"I was musing one evening about why the FEI won't say rollkur is horrible and ban it, then it struck me...ohhhh!!!!!  They can't!  Not without making themselves look foolish.

Everyone knows the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Anderson. In short form, it is the story of an Emperor who lived for clothes, and two rogues who came to town and told him that they would make him the most wondrous clothes.  "They gave out that they knew how to weave stuffs of the most beautiful colors and elaborate patterns, the clothes manufactured from which should have the wonderful property of remaining invisible to everyone who was unfit for the office he held, or who was extraordinarily simple in character."

So they wove and sewed in front of the whole town, but no one could see the cloth, including the Emperor.  But no one would admit it because, if they did, then they were either a simpleton or unfit for office.

When the clothes were ready, they dressed the Emperor for a big procession.

Everyone was saying how beautiful and how wondrous the clothes were.

Except for one child, who said, "But the Emperor has nothing at all on!"

Think about the parallels:  how happy do you think the Emperor and his court were to admit that they had been fooled?"

~ Cathy Burrell

So now, as Cathy pointed out, let us look at the parallels in the FEI and the world of dressage.

For years  now, the judges -  judges who are a big part of the FEI, who have been passed by the FEI to be our judges and to tell us what is right -  have been telling us through the scores they have been giving:  look...look how wonderful these riders are!  We love them; they are fantastic.  We are giving them the best scores!  So they have to be the best!!

And we gave them those scores today, and yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and the month before, and the month before, and the year before. How many times have we now said that these are the best?!

Like The Emporer's New Clothes, who is the judge that is willing to stand up and say NO to the rest of the judges?  Wouldn't that just mean that they don't know what they are talking about?  Would they then not be the simpleton, the one unfit for office?

Who is going to be the first to say, "I don't agree!"?

Who would be willing to say that we, as judges, have marked these people wrong?

Who is going to have the courage and the knowledge to say that the emporer has no clothes on?

Obviously not the FEI. Their stand seems to be:  well, if they are winning, then we have to stand behind them. It doesn't seem to matter to them that riders are walking away in droves from dressage saying, "We don't want any of this. If this is dressage, then I am going elsewhere."  They don't seem to care that little children say, "Mom, I don't want to watch this; it looks awful. Those poor horses."  The FEI has turned into the Emperor.

Walking around with no clothes on, the FEI prances along thinking that nobody is noticing, and even assuming that we are all looking on in admiration. But the young child notices, and has pointed his finger. And others are looking and saying, "The child is right."  We are trying to let the Emperor know he has no clothes on. But it seems that the Emperor doesn't have the courage to admit that he is naked. The FEI would rather, like the Emperor, run around naked than admit to any such thing.

But we can see that you are naked.  Just saying that you are not naked does not give you clothes on your back.

Rollkur will be here for a good long while. Unless riders who don't rollkur their horses start to win and beat out the rollkur horses. Then there will be a switch to what's winning.  Rather than the FEI saying, "We were wrong," rather than taking a stand, afraid they will look like they are the simpleton and unfit for office, they will then stand behind this new standard.

It is time for the Emperor to put his clothes back on.

Editorial by
Nadja King