s how your horse gets to know what is and what isn’t right, and when you come into the arena there is confidence and understanding between you,” she pointed out.

Hughes enjoyed his very first trip to Ireland.

“Everyone was really hungry for knowledge and wants to get better which is lovely. I’m really impressed,” he said.