[Closed] Dressage

Ooooooh, hark at you lot! 😆

I bet the dressage arena didn't cost £800k, like the MTB course.

Interesting article in the latest edition of Privateer which debates the viability of MTB sports in the Olympics. Sadly it seems a lot of it boils down to visibility to viewers, which suggests equestrian events will remain popular.

I bet the dressage arena didn't cost £800k, like the MTB course.

You are damn right it didn't cost £800K - [url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/london-2012-olympics-blog/2012/jul/28/london-2012-equestrian-olympics-greenwich ]some estimates reckon it cost £60 million![/url]. And there is no physical legacy for that cash. That's the whole park mind (so a bit like measuring against all the cycling facilities) but the vast majority on getting the arena sorted.

Re elitism - This is obviously an odd way to measure it but telling never the less - A friend of mine is involved with the managing of the [s]tat[/s] souvenir shops at the Olympics and runs the Greenwich site and is involved in other sites too. The average spend per visitor at Greenwich is something daft like 250% higher than locations such as Excel, swimming venue or the main stadium. Could be other mitigating factors or could be higher disposable income of those exercised to go and watch the equestrian events.

😯

Wouldn't believe anything the Grauniad writes about anything equestrian though... 😉

To those suggesting the riders should swap horses - should the cyclists swap bikes? Or all ride the same one? Same principle; you get tuned in to your ride and can perform better than on something unfamiliar that doesn't "fit".

Oh, and also bear in mind that the vast majority of professional riders don't own the horses they compete on at all as there's no way in hell they could afford them. Carl Hester does have a part share in Uthopia, but both he and Valegro are being sold now that the Olympics are over.

I love the Olympics because of the wide range of sports both judged and non-judged. The dressage tests they are riding at the Olympics require serious athletic capability from both the horse and the rider (I am married to a dressage rider).

Unsurprisingly the top horses demand the top prices. But entry into the sport of dressage does not require one of these horses.

Regarding the cost of facilities at Greenwich. The cost is massive and probably we will never know how much. A decision was made to use Greenwich no matter what. This required an amazing engineering feat of building everything (including stables) on a massive platform and trying to get that platform to behave like ground. I have been talking to the guys tasked with doing this over the last year. Quite a challenge, but Locog wanted it there no matter the cost.

I was there yesterday - the organization and delivery of the event was fantastic. The atmosphere was not as good as the Europeans at Windsor though in our opinion.

I have a great deal of admiration for anyone who climbs on to the back of some big, powerful potentially stroppy beastie, that is perfectly capable of independent thought, and then tries to get it to do stuff it may not want too.

There's a very real possibility that its not going to end well at all

I have a great deal of admiration for anyone who climbs on to the back of some big, powerful potentially stroppy beastie, that is perfectly capable of independent thought, and then tries to get it to do stuff it may not want too.

It's kinda like what you do with hora. 🙂

EDIT: That'd be without the "capable of independent thought" though.

Would you be referring to Hora Buckaroo? 😀

No bloody wonder riders have a scathing opinion of cyclists when this is the general attitude maintained here. It's an incredibly demanding discipline and until you've tried it properly you're not really in a position to criticise its inclusion in the Olympics or not. (And having ridden a horse does NOT count).

Did you get kicked by a horse this morning? Exactly what is this scathing opinion of cyclists horseriders have? If they think the time trial is boring then I'd happily acknowledge it probably is. Maybe you can explain to me why I shouldn't find watching dressage boring, despite having ridden a horse (I learnt on a horse which used to be a top level showjumper and spent plenty of time learning good horse control - though I hadn't realised I needed to set out my qualifications in order to be allowed to comment).

Just typical sport bashing,

Anyone read about Phil Leggitt saying Bmx and MTb shouldn't be in the Olympics?

Chinese criticised Team GB's dominance in cycling and how many athletes we entered, yet how many athletes do they have in badminton??

Windsurfers have got it bad.

Why the BBC insist in just interviewing the riders and not the horses is beyond me. They should at least be given a medal.

No bloody wonder riders have a scathing opinion of cyclists when this is the general attitude maintained here. It's an incredibly demanding discipline and until you've tried it properly you're not really in a position to criticise its inclusion in the Olympics or not. (And having ridden a horse does NOT count).

So is flatland, which has to be the equivalent in cycling terms, and yet that's not in the Olympics (because that would just be silly).

As far as I can see, it's just a dog show for horses, with the only difference being that the human is on it rather then running next to it.

I was at the dressage yesterday...

I normally find it incredibly boring, even when my wife is doing a test (at a lower level obviously) I struggle to pay attention. As does the horse, which can be amusing sometimes...at a small local competition a while back she strayed a little wide and then decided to jump a flower arrangement, got a chuckle from the other watchers but didn't do anything for her score 🙂

Yesterday morning was a bit so so (no GB riders for a start) but I did actually start to take an interest in the afternoon, and it got quite interesting towards the last few when GB started looking good for gold. First time the Germans have lost in years.

[i]Entry level dressage horse = £60,000.00[/i]

Entry level dressage horse for the average person, about the same price as a mid range full susser. If the horse is a bit rubbish/needs work then it could be even cheaper. Obviously the upkeep is higher, but you don't need to be earning megabucks.

Re. the scoring...even for me I could see how the marks where awarded to certain moves and with my wife commenting away it makes sense, but I can see that watching from home the scoring could appear completely random until someone starts pointing out their errors.

Why is it that they can make a horse walk sideways, stand on its hind legs, trot in rhythm etc but they can't stop it taking a massive dump in the middle of an international performance?
The horses at the Spanish riding school in Vienna did exactly the same thing.

To anyone saying 'oh x Y or Z sport shouldn't be in the olympics'; guess what? It's not about you. Fortunately.

Although the previous inclusion of baseball, I have to say, was a bit of a joke.

I have a great deal of admiration for anyone who climbs on to the back of some big, powerful potentially stroppy beastie, that is perfectly capable of independent thought, and then tries to get it to do stuff it may not want too.

There's a very real possibility that its not going to end well at all

Have you met my ex-wife?

Entry level dressage horse for the average person, about the same price as a mid range full susser.

Yeah, but that's a second hand horse. You'd get a new bike for that!

Couple of years down the line and you'd need a new one due to horse fatigue as well. You'd be better off ditching dressage and just getting a Halfords horse-shaped-object while learning.

What sort of money is top end stables and food for a year? I take it we're not talking Finish Line Dry prices here?

Couple of years down the line and you'd need a new one due to horse fatigue as well. You'd be better off ditching dressage and just getting a Halfords horse-shaped-object while learning.

Ah, but you can't eat your discarded bike can you.

True, the rag and bone man has refused to move the horse carcass from my garden though.

WunUndred 😀

As far as I can see, it's just a dog show for horses

Couple of years down the line and you'd need a new one due to horse fatigue as well.

You can always make a bit back on it though ...

[img] [/img]

What sort of money is top end stables and food for a year? I take it we're not talking Finish Line Dry prices here?

How about the upkeep of bikes as opposed to trainers for just running?

What about the cost of new covers for the settee - they're all worn out from the amount of time I spend slobbing there watching sport on TV.

Would be even worse if you had a horse there slobbing with you.

I think I understand this a bit better now, having seen the comments of Judy Harvey, "respected rider and trainer as well as BBC commentator at London 2012".

Charlotte's horse Valegro has a faultless outline, by which I mean there's no tension in the horse, The neck is very important, as is the way the horse carries the bit in its mouth.
Adelinde's horse Parzival gets a bit tight in its neck, whereas Charlotte's horse had a beautiful curve from the front of its withers [the area between the shoulder-blades] up to its ears.

So what you're telling me is that Valegro won the gold medal?

Are there any rules about the nationality of horses, or could a foreign horse win GB a gold medal (I appreciate I'm on shaky ground here given arguments about Wiggo's nationality, not to mention certain other GB gold medalists who's English is so shaky that their comments get lost in translation)?

I watched the dressage today - absolutely amazing. The last 4 just got better and better and the Dujardin was a clear winner for even my inexperienced eye and the music choice was perfect.

I wonder if the horses meet up and do some drunken dancing after the event?