I noticed that Jeremy Stienberg shared an article this morning from Euro Dressage by Christian Carde. The article expresses (dare I say) dismay at where current dressage is.
In light of the Debbie McDonald post, I find this very interesting. It seems she is not alone in her feelings.
I thought Mr. Carde’s column was an excellent read.
http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2015/09/05/christian-carde-apropos-aachen
And this article by Dressage news http://www.dressage-news.com/?p=32405
reminds us what happened at the judging of the Freestyle at Aachen that M. Carde refers to in his article.
OP Thanks for posting m. Carde’s article, enjoyed it!
Jeremy has been writing carefully worded articles critiqueing the current dressage scene since he resigned as the Youth/Young Rider coach. He posts images of those articles on his facebook page, and I highly recommend reading them.
He’s posting logical, reasoned and carefully worded things explaining problems he sees with the system.
From the first link: Col. Carde said, “This year, during the European championships, the audience hissed the judges! It booed after the freestyle scores of Charlotte Dujardin had been announced.”
I only saw a few of the rides, but Charlotte’s looked really solid, so why the booing?
From the first link: Col. Carde said, “This year, during the European championships, the audience hissed the judges! It booed after the freestyle scores of Charlotte Dujardin had been announced.”
I only saw a few of the rides, but Charlotte’s looked really solid, so why the booing?
[QUOTE=suzy;8308847]
From the first link: Col. Carde said, “This year, during the European championships, the audience hissed the judges! It booed after the freestyle scores of Charlotte Dujardin had been announced.”
I only saw a few of the rides, but Charlotte’s looked really solid, so why the booing?[/QUOTE]
A thought that scores are too high? Or that they were too low and should have been a new record? I’m curious, too, and was when I read that!
What I understood from the article is that the spectators thought Valegro’s mistakes in the one tempis–twice–should have resulted in scoring lower than the second place pair who had a cleaner test.
There’s a charming interview with Charlotte and Carl indicating they also were surprised that Charlotte won. Apparently, when she came out of the arena, Carl took her to task for “blowing it” in the one-tempis, and she thought she had blown it, too, and both were pleasantly shocked when her score was announced.
The interview video was linked in another thread recently.
[QUOTE=suzy;8308847]
From the first link: Col. Carde said, “This year, during the European championships, the audience hissed the judges! It booed after the freestyle scores of Charlotte Dujardin had been announced.”
I only saw a few of the rides, but Charlotte’s looked really solid, so why the booing?[/QUOTE]
I’ll post that link again http://www.dressage-news.com/?p=32405 - it answers the question - Why the booing?. Apparently Dujardin had a slim win over the home crowd favourite. In Germany they are as passionate about their dressage as we are about football :lol:
Later Dujardin rode her victory lap on dangerous terrain in front of the crowd and of course she redeemed herself 
what dangerous terrain?
[QUOTE=kinscem;8309240]
what dangerous terrain?[/QUOTE]
A quote from this article:
“While none of the jeering appeared directed at the British pair, Charlotte took it upon herself to defuse the situation by ignoring the announcer’s apology that the giant grass stadium field in which the sand dressage arena was centered was too soggy and slippery for an honor round that would take the horses by the stands.
Charlotte rode Valegro out of the sand arena and made a complete round of the stadium on the grass waving to the thousands of spectators.”
True she could have put Blueberry at risk but she did it anyway
I haven’t been following Pro Dressage (ie: horse showing) lately but it looks like the “halo effect” is alive and well.
To state what should be the obvious, the cleanest test does not always deserve the highest score. I saw both rides. I love it when people express their opinions when they have not even seen the rides.:lol:
Yes the crowd was unhappy their nation’s rider did not win after a 'clean ’ test and no doubt Carl and Charlotte also thought Valegro would not win because of mistakes but watch both rides again - movement by movement, transition by transition…
If we are all expressing opinions including those who did not even watch the rides I’ll add mine (did watch all rides )
I don’t think the judges were wrong this time or that Valegro won because of ‘halo effect’. Watch the rides.
.JMHOYMMV
[QUOTE=Crockpot;8311446]
To state what should be the obvious, the cleanest test does not always deserve the highest score. I saw both rides. I love it when people express their opinions when they have not even seen the rides.:lol:
Yes the crowd was unhappy their nation’s rider did not win after a 'clean ’ test and no doubt Carl and Charlotte also thought Valegro would not win because of mistakes but watch both rides again - movement by movement, transition by transition…
If we are all expressing opinions including those who did not even watch the rides I’ll add mine (did watch all rides )
I don’t think the judges were wrong this time or that Valegro won because of ‘halo effect’. Watch the rides.
.JMHOYMMV[/QUOTE]
I agree - I watched both rides and just though Valegro was smoother and more harmonious.
It was close as the scores reflect.
Back to the OP, it seems like it used to be that only the non-competing riders and trainers railing against the current state of dressage. But now I feel like more of the competition riders are echoing some of the same sentiments. For example, Paul Belasik has been beating this drum for years and has been recently putting out videos that address some of the issues of classical vs. competition. However, he doesn’t compete, and hasn’t in years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xm_AumnCRg
(parts here address the HP/travers on a diagonal issues)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cnuZetKJF8
(addresses the passages that we see commonly in the competition ring and how it differs from what the ODG were looking for.)
But now that Jeremy Steinberg (who works with PB) is starting to write and speak about his concerns regarding the state of dressage today, people seem to be paying a bit more attention…possibly because he has the behind the scenes knowledge which IMO legitimizes his points (at least to people who are heavily involved in the competition scene).
[QUOTE=netg;8307334]
Jeremy has been writing carefully worded articles critiqueing the current dressage scene since he resigned as the Youth/Young Rider coach. He posts images of those articles on his facebook page, and I highly recommend reading them.
He’s posting logical, reasoned and carefully worded things explaining problems he sees with the system.[/QUOTE]
He just had an article in COTH - August, I think, that very carefully examined whether our best riders were riding for Team USA…or were just good riders with steady connections to excellent FEI horses and $$$ getting the slots. Do we have excellent riders who simply never make it because they don’t have access to $$$ and the right, often previously-trained horses?
It was an excellent article.
[QUOTE=Reddfox;8311596]
Back to the OP, it seems like it used to be that only the non-competing riders and trainers railing against the current state of dressage. But now I feel like more of the competition riders are echoing some of the same sentiments. For example, Paul Belasik has been beating this drum for years and has been recently putting out videos that address some of the issues of classical vs. competition. However, he doesn’t compete, and hasn’t in years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xm_AumnCRg
(parts here address the HP/travers on a diagonal issues)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cnuZetKJF8
(addresses the passages that we see commonly in the competition ring and how it differs from what the ODG were looking for.)
But now that Jeremy Steinberg (who works with PB) is starting to write and speak about his concerns regarding the state of dressage today, people seem to be paying a bit more attention…possibly because he has the behind the scenes knowledge which IMO legitimizes his points (at least to people who are heavily involved in the competition scene).[/QUOTE]
Having ridden with and spoken to P. Belasik on more than 1 occasion I would indeed have more of a tendency to listen to and believe J. Steinberg over PB. JS just has more credibility and a cool head!
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
