Lol I wrote Underscore I meant Undercover!
My Freudian slip is showing…
Ok I’m dying to know. What path did she go down?
If you have not followed Anky don’t expect me to fill you in…you know what direction she took no doubt.
Anky’s Salinero got pretty good scores at 18-19yrs old at the last summer Olympics. Not broken yet, still enjoying his return to retirement for the second time around.
Bonfire showed for 9yrs at the international level and died of an illness.
IPS Painted Black is turning at GP level with one of Anky’s student and doing great.
Anky still rides, gives clinics and does reining too. She wanted to get out of the controversies surrounding her training techniques.
And she had a daughter in 2007.
What is wrong with her path?
Not about her personal life by any means… path I refer to involves RK and exagerated herky jerky gaits. I know EG was her student at one time. His riding got more tactful over the years , hers became more forceful with horses stresseed to the max and showing covered with lathered foam. Anyway, sorry I introduced that into the discussion it is off tangent from this lovely horse and rider pair
Quoted from alicen:
Examples would be appreciated, please.
I don’t think Totilas has fared all that well.
[QUOTE=BaroquePony;8412089]
I don’t think Totilas has fared all that well.[/QUOTE]
That’s when they tried to change his training program… and when he started in the breeding shed. Has nothing to do with EG.
Weird that Anky’s horses, as far as we know, never been injured…
[QUOTE=BaroquePony;8412089]
I don’t think Totilas has fared all that well.[/QUOTE]
And the other “many” horses?
This may be the funniest and truest example of that old saying about dressage riders having no sense of humour. Thank you for the inadvertent snort you provided 
Ok, enough of that. I don’t think extravagant movers are more prone to soft tissue injuries than other horses. Maybe there’s research I’m not aware of, but I just haven’t seen it to be true. A lot of different factors cause soft tissue injury from bad shoeing to crappy footing to pasture and paddock injuries. But, if there is some research, I’d love to be made aware of it!
I guess that trying to defend myself and saying I have a sense of humor will probably make me sound more curmudgeonly. I interpreted that comment to be a rather mean spirited jab at Edward Gal, which may not have been what was meant by it. The joys of the internet and only being able read people’s text without context, right?
As far as research goes, equine research (by independently funded sources) is woefully lacking. I’m also not sure how one could be performed, either. How do you quantify an extravagant mover in a scientific, objective way? How could you control for variables if this was to be a long term study of horses with various types of movement as they matured and moved up the levels?
My only experience is with the two extravagant movers that I knew in person, who, despite competent trainers, always seem to be getting injured. There is some discussion of the uber-fancy movers and suspensory injuries on this thread, but again, nothing beyond anecdotal evidence.
Although in recent years, there have been horses who are becoming young horse specialists - being incredibly successful in young horse classes and then never going on to the large tour.And there are people who are way, way, way more influential than me who are asking these questions.
Wish I could maintain a perfect position the way he does. The young stallion is gorgeous. Nuff said…
[QUOTE=Windermere;8412201]
Although in recent years, there have been horses who are becoming young horse specialists - being incredibly successful in young horse classes and then never going on to the large tour.And there are people who are way, way, way more influential than me who are asking these questions.[/QUOTE]
I guess that is an interesting discussion and all, but I don’t see how it is relevant to this thread, to Edward Gal and Zonik (or any of his horses for that matter). Zonik doesn’t have a long back or a short neck or a weak hind leg. Besides, if anyone knows how to choose a horse with potential for grand prix, Edward does. He has no use for a horse that can’t go all the way up the levels and you don’t see him riding or training horses that peter out young.
I happen to know a lot of horses, but not very many extravagant movers. But I know a LOT of horses with soft tissues injuries, including my own. Therefore, with these observations I conclude that average moving horses are more prone to soft tissue injuries than flashy movers. 
Zonik was successful in the young horses classes and he’s now going into the big ring with seemingly no problems.
Not all horses can physicaly/mentally make it to GP, from those who could make it, only a few will do IF they are trained properly, IF they don’t injured themselves, IF someone has the $$$ and IF etc…and that’s just your average GP. Now think about bringing up an International GP contender!
So, IMMHO and from what I’ve heard from different BNT and judges, the fact that a horse did or didn’t do the young horses classes has nothing to do with its GP career.
The second video of Zonik was much better. The first looked stilted and mechanical.
As a person I clinic with would say - he’s got spider legs!! Sorry to those that like this horse.
love the rider love the horse, dont love the first 10 sec or so of the first vid. too much tension (and i do think thats all it is, tension, have you heard the music and the clapping?!)
when its tuned down 2 notches i like it much better talented boys for sure!
I like him but I agree it’s all a little TWH. I wonder if that’s just for the benefit of the crowds though, we won’t know until we begin to see his tests.
There was a video making the Facebook rounds a few weeks ago, where the narrator was contending that extravagant movers get more suspensory-related injuries. She showed videos and stills from young stallions at the stallion competitions and argued that the way that their fetlocks sink down in the trot and canter was problematic and symptomic of what she called hypermobility.
Right, so myself and a friend looked at some photos of her horse (G-line Hanoverian), my horse (Shire-TBX), and then for the hell of it – chose something as far from a warmblood as you could get – a Highland pony stallion on YouTube. Lo and behold, all of the horses (significant sample size that it was) show the fetlock going down in the weight-bearing stage of trot and canter. That’s how horses move! The video in question almost sounded like a plausible argument, until you started looking at the issues forensically.
I know plenty of ‘average’ movers who’ve had shortened careers due to soft tissue injuries. I know a few fancy movers who have had the same. I would even hazard that in my experience, I have seen more soft tissue injuries in horses with lousy conformation who would not be within 1000 miles of anyone’s GP string, horses who, no matter what discipline they are in or what level, cannot carry a rider’s fat arse without putting a lot of strain on their bodies.
To keep the thread on topic, I really like Zonik.
I’ve never much cared for the way Gal trains his horses. They’re obviously talented horses and he is such a quiet rider. But I don’t like the way they move. It’s exaggerated and unnatural looking to me.
[QUOTE=csaper58;8411629]
So beautiful to watch, thank you.
In my dreams I ride just like E.G. Then I wake up… and I’m more like a Hobbit on a Thelwell pony.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for this laugh and great imagery!
I feel the same. I have a personal preference for an entirely different way of going. That said, EG is one of the best riders in the world in my mind. My trainer often tells me to ride like him, which is a hoot since I’m short and chubby, but a great image when looking to square my shoulders, show good posture, or just allow myself to move with my horse in synchronized balance.
I tend to like Zack and his offspring a lot, and I like this horse more than most I see EG on. You can definitely see some young horse confusion in him with stutter steps when he’s not sure whether to trot or passage, and so of course there is some blending of the two gaits. I LOVE that this horse is trying so hard and seems happy to do it even in tension.
A breeding note aside, I have heard that breeding Romanov offspring to horses with good hind ends, or just breeding Romanov to mares with good hind legs helps add activity behind most of the time. Interesting to see this example where activity is certainly present, as experienced breeders have told me tends to be the case!
Oh God, another all black GP dressage horse.
<YAWN>
