Dressage Europeans

I don't usually post stuff about others. But this really made me think. We watched the last few horses do their freestyles at Windsor last night. I'm not going to name names, but its easy enough to guess (!).

The horses these days have more and more comic-book movement. They look so unnatural and few of them stay sound for long.... although given how they are ridden, I'd go lame pretty darn fast too.

Having said that, one rider and horse did look better than the rest, the horse was calm on a long rein after the test. This horse looked like he found it pretty easy, and didn't need a continual stream of yanking and poking to get the movements. It all flowed. He was, however sweating like a demon, and I can't say he looked like he was enjoying himself, but at least wasn't actively being hoiked around. I don't like the movement, and I don't like the training methods behind it, but it did look like a less unpleasant experience for the horse and oh to be able to ride like the rider and use it for good not for medals at the expense of the horse!

Not one of the others we saw were the same, they all yanked, leant back, hollowed their backs and braced against the horse to hold it in. Meanwhile, spurs a jabbing. It looked awful. I couldn't forgive myself if I ever rode a horse like that. I don't care where you are, to me, it was tantamount to cruelty... esp if you figure in the methods in the warm up (:whistlesinnocently:).

What happened to dressage meaning training and being about a harmonious partnership? Pah.

Si, non horsey person that he is, said they all looked like they were being chopped in the teeth every stride and really unhappy to be there. I was trying to explain about how wrong, biomechanically, the riders' positions were, but needlessto say, we couldn't take our eyes off the poor neddies.

I then found a video of a rider with excellent biomechanics, still performing dressage, grand prix, but with none of the kick yank school of dressage. The rein is used, the spur and leg are used, but as AIDS not as "hang on in there for grim death".

Si said, that horse and rider looked like a partnership, the rider looked like she sat there whilst the horse did some stuff! :-) Not a bad eye for someone with no knowledge.

Maybe that's the point - uneducated eyes can see the cruelty better than we can, because we are more immune to it.... like the smell that we don't smell after a while.....