Miles and I headed to Hartpury for day one of the British Dressage Convention, with a distinctly German theme. The presenters, Michael Klimke and Ulf Möller, worked with a number of horses and riders, always with the consistent theme of relaxation and having the horse stepping through and actively from behind.

Very inspiring!

In a repeat of last year’s very successful demo, the TTT hosted Stephen Clarke and Migue Ralao to present dressage from both a trainer’s and a judge’s point of view and I was very fortunate to ride for them. On the first day I brought Sam O’Dwyer’s very talented mare Keystone Duchessa, who can be very tricky in the connection, and struggled with tension, which both Stephen and Miguel helped me to work on. The second day I took Sally Brookman’s lovely mare Amora for our first outing together, she did brilliantly, and we had a great ride for Miguel.

This year Peter Storr, Sandy Phillips and Isobel Wessels provided an interesting presentation of judging at various levels, highlighting the difference in what the judges see from different positions (accuracy and centrelines at C, straightness from H and engagement of the hind end from B) as well as working through some of the issues shown in the test to demonstrate the same combinations executing the movements better.