This was a small class of very dedicated young riders who showed that the country is in good hands when in comes to the future of dressage.   The winner was outstanding and on a very good horse - there was almost 6 per cent clear between the winner and second place.  I feel that this points to the fact that these young riders are capable of much better if they were on purpose bred dressage horses, and received assistance in the training of these horses.

Brian Silvia from Val D'Argent Stud in NSW told me that he had tried to get a system off the ground whereby some talented young riders were given (loaned) a young horse and received some assistance in the training of this horse.  He felt that this system needed to be administered by the EFA (or maybe now Dressage Australia) and there needed to be a way of keeping the recipients working to a pre-defined system ... and accountable - in order to ensure that the donor stud could see that they were getting some 'value' for their generosity.

If this system were made to work in would be a win/win - the breeders would get some publicity for their stud, their young stock and and their bloodlines, and proven, promising young riders, who often do not have the resources to finance a good young horse, could be mounted on a top prospect and ultimately get better marks and be competitive with  riders on better quality horses.  

From what I understand about this proposal, nobody took the idea on board - for whatever reason - and it faded away!   I thought that something like this would be a great way to focus our young talent and I am sure there would be some breeders keen to get involved!!!

Back to the Young Rider Challenge - in the order of the program.

There is a lot to like about this combination, Arvie has super talent in the collected movements, with good self carriage.

They scored 57.69% for 3rd place.

As this is an FEI test, it would have cost marks and the result confirms this - they scored 57.09% for 5th place.

This horse was trained by Victorian Dione Gunter, who competed with success on the flashy moving gelding.

Today he became hollow and off the bit, a fault that has always crept into  his work!  Taleta did a good job and shows great potential in her ability.

They scored 57.61% for 4th place.

Aathens is by Aachen (by Argentinus) and this test spoke volumes about my point re ... a purpose bred horse for our juniors!.

Horses like Aathens find the work suited to their conformation and temperament, then of course we start them with dressage in mind.

It was a very polished performance by Karen (I understand that the horse is on the market!) They scored 64.96% - a great percentage.

Congratulations Karen & Aathens!

I was not there to see all of the test but some parts lacked softness and flow - the marks reflect this and I am sure that this will be a future training priority for Belinda.

It was still a good result for them with 58.55% and second place.

Tinglow is so pretty and I only caught a few moments of the test so I cannot say what the major weaknesses were.

Cassie will no doubt look to this experience to be a guide for future training priorities.

They scored 55.38% for 6th.