If you could have a lesson on any horse in your discipline...

[icestationzebra]

OMG how lovely to read that. Special Diamond or Gerry as he is known at home is now retired, & looking after the youngsters we breed. He could probably have gone on for a few more years round smaller classes but he deserves better.he will spend the rest of his days with us. But, & this is a promise if you are ever near by our yard in the NW & want to have a sit on him then get in touch & we will organise it. He is still a daft old buggar though that will stick in a huge fly buck when he feels it's necessary. So at your own risk. He would love a hack out round the farm.
Thanks for the comment it has made my day

What a lovely offer!

 

[KatB]

SJing- That lovely chestnut mare Shane Breen won the Speed Derby on this year... she's competed by her amateur owner in between big shows, and I LOVE her outlook on life

Eventing- Not sure bh, though wouldlove a sit on Gin and juice

 

[Shrimp]

Dressage would have to be Valegro
Eventing is a tough choice but Opposition Buzz as his jump is amazing though probably wouldn't be able to sit to it!
And a bit different here but Showing - The Humdinger, he looks like such a gent and I love ready FMMs reports with him

 

[kerilli]

GREAT question.

okay, not easy, but Dr - definitely Blue Hors Matine. A horse who looked so relaxed and happy in her (amazing) work. I don't want to try to sit on a Mount Etna of tension!
SJ - ummmmm, so so difficult, but Gem Twist, because he forgave a bit of inaccuracy (fab vid of him on youtube being pretty-much buried at an enormous parallel and turning himself inside out to clear it), whereas I think a lot of top horses would NOT appreciate my moments of stride-blindness!
XC - i would give just about everything i have to have a sit on Armada. I think he's the modern-day Murphy Himself, but a bit more harnessed... only just though. Absolutely awesome athlete. Otherwise, Jules Stiller's Enjoy Me is a truly amazing talent.

 

[Halfstep]

okay, not easy, but Dr - definitely Blue Hors Matine. A horse who looked so relaxed and happy in her (amazing) work. I don't want to try to sit on a Mount Etna of tension!

Funny how we all see things differently! I loved Matine, but thought she showed a huge amount of tension in her work. I would not have called her relaxed- to me she worked through massive tension, but was supple enough in her body to sustain it. Compare to Uthopia, who for me, now, is THE dressage horse - not a moment's tension but brilliance in collection and extension.

 

[oldvic]

Kerilli - you have great taste!!! For dressage I would add Rembrandt and currently Utopia. For show jumping I would add Boomerang, Goodbye and currently Hickstead. For eventing I have already been so lucky with the horses that I have ridden that I shouldn't wish for more.

 

[kerilli]

Halfstep, I guess you watched a lot more of Matine that I have seen... the bits I saw didn't look tense. The tail-swishing looked habitual rather than tension-rooted to me.

oldvic - thankyou! I'd forgotten Rembrandt, the first dr horse i saw who looked so light and 'dancing' on his feet... and, according to my trainer, one of the first to be worked in 'rollkur'... hmm, food for thought if true. Aherlich gets a mention up there... he was awesome. those one-handed tempi changes on his victory lap at the Olympics, over 100 of them iirc, just showing off for fun, effortless.
Boomerang was awesome. I don't think I could stay on Hickstead over a cross-pole... and i don't remember Goodbye, who rode him?
oh, Opportunity B always looks great fun too.

 

[Halfstep]

You are right about Rembrandt- Nicole Uphoff is said to have started the trend of riding super deep and round because Remmi was so spooky. It got him to concentrate on her and not look around all the time, and when she rode him up to the bride in the test he was even more elastic. That is, basically, the rationale for rollkur. It worked for Remmi......

 

[Halfstep]

You are right about Rembrandt- Nicole Uphoff is said to have started the trend of riding super deep and round because Remmi was so spooky. It got him to concentrate on her and not look around all the time, and when she rode him up to the bride in the test he was even more elastic. That is, basically, the rationale for rollkur. It worked for Remmi......

ps. I'd do ANYTHING to ride Cruising.

 

[alwaysbroke]

Would give anything to ride Headley Brit, I only kept going with my very difficult chestnut mare, who turned out to be my best friend and the best horse will ever own because I compared M to Brit. Just as M started to 'come good' I lost her to an accident in the field.

 

[Rambo]

Seamus Hayes rode Goodbye.....probably a bit before my time...but a legend nonetheless.

For me...

Showjumpers....too many to recalll...Milton, Vital, Gladstone,

 

[Rambo]

More recently....

Arko, Peppermill....and currently Big Star.

No interest in any other discipline....

 

[oldvic]

Halfstep, I guess you watched a lot more of Matine that I have seen... the bits I saw didn't look tense. The tail-swishing looked habitual rather than tension-rooted to me.

oldvic - thankyou! I'd forgotten Rembrandt, the first dr horse i saw who looked so light and 'dancing' on his feet... and, according to my trainer, one of the first to be worked in 'rollkur'... hmm, food for thought if true. Aherlich gets a mention up there... he was awesome. those one-handed tempi changes on his victory lap at the Olympics, over 100 of them iirc, just showing off for fun, effortless.
Boomerang was awesome. I don't think I could stay on Hickstead over a cross-pole... and i don't remember Goodbye, who rode him?
oh, Opportunity B always looks great fun too.

Goodbye was ridden by Seamus Hayes and he was my favourite as a child - probably before you were born!! I agree about Hickstead but he's awesome. Alherich too was amazing and Goldstern would be interesting as he was so well trained. Rembrandt's training wasn't as forced and extreme as the modern rollkur - to me more very deep and round through the whole body rather than the unattractive look to the neck.
There have been so many wonderful horses that I think the rest of my life would be spent riding them!!!