Christopher Hector in conversation with Christoph Hess at the 2022 Frankfurt Show, just after the Final of the Burg-Pokal…

What are your impressions of this year’s horses?

“I think we had a very special final because we had something that hasn’t happened before, a Swiss winner, Andrina Suter and Briatore NRW  which is a first.  Plus she also finished second on her other ride, Del Curto.

“A few years ago, Vicky Max-Theurer from Austria was a winner, and now a winner from Switzerland. Andrina is a very good rider, I have met her several times, this year I helped a little bit the Swiss team at the beginning of the year, and she was, for me, outstanding. They have some other good riders, but she is the one with the special feeling, she is a true winner, a win for good riding, this is so important for me.”

Adrina Suter (photo Kalia Stuppia)

I thought what was outstanding was the fact that almost all the horses were so calm, there was hardly an angry tail, almost all finished their test, dropped the rein and walked out so relaxed. This is not like previous years where we have seen young horses with fire coming out of their nostrils…

“The rider who rode the demonstration ride while I explained the test, his horse was very tense, so it was not as good as expected, but to be honest, I knew it because I had him in a master class four weeks ago. I knew this horse was tricky, but at the end of the day he was the only horse that was tense but the others, I agree, totally supple, relaxed. Dorothee Schneider’s horse was a little spooky, but all had a good rideability and were trained in a good direction.”

I remember many years ago, you predicted that the young horses classes could be the way to get more correct tests in the Grand Prix, but it comes and goes. A few years ago, we saw young horse classes that were not nice to watch, spectacular tests, particularly from riders like  Andreas Helgstrand, but now we seem to have swung back to correct young horse tests.

“I agree totally, I think this is exactly what is going on. I think the judges have a very very big influence, when the judges are too kind to horses which have tension, and maybe spectacular gaits, and they give high marks. But the horses are not showing big gaits because of suppleness – not on the basis of suppleness but on the basis of tension – and that is wrong. But now, and this is very important, I think the judges are now judging in a good direction. Therefore the guideline for the riders is in a good direction. I am very happy with the way the judges are doing their job, and  how the riders accept the judges’ guidelines.”

“I think twenty, twenty-five years ago, we would have seen another situation. To be honest, when I think about what I did with my colleagues judging, especially in Warendorf with the Bundeschampionate, then sometimes we have been very kind to some horses that showed tension. So I am now very happy that we have a generation of judges who are looking more to the classical principles of the training scale.”

But a lot of this has been due to you, commentating, and educating the public to see what is good, and not be fooled by the spectacular…

“I think that is true, and that I am the responsible person when I give comments, it’s to build a bridge between the rider and horse combination, and the spectators. In that demonstration ride here in Frankfurt, I tried to explain to the spectators that the horse had tension, and that’s why he was unable to ride rein-back.  A good well-trained horse does a rein-back easily, but we could see what happens when there is no good communication with the rider. I was really happy to be able to explain to the spectators, how good riding has to look.”

Relive a time at the Bundeschampionate with some of Christoph’s enthusiasm and some images:

Christoph Hess retired from the DOKR in May 2016. Here’s an example of his time in the commentary box at the Bundeschampionate. His infectious enthusiasm set an event alight, here he is in overdrive in 2007:

There was a slight break while they announced the score from the Euro Champs in Turin. Anky had won the freestyle title. Only one person clapped… The Final of the 6-y-o’s is taking place.
Christoph says on the microphone he reckons this is the best test he has ever seen on this arena, as the crowd claps and cheers and leaps to its feet, there is no-one who is going to argue with him…
The judges give 9 for trot, 9.5 for walk, 9 for canter, 9 for Durchlässigkeit, and a 10 for potential. That adds up to a 9.3.

Here’s the judges looking at the winner, Samira on her way to setting the record for the highest scoring six year old EVER! (Back then) Better than her dad, Sandro Hit even!

Back to our conversation in Frankfurt

And yet, across the border at Ermelo for the World Young Horse Championships 2022 most of the riding was very correct, very nice, but I saw two old-style spectacular tests, both by Belgian riders – and which were the tests that the Dutch crowd loved? The spectacular ones. This must be hard for the Dutch riders when their spectators love spectacular, artificial, dressage!

“I agree. I was judging four years in a row in Ermelo, until we had the Corona pandemic, and I have to say it is now really good that we have a clear red line. I think it is the responsibility of the judges and the judge who gives comments, that we explain it in a way that educates the spectators. If the crowd is happy when the horse is full of tension, you should not encourage, applause, applause, applause – NO! Now you have to say, stop it, maybe you give applause with your hearts but not with your hands. We have to be honest, with the Friesian horses, or the Gelderlander horses, the Dutch spectators love it when those horses are very active with the front legs with a stiff back, short neck, short throat latch, so they have often a wrong picture in their heads, and therefore when they see a test or a performance they are, to be honest, a little bit on the wrong road with their eyes. For me it is always important when I give clinics, or master classes and seminars in Germany or abroad, I always want to explain how good riding looks, and I want to school the eyes of the spectators.”

Adrina and Briatore at Frankfurt – Stefan Lafranz image

“For example, Andrina is a beautiful rider, anywhere in the world, she would be a beautiful rider, good riding is good riding, it is universal, that’s why I am happy this year we have a winner from abroad, so we see good riding is not just what happens in Germany, no it is world-wide, and the sport is the winner.”

I must confess that at the moment, at the very highest level, I am a little worried, Glamourdale, the stallion of Lottie Fry is a fabulous horse, he has so much movement, he has so much presence, but for the whole of the test, the curb rein is tight, the contact is not correct, are we headed the wrong way again?

(There’s a video available on YouTube so you can see the horse in the test in London for yourself )

Glamourdale winning in London – Pic FEI- John Stroud

“I didn’t see the test in London two days ago, but I have judged her when the horse was seven years of age at Ermelo at the World Championships. This horse, from a gaits point of view, from the canter, the trot, is amazing, a little bit of weakness in the walk, contact, the mouth, is really a challenge. The judges have been known to discuss it, but from the other side, when a judge is looking from the mark 10.0, then because of the mouth, you have to reduce the mark, but the way he is doing a movement, maybe flying changes, or extension in canter, this is extraordinary so that we can give highest scores there, but we have other parts where we have to give lower marks because of the way she is using the reins and the way the horse is using his mouth.”

But when we look at the top Dutch rider, Dinja van Liere and Hermes, it is awful, the tail goes the whole of the time, the horse is protesting the whole time, this is like Anky and Salinero…

“I agree, I think we judges have to look more carefully into the body language of the horse. The body language for me, is more important than the technical part of a movement. Three strides in the half pirouette that’s okay, but if everything is good and we have four strides, that for me is no problem, for me it is important that the horse is happy and you see it in the face, you see it in the tail, you see it in the swinging, you can listen, how the horse is breathing, these are the things that are important for a quality test.”

More follows

This is still a problem in Holland…

“I am not so often in Holland, so I don’t know the actual situation. I think in Holland they are moving a little bit in our direction. I have one Dutch rider, she is on the level Intermediaire II, I started with her a year ago when we had Covid, and I gave a lot of online lessons, she was in a clinic with me at Warendorf and she is now in Holland and I have every week an online lesson. She wants to learn because many Dutch riders, I think they did realise that they are on the wrong page. It’s wrong what they are doing, and therefore many of them start to change their way of riding.”

But some of the top Dutch riders are getting coaching from a Western Reining rider, Reiky Young this is not a good addition to Dutch Dressage…

“I know, but to be honest I don’t really know about Western Riding, but at the end of the day, I think we can learn from different ways of riding, not all Western riders are wrong, they are often good horse people as well I think, but I have not had much contact with them. If this is the way they are learning from each other I would say it is okay, but when they practice wrong Western Riding and bring wrong Western Riding to classical training this is a nightmare. But I am not an expert in this, when I heard they were using a Western Riding trainer I was a little bit confused as to why they do this – but everybody can do what he or she wants.”

But there seems to be a strange battle going on in Holland. When you get a trainer like Johan Hamminga, I have watched hour after hour of Johan training, and he is a classical trainer, but still they keep running after these gimmick methods, like Sjef’s methods…

Johan Hamming at work at home…

“I think Johan Hamminga is active for the Dutch Federation, and for the breeders, I think it is good when we have people like him. I don’t know how much influence Sjef has, not any more. I think we have to look at the direction, and I am quite optimistic.  What I said to Frank Kemperman when he was the chairman of the FEI dressage committee, I said, for me, Ermelo is very important because there we get the red line for good or bad riding. The judges with their comments, with their marks, they can draw the red line in which direction we want to go. I have judged with many of them, I think Isobel Wessels, her comments are super, or Susanne Baarup, super comments and very good judging. There are some judges who I don’t agree with so much, but these two ladies are brilliant judges, very good in explaining what’s good and what’s not so good.”

You think we will continue to make progress?

“I am optimistic…”

But Christoph I think you were born optimistic…

“At the end of the day, we have to look positively to the future because we have lovely horse and rider combinations, and our responsibility, we old guys, is to explain good riding, I with a microphone – you as a journalist. Our responsibility is to give advice to the next generation, worldwide, so everybody knows which direction he has to train. It was very good that Andrina said in the press conference, she had learned very much from her mother in the beginning, who had learned from Paul Weier, how to sit – to sit, this is the secret of good riding. This is what we have to explain, to learn to sit, lunge lessons, and learning how to sit. For me it is the difference between just sitting on a horse or to have real influence because you are using your body in the right way with balance and suppleness -then you have influence in a positive way, not just using the hands.