Just starting! 
Good morning !
Anabel Balkenhol for Germany, first rider up.
Dark chestnut (could be my monitor) with three white socks and long blaze. White spot above knee. Heavy horse, big.
Nice passage - fairly engaged behind and moving forward. 2nd passage not quite as active behind. 3rd passage like first. Good free walk.
walked into piaffe - passage better than piaffe which isn’t as engaged as it should be. Nice twosies, but I didn’t count. Nice onesies, too.
OK I am not a Dressage person - test look good, fluid, accurate, but HEAVY - heavy in the hand (lousy piaffe just now) and heavy horse. I prefer lighter. Will probably score pretty well, I bet.
Horse is absolutely lathered - totally drenched ?? Is this normal??
73.032 - good score. (final)
Morning all! Glad to have some cameraderie for the tensions of today… during the GP I was literally finding it hard to breathe during the British rides!
I just missed Anabel Balkenhol’s ride, but as far as the lathering and heaviness, might it be explained by his reaction to the venue?.. as I understand it, he just hasn’t managed to relax here.
ETA: Took the time to rewatch Dablino… he’s not that lathered. Foam on chest is from mouth, and dressage horses do sweat a lot - the special is hard work! Overall a decent test, very well ridden but slightly laboured. Lacked some pizazz and engagement of hindquarters but nicely executed with a hot horse.
Jessica Michel, France, Oldenberg.L
The judges are NOT giving riders any time to go around the arena today!! Enter and bell!!
For the fashionados, I like her Pikur jacket.
Gorgeous extension - front and hind. Extravegent mover.
Very elevated passage - horse is picking up his hind feet but doesn’t really seem to be coming under himself. Or he is very long backed… Nice walk - showing off his pretty head 
Not good passage.
Highest point for this horse is not the poll, it’s the 4-6 vertebrae behind the poll.
Good changes. Sticky downward transition to trot. Very sticky piaffe.
Overall, a medicre test, IMHO. He blew up somewhere, too.
Finland Mikela Lindh.
Big black horse. Finer than the previous two. Huge stride.
Not straight on center line.
OK, I am going to stop commenting unless I see something incredible (one way or the other.)
This horse’s passage was OK, elevated, but not truly engaged behind…
Another overbent horse - struggling with piaffe.
Second piaffe, he comes well under himself, but doesn’t seem to really engage the hind end equal to his front end.
Something was going on in the 2sies, but I am not sure what it was.
1 sies were fine, but he seems to stop - NOT cover ground - when he is changing - what does that mean? Doesn’t seem correct??
Canter extensions only OK. Final piaffe and passage better.
France - 68.810
Finland’s Lindh - 69.012
Holland Patrick Van Der Meer. First of Team riders, I think.
Lovely trot extension - hind end coming well up under him.
Hate the rider’s flapping legs (just my opinion. They are LONG!)
Very light horse - long legs, tending to overbent, IMHO. (Remember, I LOVED The Eventing dressage!!)
However, I do need to get some real work done (like groceries and stuff) so I can’t stay…
No Van der Meer’s horse is WAY overbent by pure dressage standards. Has nothing to do with modern dressage competition, all to do with an overly tense horse and scores dropped accordingly. Nice half passes but horse wasn’t really seeking the contact throughout most of the test.
'Morning! I overslept:rolleyes:
Go USA AND GB! yawn, sip coffee
Good luck Rafalca and Jan !
Solid test from the Finnish rider. The horse lacks lift in his back, making everything a bit earth-bound and occaisonally disconnected. I’m not familiar with this pair, but the horse appears as though relatively new to this level… looks promising for the future though. Rafalca next!
You know, the more I see Rafalca the more I like her. She just looked like she was lacking a bit of oomph today, but she seems like she has a lovely character.
She’s a wonderful mare. But today she looked simply tired.
Random question- why is the flag backward on one side of the saddle pad?
Not much “float” to Rafalca’s passage.
And Van der Meer is an individual, not team, rider.
[QUOTE=AmericaRunsOnDunkin;6483347]
Random question- why is the flag backward on one side of the saddle pad?[/QUOTE]
Because the rule is the stars should lead in the direction of travel, as if carrying the flag on a staff. So on one side, we see it “backwards”.
What I don’t like is the people in the stands holding up the flag backwards, so they see it correctly, but the crowd doesn’t.
[QUOTE=yaya;6483350]
Because the rule is the stars should lead in the direction of travel, as if carrying the flag on a staff. So on one side, we see it “backwards”.
What I don’t like is the people in the stands holding up the flag backwards, so they see it correctly, but the crowd doesn’t.[/QUOTE]
That makes sense. I don’t like the crowd holding backward either. 
[QUOTE=yaya;6483350]
What I don’t like is the people in the stands holding up the flag backwards, so they see it correctly, but the crowd doesn’t.[/QUOTE]
Yes that’s been driving me nuts.
And I’m afraid the crying baby is back…
