Pammy Hutton FBHS shares her thoughts on overcoming setbacks and ways to build dressage’s future
As 2025 dawned, plans were made, goals set and excitement grew. Then bang! A slight pull on my horse’s tendon now means some months off.
Whenever I write about personal disappointments, people tell me that knowing how I push myself helps to push them. Right now, I’m having to dig deep. Riding into older age, especially in the face of setbacks, requires so much more impulsion than it once did.
So, what can be done? My dieting efforts have doubled as my exercise halved without my favourite horse to ride. I’ve stepped up my work to ensure I’ve no time to dwell and I’m working with a five-year-old using my new aid – knocking knees! But no way am I giving up.
If your 2025 plans and goals likewise need adjusting, please join me and continue riding. It’s the best medicine.
A new era
Competitive dressage is very slowly entering a new era. This could, and should, be the year of fewer aids given with whips, looser nosebands, longer necks and softness over power to create an image of harmony. Other riders and trainers are starting to lead with this mindset, too.
As for dressage’s image, stronger marketing is needed on two fronts. One, to project to the outside world that it’s not an elitist, rich man’s sport with no care for the horses. And two, inside our sport, to recognise that judging should evolve to encourage the above route to harmony.
Plenty has been said about open mouths and blue tongues; I’d like to dwell on rhythm. When, oh when, will it be remembered that this is the first scale of training?
Without regular rhythm, we get imbalanced horses. And, dare I say, unless a horse is straight, the rhythm won’t be either. Personally, I have always thought straightness – or “evenly bent” as one famous trainer termed it – should precede rhythm.
Many horses carry behind unevenly, yet still manage to achieve eights. It’s been spotted at internationals already this year.
But it’s good news indeed that the FEI has created a working group to develop an “action plan for dressage”. Its stated aim “to establish a clear vision, realign objectives and create actionable plans to enhance dressage at all levels” cannot be achieved soon enough.
Dancers and fireworks
The recent KWPN Stallion Show – with its singers, dancers and fireworks – was viewed worldwide. But shouldn’t these days be more about the horses? About admiring equine exquisiteness rather than lapping up displays, drinks and sequins? We need to show love, understanding and respect for animals – not use them to posture to the moneyed in an elite bubble.
Bring back the days when horses were loved by ordinary people. Desert Orchid, Red Rum, Boomerang, Milton, Charisma, Priceless, Be Fair, Dutch Gold, Granat and Valegro are just a few names that spring to mind.
Becky Moody is doing a fabulous job with Jagerbomb. She’s relatable as a rider and he’s already a fan favourite. More combinations should be made appealing to people who dream horses – but that takes effort.
Maybe the governing bodies’ marketing teams could focus on finding suitable partnerships and moulding them into popular household names? I know that marketing costs money, of course, but a great deal can be achieved via initiative and hard work – as many social media influencers have proved.
I know it’s possible because – although I can’t claim influencer status – I enjoy a loyal social media following with my dog Millie and horse, Ebony.
Recently someone from China, with no interest in horses at all, wanted to call in to meet Millie. Ebony’s fans often pop in to our riding school to ask to meet her in person.
As I’ve discovered, social media takes a bit of managing, bags of enthusiasm and a sprinkle of imagination. But it doesn’t cost a fortune to do – and, crucially, it gets ordinary people engaged with horses.
Come on, equestrian disciplines, let’s get the public up close and personal with our wonderful horse and rider partnerships.
● What would make dressage more accessible and appealing to the general public? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
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You might also be interested in:
Inside Becky Moody’s daily routine of coaching, competing and the realities of professional dressage
*Exclusive* Are uniformly loose nosebands the answer to horse sport’s image problems, or ‘the beginning of the end’?
‘Horses can show conflict behaviours and still win’: concern over links between mouth opening and oral lesions in dressage
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