Here's a hypothetical class of fine dressage ponehs - all at the Grand Prix level. And all doing a musical freestyle.
How would you place this class?
Why?
Horse A: Moorlands Totilas
Horse B: Brentina
Horse C: Max
Horse D: Olivier
Horse E: Herzruf
I may or may not publish answers in another post. :)
wow, those are some amazing horses. I didn't watch all the videos all the way through because I'm not much of a judge, especially for dressage, but I LOVED Brentina's! I especially love that because the rider is pretty small, you can tell that the horse is SO soft and relaxed. Just amazing :)
ReplyDeleteThey were all god but I think Debbie McDonald and Brentina looked the most poised supple soft and all round like they should be winners.
ReplyDeleteElisabeth Austin and Olivier were a close second though.
I am the last person that should be judging Grad Prix dressage but since you asked...lol.
ReplyDelete1st place: Debbie McDonald and Brentina.
2nd place: Kyra Kyrklund and Max
3rd place: Ulla Salzgeber and Herzfuf. I would have put them second because I liked how relaxed and swinging his movement was but why does he look so fat? And the rider seemed to be heavy handed in her cues.
4th place: Elisabeth Austin and Oliver.
5th place: Edward Gal and Totilas.
But what do I know? Chances are I got the whole line up backwards. I said I shouldn't judging dressage! I pretty much can only go on what my eye tells me but it is definitely and uneducated guess. You have to tell me how you had them lined up so I can see how off I am!
Ok, here's my guess:
ReplyDelete1. Brentina - very relaxed throughout, I felt her test was very technical with lots of seamless transitions and I really liked the tempi changes on the circle. The music was spot on throughout the test.
2. Totilas - behind the verticle a considerable amount, very rhythmic and concise througout the test. Didn't like the music as it didn't have a beat to match, very good piaffe and pirouette, didn't lose energy.
3. Max - tense throughout movements (tail swishing), lost energy in piaffe and pirouette. Tempo was well-matched to music and lovely extended canter. Nice transitions.
4. Olivier - placed fourth instead of third because of the very abrupt transitions, but had good rhythm throughout, lost energy in piaffe, good music. Very close between him and Max.
5. Herzuf - Have to say that I really liked this horse, but not so much the rider. I felt that he had the potential to do a lot better but there were a lot of little mistakes - too much traveling in the pirouette, transitions from piaffe to passage were rough and he lost the rhythm, lacked straightness in tempi changes. Didn't have that "effortlessness" that dressage is all about. Technically, not so great, but he maintained relaxation and engagement throughout the test even with a rider that I felt was too heavy-handed.
I feel like the real placing is going to dramatically different from mine, but oh well. I really want to hear the actual percentages they got!!