Olympia - Andalusian show

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junglefairy

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Anyone else see this at Olympia? Did you enjoy it?

I openly admit to having very little knowledge of advanced dressage, or this Andalusian style of riding, but I didn't enjoy it much. I thought the movements looked uncomfortable. It wasn't flowing or relaxed. To me it wasn't beautiful but actually a bit uncomfortable to watch. On e of the riders looked to be using very strong hands.

Like I say I don't know much about this type of riding, did anyone else not not particularly enjoy it, or am I a philistine! ?
 
I was at Olympia last night and very much enjoyed it.
It wasn't a display of technically correct dressage moves for a competition arena, but it was a display of great horsemanship and training with some beautifully behaved horses. They certainly, and quite rightly, received a very loud reception from the crowd.
 
I preferred it to "test" type dressage - the horses looked less tense and you could see the point behind a lot of the movements due to the traditions being represented eg the horse would have to be able to spin and turn quickly to avoid a bull.
 
I saw them a long time ago in Jerez, and they were much better. TO me last night the horses looked tired, and the riding seemed an unsuccessful mix of Spanish and modern, which to my taste did not work. The horse had lost the fire and passion that makes them so special. I did see a video of the Vaquero display on Monday and it was much better, Spanish horses being ridden in Spanish style, and the correct balance for Spanish horses.
 
I was there on Sat night and enjoyed the long reining demo but for some reason i thought there would be more airs above ground shown, there was only one rear at the end (cant remember the proper name). However i was still impressed as getting a horse to do advance movements from the ground is something i could never do.
The ridden display was good, yes it wasnt proper dressage as such but then if you wanted to see that go to the dressage. I felt it was nice to see the breed doing movements in there own style rather than in a dressage/warmblood way.
Seen better demos at Olympia but it wasnt the worse, that was a couple of years ago when it was a dressage type demo from a stud, just didnt do anything for me and i found it really boring but each to their own.
 
I really liked the long reining and thought overall they were better than the lusitano stud who performed previously and were IMO v. poor and boring and didn't show what lusitanos were capable of at all.
 
I went on Wednesday afternoon (Groupon voucher!) and again last night and I think the demos yesterday were infinitely better than those on Wednesday. I did wonder if someone had had a word! However, personally I prefer the high octane entertainment of the cossack riders or John Francois Pignon that have performed in previous years. If I wanted to see dressage moves, I'd go and watch dressage!
 
I'm so glad you said this OP. I went on Saturday afternoon and I didn't enjoy it at all! The Spanish walk looked strained and uncomfortable for the horses and although I could appreciate the skill of the riders and the obvious good training of the horses, I thought the whole thing was stiff and awkward. I went to see the Spanish Riding school in Vienna many years ago and thought that was fantastic, so I was very disappointed with this.
 
I didn't love it. Its not really my thing. I'm a philistine so I really enjoyed the Cossacks and the army they had about 3 years ago.
 
This! I was there on Friday afternoon and didn't think it was great at all.
Cowpony said:
I'm so glad you said this OP. I went on Saturday afternoon and I didn't enjoy it at all! The Spanish walk looked strained and uncomfortable for the horses and although I could appreciate the skill of the riders and the obvious good training of the horses, I thought the whole thing was stiff and awkward. I went to see the Spanish Riding school in Vienna many years ago and thought that was fantastic, so I was very disappointed with this.
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TBH I felt really disappointed yesterday. I went to the Sunday afternoon session.

I enjoyed the M&M Championship and the show jumping. The kids enjoyed the dogs, Shetland GN.

The Andalusians were a real disappointment. Having seen the video presentation on the Olympia website I thought we were in for a real treat with 'airs' above ground, in hand work, the garrocha pole and much more of a Spanish atmosphere. The Cossacks would have brought the excitement that was missing.

Then there was the finale - What a load of rubbish! I didn't have a clue what was going on, the arena looked empty and it lacked any Christmas spirit. It used to be full of carriages, ponies whizzing around and more of a christmas carnival feel. All I kept thinking all the way through was 'when's it going to start' It never did!
 
I loved it but have seen a full display in Jerez which was much better. What really annoyed me was the number of people that kept leaving their seats and returning to them during this display. I appreciate it is not everyone's cup of tea but it was the highlight for me and my view was constantly blocked. If you don't enjoy it leave before it starts or put up with it for 10 minutes please.
 
i have to admit i was expecting to see a lot more 'airs above ground' eg. capriole and levade as was advertised/promoted but only saw passage and piaffe with the teeniest bit of spanish walk thrown in... i mean no i can't do any of this and what they did do was good but it wasn't the spectacular i wwas led to believe it would be
 
cambrica said:
TBH I felt really disappointed yesterday. I went to the Sunday afternoon session.

I enjoyed the M&M Championship and the show jumping. The kids enjoyed the dogs, Shetland GN.

The Andalusians were a real disappointment. Having seen the video presentation on the Olympia website I thought we were in for a real treat with 'airs' above ground, in hand work, the garrocha pole and much more of a Spanish atmosphere. The Cossacks would have brought the excitement that was missing.

Then there was the finale - What a load of rubbish! I didn't have a clue what was going on, the arena looked empty and it lacked any Christmas spirit. It used to be full of carriages, ponies whizzing around and more of a christmas carnival feel. All I kept thinking all the way through was 'when's it going to start' It never did!
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all of this
 
cambrica said:
TBH I felt really disappointed yesterday. I went to the Sunday afternoon session.

I enjoyed the M&M Championship and the show jumping. The kids enjoyed the dogs, Shetland GN.

The Andalusians were a real disappointment. Having seen the video presentation on the Olympia website I thought we were in for a real treat with 'airs' above ground, in hand work, the garrocha pole and much more of a Spanish atmosphere. The Cossacks would have brought the excitement that was missing.

Then there was the finale - What a load of rubbish! I didn't have a clue what was going on, the arena looked empty and it lacked any Christmas spirit. It used to be full of carriages, ponies whizzing around and more of a christmas carnival feel. All I kept thinking all the way through was 'when's it going to start' It never did!
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Ditto, this.

We've been ever year for years but seriously debating not going next year - the shopping was horrendous. Far too many people in too small a place which ended up in Mum & I being physically shoved and pushed on numerous occasions by groups of rude people - seriously, how hard is it to say ' excuse me'?! Let alone having a pair of boots snatched out my hand when I was about to purchase them ...!

The whole show lacked the spirit & cheer it has done - but for more inflated ticket prices.

I wanted to SO enjoy it, as we have many other years ... But I ended up wanting to go home at times!
 
NativePonyLover said:
Ditto, this.

We've been ever year for years but seriously debating not going next year - the shopping was horrendous. Far too many people in too small a place which ended up in Mum & I being physically shoved and pushed on numerous occasions by groups of rude people - seriously, how hard is it to say ' excuse me'?! Let alone having a pair of boots snatched out my hand when I was about to purchase them ...!

The whole show lacked the spirit & cheer it has done - but for more inflated ticket prices.

I wanted to SO enjoy it, as we have many other years ... But I ended up wanting to go home at times!
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I also agree about the busyness/shoving in the shopping area, quite difficult.

I love the show jumping and would go for that again, but at c£60 a pop for the tickets, some things as people have mentioned we're a bit disappointing.

Glad it wasn't just me being a grump re the Andalusian performance but it seems like others felt the quality lacked too.
 
I went yesterday primarily for the M&M's, hmmmm, some huge variety in the ridden marks, for those interested, Julia Woods was judge 4. One conformation judge was less interested in watching some ponies moving. Ponies chosen were not as we'd expected.....
The showjumping was very good, some superb skills and controlled performances, in awe of their capabilities. Interestingly no one comments about overbitting, flash nosebands and rollkur in showjumpers?
The Andalucians were beautiful horses, probably sick of performing twice a day everyday, they looked tense and disinterested, we got the individual bay horse and the ridden quadrille. Could see the logic of the traditional fighting moves such as pirouettes and Spanish walk but the movements were less than fluid and at times uncomfortable to watch.
For us the shopping got done early after the initial M&M judging so not too crowded.
 
cambrica said:
TBH I felt really disappointed yesterday. I went to the Sunday afternoon session.

I enjoyed the M&M Championship and the show jumping. The kids enjoyed the dogs, Shetland GN.

The Andalusians were a real disappointment. Having seen the video presentation on the Olympia website I thought we were in for a real treat with 'airs' above ground, in hand work, the garrocha pole and much more of a Spanish atmosphere. The Cossacks would have brought the excitement that was missing.

Then there was the finale - What a load of rubbish! I didn't have a clue what was going on, the arena looked empty and it lacked any Christmas spirit. It used to be full of carriages, ponies whizzing around and more of a christmas carnival feel. All I kept thinking all the way through was 'when's it going to start' It never did!
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Ditto all of this, the jumping aside, I came home feeling disappointed with the Sunday afternoon performance. For those that have been on other days/evenings - the Spanish display yesterday was one lone bay horse and rider, then the Shetland GN and then four white greys doing almost the same as the lone bay horse did. Whilst I can appreciate the beauty of the horses and the Spanish walk done correctly is good to watch, it just lacked the usual wow factor that is usually found from the Cossacks, the King's Troop or the Household Cavalry for example. The M&M final never used to be like that - you used to actually see the top 10 or however many actually showing in front of the judges, before the final results were decided. Yesterday was just 'here's the winner of every breed class and now we'll announce who's won'. As for the finale, definitely not as good as I remember it being!

The trade stands were rammed - friend and I found peace in the members bar before it started. It was interesting to find that we were pretty much almost kicked out the building once it had finished, or at least certainly guided to the exits!


Oh and the seating has definitely been rammed in. Fine if you're 5ft nothing, not if you're almost 6ft tall!
 
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Its funny people should mention the trade stands, i thought there was a 50/50 split now of horsey and non horsey stands. I lost count of the stands selling scarves or bags which had nothing to do with horses and more aims at the 'London set'. Shame really but i guess thats the way things go in time.
I also didnt like the stands closing 10 mins after the interval, sometimes is the only time quite enough that you could get the things you want. I normally put my jacket in the cloakroom but couldnt and when we tried to get to the other one we saw all the people from the afternoon performance being herded out on mass, with stop start signs, very odd. It all felt a bit up tight to be honest, my oh went to the loo after the interval and wasnt aloud to go to the loos that didnt have a queue as they when through the stands, then he got an ear full when he wanted to go back to his seat.
It just didnt seem as fun as before, that said i thought the jumping was fab and i will go again next year as it what makes Christmas for me.
 
I quite like the mix of trade stands - I've bought the scarves before, which are a bit different to the bog standard high street scarves at a very reasonable price.

I also got a great original framed Thelwell print yesterday. I did get a Thermatex at a great show price - but gave up after a few stands as it was just so maniac & I found a lot of the public & staff, quite frankly rude.

I do agree with you though, it all felt very strict & regimented this year - not the fun Olympia, I remember a few years back! Compared to somewhere like Badminton, Hickstead or Your Horse Live, Olympia didn't compare favourably - such a shame, as I've been going since I was like 13 & it used to make Christmas !
 
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We went on Wednesday. Both daughter and I were very uncomfortable with the andalusians, especially the long reining. The horses looked uncomfortable and joyless. We did totally love the Shetland racing though!
 
spider said:
I loved it but have seen a full display in Jerez which was much better. What really annoyed me was the number of people that kept leaving their seats and returning to them during this display. I appreciate it is not everyone's cup of tea but it was the highlight for me and my view was constantly blocked. If you don't enjoy it leave before it starts or put up with it for 10 minutes please.
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I agree that it might not be everyone's cup of tea and people leaving their seats throughout the performance is infuriating!
For me though it's the part of the show I had most been looking forward to since I booked the tickets 6 months ago. Having seen the Andalusians before years ago at Wembley with the Lipizzaners, Lusitanos and Fresians I couldn't wait to see them again. As I said, to me it was a huge let down and agree they looked unhappy, tense, not at all fluid and the whole routine was - well boring! Nothing like the promotional video on the website.
 
Hi watched on the red button and very disappointed with the Andalusian horses but with the quadrille you need a lot of well matched horses not individual stars and that is what we got! Not my bag.
 
I saw the Andalusians on Monday eve. I thoroughly enjoyed it but would have loved to have been able to ask the trainers a couple of things that puzzled me.
The masterclass was fab, the trainer continually reminded the riders to ride from the seat and to lighten their hands. He also instructed the riders to reward the horse immediately when they did well. He was my kind of horseman.

The shopping was busy but not too crowded. There was a nice selection of merchandise but didn't see any bargains, so didn't buy very much.
 
I think this is sadly our last visit to Olympia....

The Andalusians were beyond dull, the finale showed little effort or festive spirit, and I gave up shopping after Townfields as couldn't bare pushing through the crowds.

The show jumping was ruined by people constantly moving about, chatting or playing on their mobile phones, and had a row of kids behind us that had obviously no interest in horses, and just made rude comments the whole way though.

The food and drink prices were criminal - 1/2 a pint of lager for £4.50 and water for £2.20! Fortunately we had taken food so weren't held to ransom in that respect.

The only bit we did enjoy was the Carriage Driving (Fri Pm) - everything else was same old, same old. Fortunately we have Sky Tv/Eurosports so will enjoy the show jumping from the comfort of my own home next year.

Bah humbug!!!!
 
I too was a bit disapppointed with the Andalucians - the individual display just went on, and on, and on....

I much prefer the high octane stuff the cossacks would have brought or the met police musical ride complete with jumping through hoops of fire.

Maybe it was just all a bit high brow for me... :(
 
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