World Dressage Masters Guide 2016

2016
WDM GUIDE
ressage is still developing in South Africa. A few
“Dyears ago Prix St George was top of the bill, now
we have around ten people who compete at Grand Prix
level and around 40 Small Tour combinations. For us,
that’s a lot! The dressage scene erupted many years ago.
Then we only had thoroughbreds from the racetrack
and it was impossible to ride Grand Prix with them.
Then German people moved over to South Africa and
they brought their own horses with them. That really
opened our eyes!
Nowadays, the horses we use for dressage are mostly
imported from the Netherlands and Germany.
There are still not many breeders of sport horses
here. To increase our level and knowledge of the
sport, development courses are organised where
FEI judges and dressage coaches fly in to offer
tuition, through this our local coaches are becoming
experienced in the correct way of going in dressage.
What makes it difficult for South African riders to
connect with the world’s dressage top is the fact that it
is extremely expensive to export your horse. Due to the
African Horse Sickness, all horses meant for export must
be quarantined for a very lengthy amount of time. This
makes competing abroad almost impossible.
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As a result some South African riders have decided
that they’d rather purchase and stable their horses
permanently in Europe so they themselves can be based
in, or fly to Europe every month to compete. At the
moment South Africa failed to qualify for the Olympics
as team, but we do have an individual spot and we are
still trying to obtain a second one.
South Africa
Ingeborg Sanne
Dressage rider, coach
SO