I think this is important in looking at young horses. Especially at the working trot. But at Grand Prix the collected trot is what is called for in the test.
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That manās exquisite hand is aspirational in all movements.
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@Manni01 I thought the test improved as it went along and as the horse relaxed into concentration. Overall, I think the ride was extraordinarily tactful as the horse seems to own a less-than-perfect neck, which doesnāt help collection and movement through the body. Yet again, Hester appears on a new horse and makes it a winning performance. Which performance did you particularly like?
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First of all I just watched the freestyle and IMO the quality of the rides was amazing!
It was really fun to watch!! Not sure if I ever saw that many amazing freestyles at one competition.
I personally love Blue Hors Zepter (because my young horse is related to him and is a similar type). But all the top rides were beautiful!!!
And Carl Hesterās ride confirmed my initial opinion about how the horse is using his bodyā¦. Only Carl Hesterās nice riding kept him goingā¦. His hind legs were not carrying the body but stumping into the ground most of the time and the lower neck definitely was not relaxedā¦
The commentator was very tactful about it and said that the horse probably did not have the high quality of the other horses
but whatever, it was fun to watch all the rides
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Carl/Fameās first Freestyle = 85.461%
Prior to this event the combination had taken part in 6 Grand Prix classes.
Also Imhotepās 4th ever Grand Prx Freestyle, 7th GP, and 6th GP Special.
I am sure Team GB are taking the long view to Paris.
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Oooo where are the score sheets posted? I have not been able to find them. Thanks!
Here is Carl Hesterās GP ride:
Click on the Details under the score;
Freestyle not showing yet.
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Fame used the body that he has, which may not adhere to your belief of what is ācorrectā. Maybe a wider view is in order. Daleraās conformation does not seem to hurt her scores. After all, it is not a conformation competition 
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Iād like to see any of us qualify, compete, and win a European championship team medal with a 75%+ on a horse weād been riding for fewer than 6 months.
Thatās not āCarlās riding holding him togetherā thatās really quite a feat.
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Whatever,
I liked him much better on Uthopia https://youtu.be/kKDKxGc7AIU?si=hLdyiUum3Ty9h-pC And I never disliked him as a rider but his rides in Riesenbeck were not my cup of teaā¦.
But you are welcome to continue to try to prove me wrong if it makes you feel betterā¦
There is no right or wrong here. All of us have biases about the type of horses and riding we like. You admitted yourself you preferred a horse because it was related to your mare. Thatās great! Let the rest of us decide what we like or donāt like.
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I am really not interested in āproving you wrongā but horses come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and if you have a broader view you could learn to appreciate many types. As for Carl; he has back problems and rides horses that donāt make pain for him. If that horse is capable of upper level work to the higher standard why would you criticize ?
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I read that Carl was not feeling well at all (at least for the freestyle). That may have something to do with how he and the horse were performing. Considering this, and the fact that itās a new ride - I think posting a PB is amazing!
I also saw an interview with CD where she said she can only ride Pete at half power right now because he isnāt strong enough in the work yet (gets tight etc. if she pushes harder). The complications of bringing a young horse into GP work - still amazing results considering.
I loved Glamourdaleās freestyle. Love that horse and Charlotte.
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He did a fabulous job of finessing a beautiful ride out of a horse that isnāt perfect but was the horse under him on that day.
Should he only ride perfect horses? I hope not. Iām not sure there are any perfect horses, and its a great education to see him getting the best out of a horse with ālimitations.ā (LOL)
The fact that he did it while feeling lousy gets my even greater admiration. I just fumbled my way through a show feeling like that and my greatest achievement of the weekend was making it through to the final halt without keeling overā¦
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This bear repeating.
As does this.
That was a beautiful display of beautiful horsemanship. I would pay money to watch the critics try to coax that nice of a ride out of that horseā¦ 
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Really? I wonder why its ok for CH to have a bad day and ride a less than ideal horse and still get very high scores for this specific ride but most other people get told that the judges simply have to judge what they see during the testā¦.
And like this discussion is going I wonder if people writing all these posts even watched any of the rides 
. I assume they simply take the opposite stand to what I write as they usually doā¦
I would recommend to watch the first 5 or 6 placed riders, they were amazing and fun to watch
Maybe you should direct your question to;
Maria Colliander
Eduard de Wolff van Westerrode
Raphaƫl Saleh
Ulrike Nivelle
Michael Osinski
Kurt Christensen
Isobel Wessels
And save our time. 
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So how would you have scored and placed CH, with due consideration to your apparent failure to recognize a collected trot?
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Something I learned about Germans from a long association with them in the horse world is that THEY DO NOT LIKE TO GET BEAT. I dearly love my German friends and have German ancestry myself, so it makes me giggle a bit when some of those folks get all snitty because a rider from another nation bested a German in the show ring. They act like it is a personal affront to THEM.
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