Dressage with Adam Kemp FBHS – Report from the F & I Annual Course

Keysoe, January 2023.

This year’s dressage training was taken by Adam Kemp FBHS and included horses of all levels from Novice to Grand Prix, and horses preparing to do their first 5* at Badminton. The two days provided a great opportunity for all spectating coaches to observe training and coaching of a world class level.

A theme that ran through the two days from my observation and understanding was making sure that the horses were to the bit and not just on the bit. This was achieved through transition work, getting the horses to be able to move forwards, in balance, pushing through their backs to get the connection better. Although Adam had a clear idea of how he wished the horses to be going, every horse was treated as an individual.

As an example. really good discussions were held between Adam and the rider of one of the young event horses about the conformation of her novice horse, and how, although he needed to develop more muscle and strength over his top line, if he was asked to work lower in the neck in the canter work that it could load his forehand, and that could be to the detriment of his long-term career.

This rider was also asked the question by Adam, “when does a young horse stop being a young horse?”. The conversation between the two and the spectators was very informative and interesting. The outcome was that when the horse was mentally ready to try new exercises that helped to achieve a better balance and stronger muscle tone, it was then ready – and that training goals had to be of a flexible nature and dictated by the horse’s mental and physical ability to achieve what was needed.

Equally, the difficulties presented to Adam of a horse that had been unable to find a flying change, were tracked down to her not being through to the contact or working properly from behind and over the back, so that she became difficult to keep together for any sort of adjustment to the canter. Adam used various methods and lots of practical advice to work with this skilled rider to achieve a more “through” and rideable result for her, and this generated much interesting discussion about the use of training aids to assist a combination find their way at a particular point in their process.

All riders went away delighted with their two days of training, with substantial improvements in the way of going of their lovely horses, and, most importantly, much clearer and deeper understandings of where they had got to in their training processes and their roads ahead.

It was a very valuable 2 days for the spectators too, as discussion was encouraged with good exchanges of views and lots of interesting Q&A on training and coaching.

Thank you Adam!

Report by Mark Cunliffe BHSI