Dressage in Russia – Problems and Opportunities Conference took place on September 6th within the EQUIROS Exhibition. It was the first time dressage was discussed at such length and with such emotions.
The conference program was divided into several blocks dedicated to horse-breeding, attitude of judges to athletes, the current state of affairs in equestrian Europe, children sport, horse training. Some speakers read their reports to the public for the first time.
Having started in a rather official manner with the description of the issues that horse-breeding now has, the conference accumulated more and more emotional charge as it went on. The audience was amazed by Elena Zhaivoronskaya’s speech on our relationship and treatment of horses and the need to study psychology of those animals.
The highlight of the conference was the speech of Emmelie Scholtens, a multiple world champion in dressage. She talked about her experience in working with horses, about her talented studs which she trains for the Grand Prix.
Despite it being a weekday, the conference was attended by ninety people, which is a rather high number considering the fact that the conference was held for the first time and the substantial length of its program – about six hours. Some of the visitors remarked that they had never seen so many professionals together at a “theoretic” event like that.
The conference showed that the Russian dressage community is ready to discuss all its problems, but not yet prepared to put its ideas into practice on its own.
Passivity is a wide-spread malaise of our society in general, and even the matters that can be resolved on the level of each individual rider, each individual breeder tend to come to a dead-end due to the unwillingness to become proactive resolving this or that problem if it doesn’t yield financial profit.
The main problems outlined at the conference are:
Every speech at the conference will be published at DressageHorses.ru and its profile on Facebook. DVDs with the recordings of the conference will also be prepared and distributed.
We are very grateful to the speakers and the visitors! It was great!
The conference program was divided into several blocks dedicated to horse-breeding, attitude of judges to athletes, the current state of affairs in equestrian Europe, children sport, horse training. Some speakers read their reports to the public for the first time.
Having started in a rather official manner with the description of the issues that horse-breeding now has, the conference accumulated more and more emotional charge as it went on. The audience was amazed by Elena Zhaivoronskaya’s speech on our relationship and treatment of horses and the need to study psychology of those animals.
The highlight of the conference was the speech of Emmelie Scholtens, a multiple world champion in dressage. She talked about her experience in working with horses, about her talented studs which she trains for the Grand Prix.
Despite it being a weekday, the conference was attended by ninety people, which is a rather high number considering the fact that the conference was held for the first time and the substantial length of its program – about six hours. Some of the visitors remarked that they had never seen so many professionals together at a “theoretic” event like that.
The conference showed that the Russian dressage community is ready to discuss all its problems, but not yet prepared to put its ideas into practice on its own.
Passivity is a wide-spread malaise of our society in general, and even the matters that can be resolved on the level of each individual rider, each individual breeder tend to come to a dead-end due to the unwillingness to become proactive resolving this or that problem if it doesn’t yield financial profit.
The main problems outlined at the conference are:
- the complete lack of a clear strategy of horse-breeding in Russia, its isolation, lack of initiative to establish and develop breeding associations
- poor qualification of the vast majority of the industry specialists working with horses and riders, from ringleaders to coaches
- lack of the organization that would be devoted solely to dressage, which could establish standards, perform educational, coordinating and regulating functions
- in order to promote dressage in future it is necessary to focus on the development of children equestrian sport.
Every speech at the conference will be published at DressageHorses.ru and its profile on Facebook. DVDs with the recordings of the conference will also be prepared and distributed.
We are very grateful to the speakers and the visitors! It was great!
Dressage under closer look
Source: www.dressagehorses.ru
Last update: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 3:28:56 PM
