The Latest Video of the Totilas/Gal Freestyle at Hickstead

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=Ambrey;4268584]
Hmmm, someone pee on your cornflakes this morning?

You could have picked a lot of videos of gaited horses that made the comparison a bit less dramatic.[/QUOTE]

Yeah.
Not all gaited horses are ridden like that.
Not all of them lift their front legs quite as high as Totilas, either.

*By the way, before we have a mass reading comprehenion/logic fail here, no, the above two statements do NOT equal “I think Edward Gal rides Totilas like a TN Walker.” OK everyone? Read it again if you don’t believe me. I was simply making a brief visual allusion which already people are twisting into BUT TOTILAS ISN’T TWO.

[TheHorseProblem]

Totilas reminds me of the former governor of Alaska;);). Divisive for what he represents. Somehow one can’t offer a dissenting opinion on his coronation without somehow attacking the other’s values.

I was told once that if I didn’t like him, maybe dressage wasn’t for me. I just don’t like that he gets those scores with those mistakes and weaknesses. I too feel the trot is artificial, not that it was achieved by artificial means, but that picture meup linked to says a lot. I watched his freestyle again today, and also the one from June 6, which scored lower but had fewer mistakes. IMHO he doesn’t deserve those scores.

Now please kill me.:dead:

[dressurpferd01]

I’ll just offer my opinion here, for what it’s worth. I think this horse looks bizarre. His movement looks highly mechanical. It doesn’t look natural to me. I’ll grant that he’s probably a freak of nature, but if this is the future of international dressage, I want no part. This freakish, mechanical movement is not what the sport is meant to be.

The biggest plus I see is Totila’s piaffe. It’s one of the most correct modern piaffes I’ve seen. He has real sit, and very little forward movement.

I just don’t like how he moves overall. I can’t say it any differently than it looks manufactured and fake.

[baymare]

Well I won’t join in on the debate about the horse-- I think he is an amazing athlete and I would not feel remotely qualified to say otherwise.

As a musician, though, I gotta say I think the music is awful-- overblown, incoherent, distracting. I prefer watching with the sound off! You never get that “dancing” feel that my favorite freestyles manage to convey, which I always thought was integral to freestyle.

[2ndyrgal]

I really liked him

Until he started to trot. I thought when I saw the piaffe and passage he’d have a BIG trot.
The more you go up, the less you go forward. Very free through the shoulder, but not my taste. I am not an ULR, I don’t own a BDH (big deal horse). I do know what correct is, I know what classically trained looks like and, more importantly, I know what I like. I didn’t like that. I like Ravel, I loved Brentina, Salerno (sp) a very gifted horse with a very gifted rider. This pair, ok flashy, expressive, but not somehow, natural. Sort of like seeing a very pretty girl with a set of really nice hooters, but you can tell they’re fakes. Very good fakes, but fakes none the less. Entertaining, but I think there is a reason that others took a pass on this horse. He’s talented, but there’s a difference between jazz and ballet.

[mbm]

what is interesting is to watch his I1 rides… now that was a trot that looked natural and i am not sure how it went from that to what it is today…

and… i sure am glad i am not the only village idiot willing to speak up :lol::lol:

[Mike_Matson]

As a musician, though, I gotta say I think the music is awful-- overblown, incoherent, distracting. I prefer watching with the sound off! You never get that “dancing” feel that my favorite freestyles manage to convey, which I always thought was integral to freestyle.

:yes:

[bort84]

Oookay, comparing him to those hideous 2 year old walkers might be just a bit extreme? Perhaps? That video was posted on an extremely incendiary thread about soring. He doesn’t look anything like a “gaited” horse unless you’re talking about a 5-gaited saddlebred, which is not the same thing as a gaited horse. And even then he’d only resemble a 5-gaited saddlebred at the trot… Perhaps “park” was the description you’re looking for. He wouldn’t win a saddlebred park class, but he’d do damn well in most arabian park classes with his action…

Honestly, horses can pop out of the womb trotting like that, and then training can enhance it. It doesn’t require trick training, weighted boots, string shackles. I think he’s only 9 and will only get better with time if EG can keep his mind right. I have never worked with EG or watched him school horses in person, so I like to stay off that pro-bashing train. I think he looks quite solid on Totilas, so perhaps his particular training style is liked by Totilas, time will tell. I’m very excited to watch this horse progress.

[egontoast]

I was gifted with a macintosh from sittingbythereiner about a month ago, dearest.

That clinches it!:eek:
Dame Mabel would sooner die than use any form of “gift” as a verb!
Go back to your knitting, Muffy!

[scottishgirl]

[QUOTE=fiona;4268449]
Coldplay are English.[/QUOTE]

@Mike Matson;4268517

To be quite proper about it, they are British.

This is one of those occasions where the rules of selective English-ness isn’t offending me - Coldplay are dire, and I am very happy for them to be perceived solely as an English malady, rather than the fault of the entire British public!

[torontodressage]

It is a old American habbit from Mike Matson to think that everything which is good is coming from the USA.:lol::lol::lol::D:D

[Mike_Matson]

Not everything. I’ve traveled to most parts of the world, so have an appreciation for what other countries have to offer. However, in music, America leads the way.

[siegi_b]

Mike - you may want to revise your statement to read… “however, in contemporary music America leads the way”

[Mike_Matson]

American jazz and R&B go beyond “contemporary”.

[Going4Gold]

[QUOTE=siegi b.;4269463]
Mike - you may want to revise your statement to read… “however, in contemporary music America leads the way”[/QUOTE]

Maybe you have to crawl out of your caves, and accept that the music of the USA and their dressage riders is from a lost planet.

The Irish and Brittish music is the absolute top these days, mixed by Dutch DJ’s.

[Mike_Matson]

Only if mixed by that famous Dutch DJ “Theo”.

However, Ravel’s music “mixer” has been center stage this year.

[TheHorseProblem]

[QUOTE=mbm;4269070]
what is interesting is to watch his I1 rides… now that was a trot that looked natural and i am not sure how it went from that to what it is today…

and… i sure am glad i am not the only village idiot willing to speak up :lol::lol:[/QUOTE]

Watch them where? That would be interesting to see.

[fiona]

Coldplay are dire

No.
Dire is Britney Spears Womaniser.

I will give you Motown, Blues etc but raise you The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Eric Clapton and the many other British artists that played your blues and motown numbers out loud in public long before you Americans decided it was cool.

anyhow, back to Totilas
I am not a musician although i play the piano, violin and guitar - i still LOVE the music - it may explain my total lack of talent on those instruments to those of you that are accomplished! It may also explain to me why some of you cannot see anything good in Totilas.

[Bellfleur]

I don’t really much care what music this stallion dances to. I realize that my taste in music is probably not everyone else’s (considering I loved the Pop Goes the Weasel music from one freestyle).

I think him amazing. He is gorgeous and well built and looks like he loves his work with his rider. I love his disposition. He handles the big crowds and everything go on with amazing calm and still focuses on his work. Plus how much charisma!!! All this in a fairly young stallion!

Obviously the crowd and the judges loved him too.

When I have a shot at riding him better - (yeah right! or when I am perfect in my next lifetime) than his current rider I will feel it within my purview to comment.

Until then I just am looking for frozen!! Has he produced anything?

Thanks for the post with the viddler link!! It was excellent.

[ridgeback]

[QUOTE=fiona;4269978]
No.
Dire is Britney Spears Womaniser.

I will give you Motown, Blues etc but raise you The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Eric Clapton and the many other British artists that played your blues and motown numbers out loud in public long before you Americans decided it was cool.

anyhow, back to Totilas
I am not a musician although i play the piano, violin and guitar - i still LOVE the music - it may explain my total lack of talent on those instruments to those of you that are accomplished! It may also explain to me why some of you cannot see anything good in Totilas.[/QUOTE]

Fiona don’t forget Genesis:) The U.S. and Great Britan are the power houses in music for sure. I like Totilas except for his extended trot.