Wait, didn’t he say that the halts were square at Fourth level? ??? Plus, Carpathia was again engaging with the audience. I don’t remember that being in the dressage test.
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Surely he looked at the photos of the other tests? And noticed the vast differences in horse and rider?
Oh wait, silly me. Of course the other riders looked like crap and the horses performed the way they did because of abusive training. They only scored better because of politics. And because COTH got to the judges and threatened to post pictures of their naked horses on Instagram.
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Yes, but someone had to teach him that they were wrong. Probably hhis mother, who told him that he writes just fine, and that the teachers were picking on her poor pumpkin.
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Dee-VeeAdvanced
Anybody know the real reason why he sold her?
He was kicked out of all the barns around his area, that he (or rather his parents) could afford. His last one he had made a deal to work off some of the board by “training” the owner’s horses. Apparently he was riding her school horses, and they were developing bad/dangerous habits from his riding, like ducking out of the ring, but then winter came, and she didn’t have to take him off her horses because of that, because he had stopped coming to the barn at all, declaring he didn’t ride in temps under 40 degrees. Come April, they asked him to leave, because of how much board he owed, and hadn’t paid for. I really think alot of it is that he’s lazy and really doen’t like to work. People who boarded at the barn where he had his childhood horse chevey said he would go weeks not showing up to ride, and often didn’t show up for his lessons. People he was giving lessons to at the end (before he sold Lacey/Carpathia) said he often didn’t show up to teach the lessons.
Also, he had told his parents that he would have the horse they bought him trained up and resold for alot of money in one year. Two years later, they were tired of paying the bills, and he did say that his “sponsors”, ie, his parents, wanted the horse sold.
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It wouldn’t surprise me if it was nurture, nature or both.
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Just so that I understand…
If I take up the offer of a “free clinic anywhere in the U.S.” and I pay all of his expenses including flights where he can study up….he just might not show up??
Is that the amazing secret of his success that he does not want to share with the world in general and swamptown in particular?
He should write a book on that…thoughts??? 
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This is a phenomenal photographer… to capture these few nice® moments of a test I am positive was a phenomenal shetshow.
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And another thing, regarding the photos from those tests…
Is it just me or is El Maestro’s position a little bit, uhm, lacking? Without going into excructiating detail, how can any of his aids be effective in that particular “pose”? 
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The reins of silk are at least 10 inches too long, putting his hands in his lap as he wiggles her head down into a frame. He also rides with the typical slumpy posture of an adult male beginner trying to avoid bouncing on, uhh, sensitive areas.
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I suspect he is attempting to channel an older Nuno
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“Attempting” being the operative word … the photos I’ve seen of Nuño may not have had the best posture, but he never seems to look like he’s one trot step away from pure agony!
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And even then, older Nuno had a core of iron, not a tub of yogurt.
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Nuno’s back may have functioned as a clutch. Nick’s is more akin to a broken transaxle.
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And yet, this is the guy-- the one in these photos– we should be begging to come instruct us?
Yeah, uh, nope.
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You guys, it’s because we’ve all been corrupted so none of us can recognize true lightness and artful dressage!
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Yep, this is the guy who says:
They are not only afraid I’d help them, but that I’d ride whatever horse they have in their barn ten times better then they ever could.
Hmmmm, those pictures say differently… His scores say differently. That he only has beginning students says differently. And he’s never in his life ridden anyone’s horse “ten times better” than the owner could. Well, except for Carpathia because his parents owned her and I don’t think they ride.
Hey Nick, You come ride peoples’ horses ten times better than we can. On your own dime. Be video taped. Prove us wrong. Prove you’re not the “armchair” trainer you have turned out to be (after years worth of poor posts, videos, pictures, scores and no real client base).
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You are right. I guess in those pictures, Carpathia was doing interpretive dressage. Silly me, I didn’t recognize it.
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Remember how upset he was that the photographer actually put those pics up (just like all the other people’s pics from that show)? He claimed she didn’t have permission to take his pics and post them. Pretty sure she must be part of the great conspiracy and only posted the bad ones. 
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My interpretation of Carpathia’s expressivity during the tests:
"Heh. This guy on my back…I humor him because I can take a joke, even though this particular joke isn’t very funny. Consider me to be politely laughing, though.
“I could have him off in a heartbeat if I cared to. Buuuut, what the hell. This is easy enough, he THINKS he’s doing it right, and I’ve dealt with worse when I taught those beginners. As long as he doesn’t forget my carrots when he sees his scores and has a tantrum.”
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My red head, Fergie was great at interpretive dressage.
We could do 
In style of a cupboard, no bending today.
In style of freight train, no brakes today.
In style of GP, piaffe everywhere
And her favorite in style of giraffe!
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