Photo Report: "Past the Midpoint at the 2025 Global Dresage Festival"

-- Text and Photos © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion)  - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED / NO SCREEN SHOTS for social media

With the 2025 Global Dressage Festival season already past its midpoint and my one-month trip nearing the end, I can't keep up with the speed at which the days fly by. 

I took notes of the two Grand Prix classes last Thursday at the 2025 CDIO Wellington and never even got round to writing them up in a report. The classes endzs late in the afternoon and by the time you have downloaded the photos, answered emails, done the quick news, posted scores and had a bite to eat it's past midnight and you are knackered. The next day begins at 8 AM again and I don't want to miss a moment photographing more horses.

I'm in the Wellington roller coaster: it's so much fun, but it also sidetracks you.  I lose my ability to work efficiently. Last year I told myself I would stay 6 weeks in 2025 but in the end I booked for 4 and now I regret it... although too much awaits me at home (my retired horses, two cute cats, a home to manage, i.e. real life, family members to see..). It's such a weird mental game.

Thinking back on the Nations Cup last week, I made several reflections.. I often think of a title for an article first, before I write it.. and during that big tour Thursday afternoon  the sentence "a hard day of judging" was playing in my head. Scores were quite low for such an important class, being the first leg of the 2025 FEI Nations Cup series. Even announcer Nicho Meredith struggled to find the words to explain two eliminations in a class of seventeen riders. "It's not their day," he said kindly. The bottom of the barrel was scraped to make up teams for this year's Nations Cup and several countries lined up combinations who were clearly out of their depth or just had an off-day, which can happen. One Canadian pair struggled to cope with the magnitude of the test and went off course twice, which leads to automatic elimination (hey, it happened to us all, no shame in it. We all remember the 2013 European Championships Grand Prix Special where Helen Langehanenberg, Charlotte Dujardin AND Patrik Kittel went off course in the same class!) One horse on the Australian team just said "ciao ciao" in the piaffe and was then rung out based on "animal welfare".

It's interesting to see the judges ring the bell more frequently now when a combination has bitten off more than they can chew or a horse is overasked. I applaud that decision to have horses more quickly excused from an uncomfortable ride. On Saturday, one rider got excused from the Special when the horse refused to piaffe. It was given 5 minutes to turn it into a schooling session and have the horse relax and stretch so it didn't leave the ring wound up. This was good!

Overall in the national arena further cool horses and interesting riding were to be seen, including what I call "the perpetual trainers." They are riders who buy mega fancy horses in Europe and keep coming to the Global show grounds to train, year after year, show after show, practice, chisel, perfect but you hardly ever get to see them ride a test. I could not help but wonder if it's insecurity of the rider trying to achieve perfection, a goal we all know is unattainable, or if it's too much self-imposed pressure, or if it is what it is: they can't be bothered to show and just want to have fun. All good to me. I just enjoy watching great horses. 

I couldn't help but wonder though why so many feel shame in making mistakes in the competition arena. We all know it's part of the learning process and at least these people are putting themselves out there and giving it a try. I find it harder to watch junior/young riders competing at Under 25 level without being able to ride a corner with proper bending and flexion, yet they boast on social media with elaborate reels that they can (barely) piaffe and passage. Sometimes it's better to stay one level lower, learn to ride, and excel at that level, than moving up in a race to get to Grand Prix. 

OK. I realise I'm rambling a bit.. but I don't care. Here is a selection of photos I took last week and wanted to share....

- Text © Eurodressage - Photos © Astrid Appels - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED / NO SCREEN SHOTS for social media

If interested in photos, please send me an email. Florida rates apply for this horse show as our colleague Sue Stickle is the official photographer.

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