[QUOTE=reefy!;8798735]
“47 years old and still riding” - wow, imagine that.
That made me laugh![/QUOTE]
I don’t know if “still riding AT THAT LEVEL” makes it any better, though. A little, maybe? I mean, Mark Todd doing Olympic Level 3-day at 60 is probably more impressive. But yeah, 47 is SO ancient. ROFLOL I guess I should - though I’m only doing 2nd level - give it up at 71.
Thanks CBC - mine came through perfect. I also thought the cameramen really knew their stuff…good shots, at the right times. I liked the faces of the horses and their expressions, use of spur, closeups of the shoeing, tack, etc. All of interest to me.
I, too was at the Euro Championships last year and Christine and Desperado were just, just behind Charlotte - thought Charlotte would be looking over her shoulder. Isobel won the Euros this year. She deserves her medal, especially after Hong Kong when the tongue got pinched by the bits.
So happy for Charlotte, even almost shed a tear, and me with her.
I missed Fuego and Invasor - they were crowd favourites, if not judges’ favourites when in company with the best of the best.
Again, Laura Graves impressed me - just something about her, since they are all so good. I do think dressage has become lighter and smoother than in the past.
or years they were the highest placing Brits in Olympic dressage (IIRC 5th in LA). But not any more!!!
Wiley Trout was a full TB, not a sight seen in Olympic dressage today
Chris Bartle has been the team coach for the German eventers for many years now - and he has taught them how to ride across country.
I just watched Charlotte and Valegro’s freestyle on NBCOlympics.com and was really disappointed that I couldn’t hear any of the music over the commentators yapping. 
Agree with ybiaw, it was irritating the commentary talked through all the music.
Does anyone have a Canadian-friendly video link? Specifically looking for Carl, Charlotte and Isobel
[QUOTE=Willesdon;8799366]
Wiley Trout was a full TB, not a sight seen in Olympic dressage today
Chris Bartle has been the team coach for the German eventers for many years now - and he has taught them how to ride across country.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I remember a quote from him to the effect that he preferred to take his GP dressage prospects up to a fairly advanced level of eventing before turning them exclusively to dressage. He (semi?) jokingly said it guaranteed he never had an issue with “forward.”
[QUOTE=BigMama1;8799435]
Does anyone have a Canadian-friendly video link? Specifically looking for Carl, Charlotte and Isobel[/QUOTE]
I can’t find one…Though I did find a very funny description of the dressage movements in her ride in this article; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2016/08/15/charlotte-dujardin-and-valegro-reign-supreme-at-the-rio-olympics/ article.
http://stream.nbcolympics.com/equestrian-individual-dressage-grand-prix-freestlye will this play for you?
[QUOTE=BigMama1;8799435]
Does anyone have a Canadian-friendly video link? Specifically looking for Carl, Charlotte and Isobel[/QUOTE]
CBC still has the freestyle up from this morning, you’ll just have to fast forward a bit through it to get to Carl, Charlotte and Isobel.
[QUOTE=Daisyesq;8798344]
IF you are in the U.S. (at least, works for me)
http://stream.nbcolympics.com/equestrian-individual-dressage-grand-prix-freestlye[/QUOTE]
I only have 30 mns to watch this free trial. Anyone know what time Charlotte went?
[QUOTE=Willesdon;8799366]
Wiley Trout was a full TB, not a sight seen in Olympic dressage today
Chris Bartle has been the team coach for the German eventers for many years now - and he has taught them how to ride across country.[/QUOTE]
Yep. Christopher also won Badmington. And his sister was the Chef d’equip of the Britsh dressage team for years. Quite an accomplished family.
I just wanted to say that I couldn’t watch live but I’m watching the replay and also following along with everyone’s comments on the thread here as it unfolds!
[QUOTE=Beentheredonethat;8799129]
I “think” the Germans were overscored. Desperados does have something going on behind. The BBC commentators commented on it on both of the GP tests, and yet she still got 9’s.
Almost everyone is doing the same difficulty in piaffe/passage with turns in piaffe, passage half pass, etc. Everyone is doing two canter pirouettes, yawn. Really, Laura was the ONLY one really addressing difficulty in tempis, and she did a fabulous job. Almost everyone else did less than in the GP test, and at most, a slightly bending line.[/QUOTE]
I disagree! Mostly! Everyone has been doing two canter pirouettes for decades now. The technical difficulty comes into play depending on what you are doing into and out of the pirouettes. These riders are doing different things and that changes their technical score.
The piaffe/passage is also different in many of the top rides. Some are going out into walk, others are going out into passage. Charlottes’s pirouettes on the final centerline are unique. Clearly, few of these are “the same”, which influences the technical score.
Laura did tempis on a bending line, which certainly isn’t new at all. Debbie McD, along with others, have done these lines. This was likely reflected in her technical score. But she also had bobbles/irregularities in other parts of the test. The jaw of her horse was not relaxed. Isabel’s passage was better than most technically and her horse had pretty floppy ears throughout. In the passage, look where Isabel’s horse’s hind fetlocks are in relationship to the belly and now go back and look at Verdades. Isabel’s horse sits better. She had only one major bobble, but quite a few spectacular transitions in and out of movements.
I think most would disagree with the statement that “everyone else did less than in the GP test”. Lets remember, double pirouettes aren’t in the GP test, and piaffe to walk isn’t there, and extended canter to pirouette isn’t there, halt to extended trot isn’t there, passage half-pass isn’t in there…I could go on. How are these movements, especially as strung together by many riders, “less than” the GP? I disagree with you.
I liked Charlotte, Kristina and Isabel’s music much more than Laura’s. Isabel’s canter music had me tapping my foot and laughing (I had the same reaction to Debbie McD’s walk music in her Brentina freestyle - something so 70’s and fun about both pieces). Her music really marked each gait/movement and was rewarded. Kristina’s was beautiful, IMO.
It’s worth people looking up the individual artistic and technical scores for these rides and watching the top rides again. One has to remember that the artistic score is as important as the technical score.
I think Laura’s music didn’t really do her any favors. Isabell was spot on with her music, which was also entertaining. Sad, but being bumped out of bronze by one of the doyennes of dressage isn’t anything to be ashamed of.
So many different opinions/ preferences! I loved Laura’s music. When the tune is too matchy matchy with the horses gaits it seems cheesy to me. I thought her music was bold and forward.
Many lovely rides. I think the days of the yanky Anky are finally behind us. :encouragement:
[QUOTE=J-Lu;8799625]
I disagree! Mostly! Everyone has been doing two canter pirouettes for decades now. The technical difficulty comes into play depending on what you are doing into and out of the pirouettes. These riders are doing different things and that changes their technical score.
My point was that everyone did did double pirouettes. And doing them from ext. canter is actually an easier way to do it despite the marks for it, which most did. One person, I don’t recall who, did half pass, pir., half pass. I remember getting a “0” on that movement when I did it because they changed the rule you need three straight steps in and out. They changed it back to being OK.
The piaffe/passage is also different in many of the top rides. Some are going out into walk, others are going out into passage. Charlottes’s pirouettes on the final centerline are unique. Clearly, few of these are “the same”, which influences the technical score.
My comment wasn’t focused on people not doing it. It was that everyone was doing a VERY good job. I think Steffen’s pir. to piaffe is a really unique level of difficulty. Someone else did something similar.
Laura did tempis on a bending line, which certainly isn’t new at all. Debbie McD, along with others, have done these lines. This was likely reflected in her technical score. But she also had bobbles/irregularities in other parts of the test. The jaw of her horse was not relaxed. Isabel’s passage was better than most technically and her horse had pretty floppy ears throughout. In the passage, look where Isabel’s horse’s hind fetlocks are in relationship to the belly and now go back and look at Verdades. Isabel’s horse sits better. She had only one major bobble, but quite a few spectacular transitions in and out of movements.
My point was not tempis being unique. I used to do a full ring three loop serpentine from threes to twos. My point was that Laura by far did the most difficulty here and most did less than the requirements in the GP, which is 15 tempis. Isabel didn’t even come close to Laura’s difficulty in the tempis. And while Isabel had a good passage, so did Laura. I think Laura’s piaffe is better, despite her few bobbles. I also think Laura’s half passes are better by virtue of better bend as well as steadiness and amazing crossover.
I think most would disagree with the statement that “everyone else did less than in the GP test”. Lets remember, double pirouettes aren’t in the GP test, and piaffe to walk isn’t there, and extended canter to pirouette isn’t there, halt to extended trot isn’t there, passage half-pass isn’t in there…I could go on. How are these movements, especially as strung together by many riders, “less than” the GP? I disagree with you.
Again, you didn’t read what I wrote. EVERYONE (I think, I lost some tests) did LESS than the requirements of the GP test in tempi changes. My whole point of this was focusing on where the difficulty level was added, which is a coefficient of four. Almost everyone added difficulty in p/p and pirouettes. My point was Laura was the only one (I think) who really added the difficulty to the tempis, not doing less than the GP test requirements.
I liked Charlotte, Kristina and Isabel’s music much more than Laura’s. Isabel’s canter music had me tapping my foot and laughing (I had the same reaction to Debbie McD’s walk music in her Brentina freestyle - something so 70’s and fun about both pieces). Her music really marked each gait/movement and was rewarded. Kristina’s was beautiful, IMO.
It’s worth people looking up the individual artistic and technical scores for these rides and watching the top rides again. One has to remember that the artistic score is as important as the technical score.[/QUOTE]
[B]I was having technical difficulties, so can’t be certain about music. But, from seeing them before, I like Verdades music, I don’t like Valegro’s new music. I liked Patrick Kittel’s music, and I think I liked the music for Cassidy and the Male Spanish rider from what I heard. I think the crowd really responded to him?
The good and bad thing about the freestyle judging is that it allows for uniqueness and focus on what the horse can do, but it is SO subjective. You can really change a score with a slight change of score in interpretation of music, choreography, etc. [/B]
I know that this may seem weird, but was wondering what made the winning ride so much better than the others. I felt that some of the lighter looking horses seem to have much more suspension, lightness, and expressiveness than the winning ride. I am genuinely interested in what sets Valegro apart from the others. I am no expert in dressage and am genuinely interested, since to me, he doesn’t seem to possess the knee action and expressiveness of some of the other horses.
[QUOTE=capalypinto;8799782]
I know that this may seem weird, but was wondering what made the winning ride so much better than the others. I felt that some of the lighter looking horses seem to have much more suspension, lightness, and expressiveness than the winning ride. I am genuinely interested in what sets Valegro apart from the others. I am no expert in dressage and am genuinely interested, since to me, he doesn’t seem to possess the knee action and expressiveness of some of the other horses.[/QUOTE]
If you look at him, he really is in a whole different world. He is a bigger, heavier horse, but is super light and has amazing articulation of the joints. His extended work is stunning. He has power and lightness with absolute relaxation and steadiness. You don’t realize how completely obedient he is until you see him make a rare bobble where he isn’t 100% on the aides. That is so rarified you almost never see it. If you put his ride side by side with another, you will see it.
I was waiting for some of the big thunderous music that set us marching, or
swinging and perfect for the extended canter, but this year it all seemed a bit less.
[QUOTE=Beentheredonethat;8799787]
If you look at him, he really is in a whole different world. He is a bigger, heavier horse, but is super light and has amazing articulation of the joints. His extended work is stunning. He has power and lightness with absolute relaxation and steadiness. You don’t realize how completely obedient he is until you see him make a rare bobble where he isn’t 100% on the aides. That is so rarified you almost never see it. If you put his ride side by side with another, you will see it.[/QUOTE]
I’m a hunter/jumper rider, so although I know what the movements are, I’m not at all versed with the technicalities (especially at this level, where all the horses and riders are so accomplished!) I started watching about halfway through the freestyle. Everyone was impressive, but I thought Desperados (eventual bronze) was another level completely than what came before. And then Valegro came in - it wasn’t so much what the ride was, but what it wasn’t - there were no moments of disharmony. I did notice at the collected walk that she seemed to be bumping his mouth, and immediately after that the commentator noted she was keeping him from falling out of a good collected walk (not that I noticed any falling out of such walk…) And then after that ride, everyone else just seemed less polished, less precise - I don’t think they were compared to those who went before (as the scores reflect), but watching Valegro definitely reset my mind such that the bar was higher than it was before. (Note I’ve seen his tests before, but I haven’t watched 10 rides in a row with him sandwiched in the middle.) It was really something else in comparison.
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