Somewhere, out past Nick’s ridiculous pontificating, is an interesting conversation.
For instance; thigh blocks on saddles. When you look at videos from the 80s and 90s, Hilda Gurney and Reiner Klimke, for example, the horses had nowhere near the elevation and suspension in the trot, especially the extended trot.
Are thigh blocks popular because the current crop of riders can’t ride and use them as a crutch?
Or has the trend towards breeding horses with more suspension and elevation, and rewarding horses with extravagant front end movement, as in Totilas, made the thigh blocks necessary?
Re: criticizing Charlotte’s hands (!) Look at the horses and riders NP appears to revere - do any of them move like Valegro or Gio? If you’re riding the equivalent of a Ferrari as opposed to a well tuned Lexus, is perhaps the Ferrari a little more in your hand because there is more power to be contained? (BTW, I think (not that my opinion matters) that Charlotte is an extraordinarily soft and following rider - if a horse she’s riding is in the bridle, it’s because it’s generating enough RPMs that she needs them in the bridle, not that she’s “handsy”.)
It’s very educational to compare the dressage standouts of the 80s with the standouts of today. Totally different way of going. Now, one could argue whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing; but one can’t argue against Charlotte being a soft and sympathetic rider without sounding like an ill informed ass.
