MANNING Valley Dressage and Hack Club once again hosted the annual Mid North Coast Dressage Championships at Taree Showground.
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More than 120 horse and rider combinations completed 327 tests over the two days. The championships attracted riders across all levels of dressage from all around the State, including many from Sydney, the Hunter Valley and North Coast plus some riders from Queensland.
This year the championships were divided into a number of sections with official competitive classes and closed restricted championship events held. These were also divided into different sections for amateur owner riders, open riders and junior and pony sections.
Don’t Dis my ABILITY Day was incorporated and what a way to celebrate it with eight riders with a variety of disabilities competing in open dressage tests, against able bodied riders to both Para Equestrian and Special Olympic tests.
The Manning Valley Dressage and Hack Club is gaining reputation as one of the most progressive dressage clubs in the country, welcoming all riders, but have especially made efforts and provided infrastructure to welcome riders with disabilities.
"Dressage" is a French word that roughly translates as "training” and is one of the world's oldest sports. Dressage originated from the training required to produce a strong, obedient and easy to ride horse, then an every-day mode of transport. Today the highest level of dressage is derived from the intense education that was required to produce a highly trained cavalry horse, capable of faithfully meeting the needs of the mounted soldier in the rigours of battle.
Although set in a very different arena to the battlefields of yesteryear, today there are 10 levels of competitive dressage where horses and riders progress through tests of ever increasing difficulty. Each test is a set routine of movements designed to show the suppleness, obedience, strength and education of the horse. Judges award marks for the quality and precision of the performance.