Whoa!!! Nice horsey!! ~ The Equestrian Thread

[alij]

Way to go Charlotte Dujardin and Laura Bechtolsheimer for wining gold and bronze respectively in the dressage event. Loved Charlotte and Valegro's music - very patriotic and last night of the proms feel to it and done beautifully!!!

23rd gold and 50th medal in total for Team GB

I was feeling a bit emotional watching it, all that patriotic music and that beautiful backdrop and then we won the gold. Needless to say - tears fell!

[Lorac]

I was feeling a bit emotional watching it, all that patriotic music and that beautiful backdrop and then we won the gold. Needless to say - tears fell!

Same here - I was just welling up

[SHARPIE]

I was feeling a bit emotional watching it, all that patriotic music and that beautiful backdrop and then we won the gold. Needless to say - tears fell!

I was trying hard not to cos I was in the company of someone who was at the whole thing grrr .... will go find on You Tube and have a sniffle

[Hanna]

Loved Charlotte and Valegro's music - very patriotic and last night of the proms feel to it and done beautifully!!!

What was it again? Pomp and circumstance (or was that someone else...)? For me that's 100% wedding march music. It is beautiful.

Loved watching the kür. It's breathtaking to see the horse move exactly to the music.

[suep1963]

Pomp and Circumstance is 100% graduation music for me. It is stately

[Lorac]

Pomp and Circumstance is 100% graduation music for me. It is stately

Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance has words set to it - 'Land of Hope and Glory' and is unofficially the anthem of England and is always played - along with 'I vow to Thee, My country' which Charlotte also had in her music - at the last night of the annual Prom series of concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall. The words to Land of Hope and Glory are as follows:

'Land of hope and glory
Mother of the free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee.
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set,
God who made thee mighty
Make thee mightier yet
God who made thee mighty
Make thee mightier yet'

Highly patriotic to GB and great music to use at a competition held in the UK - along with music from 'The Great Escape', 'Live and Let Die' and the chimes of Big Ben

[gingercrush]

I always think of Macho Man Randy Savage.

[Alixana]

Yes, that's the two nerdy guys I was referring to.

Watching the two riders back to back, I seriously doubt that Rath will ever bring out the best in Totilas.

Sorry, didn't realize. They were nerdy but I learned a lot.

[JanetB]

Two questions

1. Are some horse more musical than others?
   
2. Do the horse not the riders get anything when they win?

[AragornElessar]

Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance has words set to it - 'Land of Hope and Glory' and is unofficially the anthem of England and is always played - along with 'I vow to Thee, My country' which Charlotte also had in her music - at the last night of the annual Prom series of concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall. The words to Land of Hope and Glory are as follows:

'Land of hope and glory
Mother of the free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee.
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set,
God who made thee mighty
Make thee mightier yet
God who made thee mighty
Make thee mightier yet'

Highly patriotic to GB and great music to use at a competition held in the UK - along with music from 'The Great Escape', 'Live and Let Die' and the chimes of Big Ben

Thank you for this!! I always mean to go and Google the lyrics for it and then I always end up getting sidetracked somehow. So Thanks!!

Would this performance be up over at YouTube yet?

[maatTheViking]

Two questions

1. Are some horse more musical than others?
   
2. Do the horse not the riders get anything when they win?

1)
I don't want to say that some are more musical - at least I havn't seen it. However, some are definetly more showoffs than others, and gives that extra inch when there are lot of spectators

2)
not formally, usually. Sometimes a cooler (light fleece blanket), but that is more for the owner/rider to show off . Most riders give their horses extra treats after competition, for a job well done - not only if they win

[millyskate]

I also have a question for the dressage experts out there - do you think there was any home cooking with the scores? Charlotte Dujardin appeared to make a couple of mistakes and even the GB commentator was cautious about their chances of getting the gold after they'd gone. It seems the Dutch are wuzrobbing an awful lot.

[mazzy]

I also have a question for the dressage experts out there - do you think there was any home cooking with the scores? Charlotte Dujardin appeared to make a couple of mistakes and even the GB commentator was cautious about their chances of getting the gold after they'd gone. It seems the Dutch are wuzrobbing an awful lot.

I'm not qualified to give an opinion on that, but I found remarkable that the German head coach diplomatically indicated, he thought Cornelissen should have won. Given the heavy rivalry between GER/NED dressage, I think the Dutch may have a point.

[danceronice]

The Dutch are just whining because it was GER/NED forEVER in Dressage--there was seriously no possibility of anyone else winning. They're peeved none of them got a gimmee. Nobody had a flawless ride.

I have to say, I hope this is the death of "Judges will be biased against me if I show FEI in a helmet."

[rjblue]

I'm late to the discussion, but my husband competed in horse shows 30 years ago, and one of my best friends worked for two months for Ian Millar. She quit, because she couldn't stand the fact that he viciously rapped his horses in training (tiny nails in the board). I've never rooted for him, even though I'm a Canadian, because of that. If anyone's horse is hypersensitive in the forelegs, I want them disqualified. The animals can't tell us how they've been trained, so we must err on the side of protecting them.

[maatTheViking]

I do not attempt to understand the scores - I ride, and I could see many of the riders in teh 70s had trouble with passage-piaffe-passage, but the tops ones I can hardly spot the difference - and I feel I sometimes see something different than the judges...
I didn't understand many of the artistic scores, the Freestyles with the music cuts all over the place drive me crazy

I thought of the top 3 Laura rode the best, I liked the frame of the horse and her lightness, correct topline most of the time.
I didn't like Adeline's ride at all, she looks so heavy in the hand.


I *think* there is some home scoring, but since the judging is not anonymous, and they are usually reviewing the scores if there is huge differences, it is not as bad as it has been earlier.

[millyskate]

Ok thanks for the perspective people...It's interesting you enjoyed Laura's ride most, because so did I. I couldn't really understand what the top two did better.