Another vote for #3… Go AMIEE!!!
Maybe for those who know her and how hard she works.
[QUOTE=Mike Matson;3626345]
The prize for the winner is $1,000 for first place, $200 for second, and $100 for third.
I’ve also added a special prize for Theo. ;)[/QUOTE]
Oh no Mike don’t be so generous, you already gave me the price I always dreamed of.:lol:
May the best president candidate win today, and not the one with the best PR-team and spindoctor.
Just a personal opinion…while I do think it’s important that Mike be sure he isn’t getting double votes (same person voting on BB and Youtube), which could be technically difficult for him…
All joking aside, isn’t it naive to hope any voted contest won’t be weighted by factors such as personal popularity, motivation to urge your friends to vote, etc? As to the national contest, they pay those spin-meisters millions (if not billions) for a reason.
Mike’s contest is open until the end of November, I believe. Any given contestant probably only has so many friends. We’re all free to urge our own friends to cast a vote for our favorite if we think it’s worth our time.
Yah, personally, I think that only votes on here should be counted. That way it’s known (we hope) that they at least looked at all the videos and it would avoid double votes.
Eileen
[QUOTE=MelantheLLC;3626752]
Just a personal opinion…while I do think it’s important that Mike be sure he isn’t getting double votes (same person voting on BB and Youtube), which could be technically difficult for him…
All joking aside, isn’t it naive to hope any voted contest won’t be weighted by factors such as personal popularity, motivation to urge your friends to vote, etc? As to the national contest, they pay those spin-meisters millions (if not billions) for a reason.
Mike’s contest is open until the end of November, I believe. Any given contestant probably only has so many friends. We’re all free to urge our own friends to cast a vote for our favorite if we think it’s worth our time.[/QUOTE]
MelantheLLC, You are right, however let’s assume that my friend asked me to vote for her, but I like one of the others more, don’t you think that I have a hugh problem.
Next to this we have had many of these competitions over here, and always the ones with the best contacts, best computer skills and a big family or ridingschool was winning.
And you have to be blind not to see that this is going on here, this has nothing to do with the quality of the freestyle.
Next to this we have had many of these competitions over here, and always the ones with the best contacts, best computer skills and a big family or ridingschool was winning.
And you have to be blind not to see that this is going on here, this has nothing to do with the quality of the freestyle.
surely you’re not suggesting anky didn’t deserve to win aaaaallllllll those times???!!!
outrageous.
[QUOTE=fiona;3627245]
surely you’re not suggesting anky didn’t deserve to win aaaaallllllll those times???!!!
outrageous.[/QUOTE]
I have seen Anky losing more times than winning. But this was in the years Sjef didn’t have such a firm grip on the judges.:D:lol:
I vote for #4 the Pas de Deux! Go Whit and Punky!
I also vote for #4…FYI, the grey horse is Trakhner by Leonidas, but I think he may be registered Oldenburg; The bay horse is westphalian if I remember correctly. I happen to know both these horses…
Latest voting results:
Contestant 3: 93
Contestant 4: 47
Contestant 2: 38
Contestant 1: 25
4
Latest voting:
Contestant 3: 100
Contestant 4: 54
Contestant 2: 44
Contestant 1: 28
Latest voting results (YouTube, CotH, and UDBB):
Contestant 3: 101
Contestant 4: 57
Contestant 2: 56
Contestant 1: 31
Mike we all appreciate what you are trying to do, but I have not found any groudlines for choosing the best. It seems it is a popularity contest, and I don’t think this is what you were trying to do?? If you want a popularity contest/constest of who can create the most you tube accounts (although hopefully this isn’t happening) than just use Youtube so you don’t drive many of the people that ride dressage insane (your quality of vids for next year will probably be greatly reduced). If you want it to be more limited to the dressage or at least horse community use a bb forum (although this is not perfect, it would take a lot of guts to post a lot of votes from user names with 1-5 posts)
I think it would be interesting to see the results seperated out by voting “place” for reference.
Also, I hope you can encourage enough PD entries for next year to seperate them, but it seems very difficult for people to judge the 2 ride types on the same system. As said above many are voting for it because of the pair harmony putting single riders at an extreme disadvantage even if all other elements are far superior (not saying this is or is not the case for as far as PD go, this one is very good in harmony but lacks in areas that others rides are excelling at)
I vote for #2, I would guess that this ride would come out on top if all judged in one class. I may have chosen 1 if the angle was better as has already been noted. The canter work was beautiful!
No, Miciah is ATA. This is his full sister if anyone is interested!
http://americantrakehner.com/Saleslist/MorenaMia.htm
Cipriani is Westf.
The contest was created for a couple of reasons.
-
To provide exposure for high quality USDF (First through Fourth Level) freestyles (FEI freestyles get plenty of exposure). Based on the scores given to the contestants, the judges believed these were high quality freestyles, as I did in selecting them as finalists. After one week, each contestant has around 1,000 views of their freestyle. I dare say very few USDF freestyle riders (or even USDF dressage riders) will ever have 1,000 people watch their ride! That number will go up the next three weeks of the contest.
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To encourage and inspire others to give musical freestyles a try by seeing what a quality lower level freestyle looks like. The YouTube site provides a wider equestrian viewing and participatory audience than the CotH and UDBB dressage forums.
The voting can be subjective and objective, as is the case with viewing any musical freestyle which by its nature has emotive content. Each person voting has their reason for liking a particular freestyle. So be it.
Lastly, if someone wants the Pas de Deux as a separate contest, then that requires additional prize money. Right now it’s coming out of my pocket for the first place, and from Karen Robinson for second and third places. I welcome anyone who wants to contribute for next year’s contest (and yes, based on feedback, there will be one in 2009), particularly if they want a separate Pas de Deux category or maybe even a Quadrille category. 
Yes, unfortunately, it does seem like a popularity contest. That’s too bad. The PD is very nice, but I agree it should be in a separate category. And I confess, horse #2 belongs to me. His barn name is King, and he has an inspiring story. In 2004 he tore the right hind DDF severely. He was off for 2 1/2 years - just coming back to work in the spring of 2007. He competed successfully last year at training and 1st, and this year he has done 2nd and 2nd freestyle. This video is of the first time he had ever done the freestyle, and I cried the whole time. I should add that Julie Madriguera has been the one showing him these last two years. I almost fainted when he got a 79! He wouldn’t be where he is without Julie.
I did vote for Whit and Punky, but I do have to agree that the PD should have been done seperatly or as another conetest all together.
Maybe do another one eventually Mike?
I have a ton of respect to the Shire and girl riding. The hosre is supple and elastic (which is not easy to do on those thicker bred horses) and she rode a beautiful and tactful test.
Latest voting results (YouTube, CotH, and UDBB):
Contestant 3: 102
Contestant 4: 62
Contestant 2: 57
Contestant 1: 32
Voting results will now be updated on a weekly basis.
My vote is for
Contestant 3: Aime Morrill riding Clarks Dusty Bailey, a 10 year old Shire mare, at First Level.
I enjoyed watchng this ride. It looked good on video. The horse and rider seem to be a good pair.
