Congratulations Steffen and Ravel!

[mbm]

[QUOTE=slc2;4034111]
"“how high a horse throws it legs” and “how precise the movements are” are easy things for the masses to get. all this technical stuff like throughness, correct usage of the back, self carriage, engagement, collection, forward thinking hands etc etc is too deep and wont sell dressage.
"

Watch out precious, when you step off that high horse you’re going to have a long way back down to the ground!!!

When you’re ready, why don’t you let us all in on how you avoided becoming one of ‘the masses’. Should make for fascinating reading. I’ve read a lot of arrogant things here, I’ve even tried to write some of them…but nothing…NOTHING quite as primo as THAT.[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes:

by “masses” i dont mean dressage folk. i mean all the non dressage-y people that show organizers, etc would like to attract to dressage.

the only way it is going to be accesible to the non dressage people is to make it easy to understand with easy to “get” criteria that makes sense to those watching.

[elio]

What a BEAUTIFUL ride !!! Congrats Steffen and Ravel!!! Yeah USA!!:D:D:D

[akor]

Bravo!

Just watched the ride and could not stop smiling.

I’m of the “old school” crowd, but what that means to me is “smoother” or maybe more fluid transitions in and out of gaits and oh, that sit in the piaffe was wonderful to see.

I don’t think I can call a GP horse relaxed, how I put it is I like seeing them “on the line” of “explosion”, but waiting to be given the aid/cue (not sure how to phrase it correctly) to explode, not being “held back” from doing so. I can’t quite phrase it correctly, but it’s just something I personally see as a difference in rides these days. I don’t like the rides where it seems like the riding is “restraining” the horse as much as I like the rides where the rider appears to be “freeing” the horse to excel and channel the energy into fluid movements.

Not surprising that I loved Steffen’s ride.

[Mardi]

@freestyle2music;4034069

Like Anky stated in an article today : Isabell now knows how I allways felt at Aachen.

Good grief. The more Isabell and Anky say, the worse it gets.

[Dressage_Art]

Congratulations to Steffen and Ravel and Akiko Yamazaki! What a great team. Thank you for bringing the win to US!

[Sabine]

[QUOTE=slc2;4034111]
"“how high a horse throws it legs” and “how precise the movements are” are easy things for the masses to get. all this technical stuff like throughness, correct usage of the back, self carriage, engagement, collection, forward thinking hands etc etc is too deep and wont sell dressage.
"

Watch out precious, when you step off that high horse you’re going to have a long way back down to the ground!!!

" i am all for “old school” dressage"

Ever watch Podhajsky? In a competition, his horses ran around like their tails were on fire. You don’t get much older old school than that. I’m not sure if the ‘old school’ dressage you prefer actually exists.

“Relaxed” doesn’t mean the horse is moving around like the queen on sedatives doing the royal wave. It means the horse is able to listen to the rider, and his muscles let the aids go through his body.

He’s SUPPOSED to be moving like he has a bus to catch.

When you’re ready, why don’t you let us all in on how you avoided becoming one of ‘the masses’. Should make for fascinating reading. I’ve read a lot of arrogant things here, I’ve even tried to write some of them…but nothing…NOTHING quite as primo as THAT.[/QUOTE]

Boy- slick- I am becoming one of your fans…(slap my hand…)- but that was a really great post…haha!!

[atr]

Well, I was sitting there in the arena last night. I made a last minute decision to go, and I’m so glad I did.

SP’s ride was lovely, harmonious, as error free as you can expect with two live beings working together, the horse was just on his game, the music worked, it was a great, classical, historically significant ride.

Satchmo was disobedient. From where I was sitting he looked a bit stiff and cranky and hollow. I think they scored quite high for how the performed. I think he’s done as an international horse.

PB was on one. He was fighting Anky’s hand and just not quite as through as one might have liked. (As a total aside, I thought AnKy behaved very badly in the awards ceremony. I’m sure she could have got that stand-in horse to stand still if she had bothered to try, rather than meandering about.)

Ashley Holzer had a lovely technical ride, but her music was confused and puddingy and rather boring. If she could get that part of her performance together, she’d be way, way up there. She’s an outstanding rider, and that is a lovely horse. But she wasn’t robbed.

I’m going to bed now.

[unbridledoaks]

Lovely ride! Congrats Steffen and Ravel!!!

[freestyle2music]

[QUOTE=atr;4034535]
Well, I was sitting there in the arena last night. I made a last minute decision to go, and I’m so glad I did.

SP’s ride was lovely, harmonious, as error free as you can expect with two live beings working together, the horse was just on his game, the music worked, it was a great, classical, historically significant ride.

Satchmo was disobedient. From where I was sitting he looked a bit stiff and cranky and hollow. I think they scored quite high for how the performed. I think he’s done as an international horse.

PB was on one. He was fighting Anky’s hand and just not quite as through as one might have liked. (As a total aside, I thought AnKy behaved very badly in the awards ceremony. I’m sure she could have got that stand-in horse to stand still if she had bothered to try, rather than meandering about.)

Ashley Holzer had a lovely technical ride, but her music was confused and puddingy and rather boring. If she could get that part of her performance together, she’d be way, way up there. She’s an outstanding rider, and that is a lovely horse. But she wasn’t robbed.

I’m going to bed now.[/QUOTE]

Maybe I watched the wrong channel, but I noticed at least 4 mistakes during the ride of SP.

It seems to come down to the same old story again. The Dutch don’t want to see the errors of the Dutch riders, the Germans are blind for the errors of the German riders, and the Americans don’t want to see the errors of the American riders.

Theo

[Cooper]

Satchmo disobedient??? Hong Kong, yes. Las Vegas, no. Honestly, Isabell could easily have been the winner. I am thrilled for Steffen, but come on, Isabell turned in a beautiful ride. Apparently 3 of the Judges agree.

[Ambrey]

[QUOTE=Cooper;4035127]
Satchmo disobedient??? Hong Kong, yes. Las Vegas, no. Honestly, Isabell could easily have been the winner. I am thrilled for Steffen, but come on, Isabell turned in a beautiful ride. Apparently 3 of the Judges agree.[/QUOTE]

She certainly did. The scores were very close, and it could have been either of them- if she hadn’t had an error in the 2s she would have won.

There were a LOT of beautiful rides! Definitely some amazing talent

[Hazelnut]

@Plantagenet;4033000

What a horse Ravel is…very exciting to see the USA win the WC!

I also expected Ashley to get a higher score…any ideas as to why not? I keep hearing that the judges want to see you do well multiple times before they are willing to give you the big scores. Anyone here think so?

Also, does anyone else think Nadine looks crammed together and not through her back? (despite the legs flying everywhere)

Ashley’s ride was lovely in places, but for what my opinion is worth it wasn’t as dynamic over all and the use of the arena wasn’t as imaginative.

I thought Nadine was amazing. I think Hans Peter and Nadine are a wonderful combination…I loved that freestyle.

The absolute best part of being there was enjoying each ride and the moments of brilliance.

YAY! USA Steffen Peters and Ravel were wonderful. The music matched the pair and the transitions weren’t predicatable (by that I mean the flow of the music didn’t always “foreshadow” the next move which added an element of surprise). I loved Painted Black. He has lovely half passes and extentions…but is so strong in the bridle. Isabele was so focused and Satchmo’s mind was with her in the Freestyle…but I didn’t get that artistic WOW from that pair.

A great night of dressage - YAY! USA! It was so close. Someone has to win and this time Steffen Peter’s wonderful riding and the harmony of the pair was rewarded.

[Hazelnut]

@atr;4034535

Well, I was sitting there in the arena last night. I made a last minute decision to go, and I’m so glad I did.

PB was on one. He was fighting Anky’s hand and just not quite as through as one might have liked. (As a total aside, I thought AnKy behaved very badly in the awards ceremony. I’m sure she could have got that stand-in horse to stand still if she had bothered to try, rather than meandering about.)

I’m going to bed now.

Just an FYI, many of the horses did not and could not stnad still during the prize giving. There were some pretty big explosions and in some cases riders got their award and asked to exit immediately. Anky wasn’t the only one over the week that let the horse wander rather than try for standing still during the prize giving. I think each rider has to know their horse and what it will tolerate.

Ravel and his runners up did a pretty nice “let’s get out of here” when Sabine Kerry rode in with the flag on Grand Prix night. Sabine didn’t even TRY to come in as far with the flag on Freestyle Night as she was directed in the practice run for the prize giving earlier in the day. From where I sat (pretty close) Painted Black was a hand full and she was making a concession to that, NOT being rude.

OH! It was a stand in horse…well…wwho knows then!

[atr]

Theo, I’m English, so I’m so far off having a dog in this fight it’s not funny! I don’t give a nationalistic toot for who wins as long as they turn in the best ride, and I’m just speaking of it as I saw it, for what it’s worth.

It was all so close. I’d hate to have to judge this stuff.

[tm1]

You guys… I know, what’s the point of having an on line forum if you don’t get to nitpick but here’s what I saw:

I had a pretty good vantage point. I was standing at arena level, pretty darn close to the ring. I watch dressage for a living. And you know what? This was all good stuff. Kudos to all of them. But kudos especially to Steffen, for putting two beautiful rides together back to back.

I’ve been blogging from the World Cup all week:

http://terrimiller.wordpress.com/

And I should have the photo galleries up in a day or two.

[ThatScaryChick]

[QUOTE=tm;4035843]
You guys… I know, what’s the point of having an on line forum if you don’t get to nitpick but here’s what I saw:

I had a pretty good vantage point. I was standing at arena level, pretty darn close to the ring. I watch dressage for a living. And you know what? This was all good stuff. Kudos to all of them. But kudos especially to Steffen, for putting two beautiful rides together back to back.

I’ve been blogging from the World Cup all week:

http://terrimiller.wordpress.com/

And I should have the photo galleries up in a day or two.[/QUOTE]

I just checked out your link. The pictures are very nice!

[Jenn2674]

I get the feeling that some of you equate energy with tension. Relaxed as it pertains to dressage is not human being relaxed on the beach. You can and should have lots and lots of energy and impulsion with dressage, just not the on the verge of exploding kind of energy. No high, flamboyant, and expressive legs to not mean better but they aren’t wrong either. Much of that has to do with the horses natural way of going and how they transfer that energy into their work.

[Sandy_M]

[QUOTE=eks;4032658]
I was there at the World Cup and I have to agree with Sabine. Steffen and Isabel both had beautiful rides, but I do think Isabel’s test seemed just a bit better…more fluid and she was right on with her music…

But I am thrilled for Steffen and Ravel’s owners. Ravel seemed so proud at the awards ceremony…he seems so level headed. Congrats to Iron Spring too!

LOVED that mare Nadine…[/QUOTE]

I thought Isabell’s ride was lovely, BUT… while it might have been right “on” the music - it just didn’t do much for me artistically. Technically, WONDERFUL. Artistically - To me it was, she was riding, there was music. It “sorta” followed the horse’s footsteps/transitions, but interpretation/artistry? eh. I thought the other Dutch woman (little lady on BIG horse) had better music/artistical, if not technical (so she placed correctly), as did, of course Anky, Minderhout (?), Ashley Holzer and Pop Art and the chestnut that performed to light pop music that really suited the “light” mare. But Steffan’s had it all - the technical and the artisticl.

[Sheila]

I tried to post pictures of Steffna’s hors and some from the course walk but I keep geting error messages…

[eks]

[QUOTE=Cooper;4035127]
Satchmo disobedient??? Hong Kong, yes. Las Vegas, no. Honestly, Isabell could easily have been the winner. I am thrilled for Steffen, but come on, Isabell turned in a beautiful ride. Apparently 3 of the Judges agree.[/QUOTE]

I totally agree. I was there…2nd row…no disobedience whatsoever…Thursday was another story, but on Saturday night Satchmo and Isabell performed beautifully. I thought she put in the best test and had the most harmonious ride. I am happy for Steffen but I was disappointed in how far apart the 2 high scoring judges were from the other 3…would have made me feel a bit better if one of the 2 high scoring ones wasn’t from the US.