Warendorf in Northern Germany was the recent venue for the FEI Driving Workshop, the brainchild of ex-World Champion Michael Freund. The German Federation were hosts to over 50 judges, trainers and drivers from 13 countries who came together with the aim of moving the sport forward.
The new Dressage Tests were studied in detail, firstly with videos and then with the generous help of the German drivers, who turned out in unpleasant, wet weather to demonstrate the tests for everybody
Christoph Hess from the dressage world, had joined Diana Brownlie, Klaus Christ and Michael Freund to lead the discussions, and on Saturday morning, he gave a fascinating and interesting Presentation on the Scale of Training and how it not only applied to ridden dressage horses, but was so necessary for driving horses as well. Four advanced dressage riders and their horses demonstrated the paces, transitions and shoulder-in under his direction.
On Sunday many of the judges had the opportunity to drive some of the newer movements of the Tests with the trainers, and a lively question and answer session ended the weekend.
With every session running over time it was generally felt that this had been a very successful Workshop. Many of the participants expressed the hope that this sort of ‘get together’ could be repeated another year.