TRAINERS’ POINT OF VIEW By Patti Schofler Calling All Grand Prix Dressage Mares I
n the winter edition of the Dutch magazine Dresseuur (and reprinted on horsesinternational. com) Adelinde Cornelissen interviewed Anky
van Grusven—just a couple of Olympic gold medal Dutch girls sitting around drinking coffee and talking horses. Mostly they chatted about the trials of finding a future world beater, one to suc- ceed the likes of Bonfire and Salinero for Anky and Jerich Parzival for Adelinde. There was talk about hind legs and front legs and
movement. And then Adelinde asked Anky, “Does the gender matter?” Anky’s response was, “I don’t have mares. Horses need to be able to tilt in the hind quar- ters for the piaffe and passage work and mares find that more difficult. There is a reason why there are so few mares in the Grand Prix.” That comment immediately got me thinking.
A Few Statistics Of the 15 horses “A” listed for the U.S. Dressage Festival of Cham- pions and selection trial for the World Equestrian Games, 40 percent of them, six to be exact, were mares—Rafalca, Alina, Wellnetta, Her Highness O, Breanna, and Coral Reef Wylea. But on the FEI ranking, as of April 30, of the top 100 dres- sage horses in the world, most are geldings. The list included 18 mares: three representing Great Britain, two representing Denmark, U.S., Germany, Belgium, Sweden, France and Austria and lastly one from Canada. That’s 18 percent mares or, in other words, 82 percent boys.
Why So Few? The numbers indicate that something is keeping mares from a 50-50 split of rankings and glory at the international Grand Prix level. There are a few factors at play. Traditionally, some countries, particularly Latin countries,
have not used mares as riding horses. Most often mares have been kept at home “barefoot and pregnant” since they are the ones that have the babies. Further, a mare’s temperament is commonly noted as a
potential impediment. Now that the FEI allows estrus suppress- ing drugs in competition, however, problems of heat cycles are probably lessened. And there are some mares that never show signs of their heat cycle. So it seems clear that there is much more to this question.
Is Anky a lone wolf with her point of view? And what is the real reason for so few mares in elite Grand Prix competition? Is it
a structural issue that has led Anky to dismiss 50 percent of the horse population? What about the great international Grand Prix mares that have made our hearts sing—Brentina, Blue Hors Matine, Sunrise and Rocher? Lilo Fore of Santa Rosa, California, 5* FEI judge who will be judging the World Equestrian Games this year and who is also a licensed USEF “R” dressage sport horse breeding judge, echoes Anky’s
reasoning—without reaching the same conclusions. Here she shares her thoughts on both the strengths and chal- lenges of mares at the upper levels.
Structure Because of a mare’s unique body structure, the movements
required at Grand Prix may be harder for some of them. All things being equal with stallions or geldings of the quality to perform at that level, mares—since they tend to have longer backs, shorter front legs and wider pelvises—may need more training time to achieve the same results. “I am not a veterinarian; I am an observer,” says Lilo. “But what
I see is mares have a harder time bending the loin than stallions or geldings do. I assume this is due to their pelvic structure, the location of the ovaries and their seasonal cycling. Mares are al- ways a little out with the pelvis. So for them it takes a long time to learn and develop the ability to tuck the pelvis. A long-backed horse is laterally easy, but sometimes they are more difficult longitudinally.”
Movement and Gaits Most mares Lilo has trained have not had trouble with piaffe and pas- sage. They can lower their haunches in trot movements with such a high degree of collection. “Perhaps this is because of the mechanics of the trot. Shifting weight from left to right diago- nally and swimming their hind legs under their bodies seems easier than having to rotate their pelvis more in the canter. I have also noticed that mares seem to learn piaffe easier by collecting the walk, controlling the length of stride and teasing her into short- er steps. This way is clearer for them to figure out how to lower the haunches, bend the loin, rotate the pelvis, and become more weight bearing,” says Lilo.
Lilo Fore, international judge and clinician.
Warmbloods Today 55
Amanda Johnson
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