Title: A Day in the Sun: Highlights from the CDI Compiegne Dressage Competition

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

I once heard Dr. Phil say on television "it takes a thousand attaboys to make one wrong right." The reputation of a horse show can be severely stamped by the weather. Everybody knew the no longer existing CDI Saumur in April was a "rain show," and while Compiegne used to take place in good weather, horrendous downpours of rain the past two years have tainted its pristine reputation.

Today it was an attaboy scenario: full sunshine from morning till night, cool temperatures in the morning, hot in the afternoon, and summery pleasant at night. It couldn’t be better. It was T-shirt weather.

I woke up at 7 AM this morning after a good night sleep, but required two taps on the snooze button before I was able to roll myself out of bed and into the shower. The sky was clear when I peeped outside the window, and that immediately lifted spirits. I skipped breakfast, and by 8:10 I was on the show grounds like the proper early bird, which I’m definitely not at home (I’m a night owl). The Prix St Georges had already started, and I missed photographing the first pair. This happens often as I always plan everything too tightly. Also, a lovely chat with German team trainer Monica Theodorescu right after I parked my car kept me from being ringside at 8:15 sharp.

It was going to be a marathon day with three arenas running simultaneously and no break whatsoever in all three rings at the same time: this meant I was kept on my feet pacing from one ring to the next all day long until around 6 PM. When I do a horse show, I’m 150% committed. This means I want to photograph every single rider—to the best of my abilities—so I can stock my photo archive and make the absolute most of my time. I’m squeezing that lemon until it turns into concentrate! I didn’t get everyone, but came damn close to it. I fueled myself with two strong coffees in the morning, which gave me apparent heart palpitations, but they opened my eyes, killed my hunger, and kept me ticking in the morning. I ended up eating a delicious croissant for lunch and five small fruit candies in the afternoon. That was it.

I gave photography priority over show analysis because of the good weather and perfect conditions. Tomorrow, I’ll be watching the rides more carefully and take notes for a report of the Nations Cup Grand Prix. I did make several observations, though, starting with the pony team test in which I saw some ponies having a walk for a 10 but probably not getting that score. I also saw a handful of ponies that could not keep the rhythm in the extended trot and was surprised to see so many struggle.

At the far end of ring 2 and 3, the steward was doing the tack check and using the FEI noseband device to check the tightness. The steward reported that all combinations were checked before entering the warm-up as well as at the end of the test. Most passed with flying colors; a few pairs needed the device to be pulled through with force, and one pony totally refused to be touched by the steward—not on the face, not on his side for the spur check. Seems like this rider has got some homework to do, desensitizing the pony. Nothing wrong with doing some more groundwork to train your horse and tighten the bond.

The main arena only had one class today, the 3* Grand Prix, which was won by the first rider to go, Paulina Holzknecht on the 16-year-old KWPN bred Entertainer Win T (by Rousseau x Jazz). The winning score was 68.609%. The recalibration of the judging system is still happening.

Speaking of judges, there is a tsunami of judges here in Compiegne as a huge FEI Judges Course and Exam is taking place for national judges to move up to international 3 level. By the way, I will continue using the terminology of the old-star system because the Levels system is just annoying. I love my old habits and remember well that the late Trond Asmyr (judge and FEI Dressage Director) tapped me on the fingers because I so stubbornly referred to O-judges instead of switching to 5 judges. And now that I have learned to do that, I have to speak of Level 4? I don’t think so.

My stamina started to crack around 5 PM, and I sat down on a chair for the first time that day, but veered up again as the white fence surrounding the competition ring is too high to photograph from a sitting position. The final class of the day was the Children preliminary test, and halfway through it, I had enough. Sorry for the last kids, but I was done.

I decided to head to the hotel, and then I noticed that the CDIO 5* riders had familiarization in the main arena, and with the light still being fab, I ended up photographing them for another hour. Half of that hour, I did sitting down while chatting with a rider who told me the most heartwarming story. He said that he read one of Eurodressage’s most recent show reports and took one of the remarks on his riding to heart. "I have always known that that was something I needed to work on, but after reading that article, I told myself, ‘Now I’m going to do something about it’" (this is loosely how I remember the words as my jaw was on the floor in surprise). He has been practicing riding in a different frame and in more self-carriage, which has led to Eureka moments at home. It is still to see if it translates into the arena, but already the attempt at home felt like a leap forward. This story was one attaboy that made a thousand wrongs right.

I cruised to the hotel, posted the scores of the 8 CDI’s (out of 11) running right now, and then went to the restaurant for a solo dinner. I was starving, and like the true glutton I am, I ate foie gras and a lamb burger with a glass of wine! Take that, you silly diet of one-day-starvation! Now I hope I don’t get an upset tummy during the night, like last week.

Talking about attaboys, tomorrow it’s apparently going to rain in Compiègne with a thunderstorm passing over the Oise province. On Sunday, it’s supposed to be dry again. I so hope the weather gods will decide in the show’s favor and spare us from pluvial misery.

Photos © Eurodressage – NO SCREENSHOTS!

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