The Dressage Rule That Shocked Us - Rein Releases are Penalised

What happens when you look — really look — at how dressage is judged?

In this episode of Changing Rein, PhD researcher Cristina Wilkins shares a finding that genuinely surprised us: the Dressage Judging Guidelines mention the requirement to maintain contact 37 times — and visible rein releases are penalised. The longer the release, the greater the penalty.

For anyone trained in learning theory, that's a confronting discovery. Horses learn through pressure and release. So what happens when the release never comes?

Using extraordinary high-speed photography from fine artist Crispin Johansson — capturing up to 60 frames per second during competition — Cristina and her research team have been able to examine entire dressage tests frame by frame. What they're seeing raises important questions about the gap between what we say good training looks like and what the rules actually reward.

This conversation also explores how equipment like tight nosebands and even artificial foaming agents can mask signs of horse discomfort, and also introduces the concept of hypersensitisation - a possible explanation for why horses continue to perform even without the release that ethical training principles require.

This isn't about blame. It's about looking more closely at what's happening and asking whether the rules we ride by match the welfare outcomes we all want.

Guest: Cristina Wilkins — PhD candidate (University of New England), equitation science researcher, and co-author of multiple peer-reviewed papers on horse welfare.

Hosts: Dr Karen Luke & Meta Osborne