Why does everyone love Edward Gal so much?!

What was he eliminated for in the special today?
I admire him as a test rider but he is a butcher in his training methods and not a man I can respect
 
I certainly don't, but have to admit he is an amazing rider even though I don't agree with the overbent, tense way the horses go.. not many people would be able to ride undercover through a test like he can, but I find it uncomfortable to watch...
 
I don't know but dressage is a really ugly sport now.

Wished CH, CD etc had won. The judging was shameful.
 
He has an amazing position that remains correct no matter what the horse does.have you seen the video of the two dressage trainers discussing the riding styles of Gal and Rath? There is some inspiring riding by Gal there. In one sequence a young horse goes a bit bonkers during a test and Gal just stays in exactly the correct position and continues with the next movement. He looks transposed from another shot because the horse's bronc king and throwing himself around doesn't affect him at all.

Oh and he trained a rather famous horse with whom he broke several world records.
 
Booboos said:
He has an amazing position that remains correct no matter what the horse does.have you seen the video of the two dressage trainers discussing the riding styles of Gal and Rath? There is some inspiring riding by Gal there. In one sequence a young horse goes a bit bonkers during a test and Gal just stays in exactly the correct position and continues with the next movement. He looks transposed from another shot because the horse's bronc king and throwing himself around doesn't affect him at all.

Oh and he trained a rather famous horse with whom he broke several world records.
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He trained him in the same way as the link I attached. I don't care what records he broke, it's cruel! Totilas was never allowed to work in a relaxed free manner in the same way Valegro or Carl's horses can. That's worthy of records. levering a horses head to it's chest is not talent.
 
Short answer, the dressage public are completely fickle!!! There is no acceptable reason for a training method to be ok with one rider and not with another rider! Although any training method used incorrectly is never acceptable!

Training methods aside, removing the dreded 'R' word from the equation, Gal is an incredible rider and probably has trained as many horses to GP as Carl and definately more than Charlotte!
 
EG is just the most incredible rider .
I remember him riding a horse called Lingh I had never seen a rider with such empathy and ability to defuse tension .
I don't love him I love MrGS I love my dogs my parents etc etc I don't love EG I have never met him but I admire his talents enormously .
 
I don't see what talent there lies in abusing a horse in the pursuit of competition success. The photos of Undercover being ridden in RK are disgusting. And these photos to emerge despite claims Gal doesn't use those methods anymore because he recognised the error of his ways. The reason Totolias is now a crock is due to the unsavoury training methods used to produce him. He is so far removed from the brilliant young horse he once was. Unfortunately he was developed into a circus freak with a big elaborate front end and a way of going that in no way conformed to what dressage is actually supposed to achieve. I don't understand how that makes someone a brilliant or talented rider but then I tend to applaud real horsemen and women who put the welfare of the animal first and foremost. Having looked through 40 photos of him riding Undercover in RK in Aachen I fail to see what is admirable about his "amazing seat". Using brute strength to brace yourself against a horse's mouth is nothing to be praised for.
 
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I don't get it either OP! I think EG somehow escaped the whole rollkur thing... Not sure how since there are countless clips of him using it - but I guess that's the Totilas effect. Those of us who love Dressage, perhaps wanted to make excuses for the man at the top of the sport at the time... Everyone was so upset that horse was sold and so personally and socially invested in the face-saving idea that the new rider was to blame for ruining the "magic", they shifted all their anger onto Rath - and Gal got praised to the heavens.

He can certainly sit on a horse - and loving and appreciating something are not the same. In any case I don't think a lot of people "love" him... But a lot of people certainly make excuses for him.
 
I do admire his seat. However that makes his riding even more disgusting. His seat is the envy of many and yet he chooses to ride these horses in this abhorrent way. He is renowned for taking these super tense horses and guiding them through the tests, but why are they super tense. Because of the life they lead!!!

Carl's hot horses live out (I believe Barny does) and yet he rides with softness and harmony... Valero is such a happy athlete. How undercover and Valegro could score so closely in the GP is beyond me. The two tests were polls apart. Whilst the judges reward such tense manufactured movements they will continue to do well.

However painful the photos of Gal are to see... The positive is how many times I have seen these images shared and Gal slated on FB in such a short space of time. Just a few hours... Public opinion is so negative now there MUST be change soon!!! There has to be!!!!!!!!!! Surely!!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!! For the horse!!!!!!!!

These games have been different. The uproar on social media about Totilas (and i blame Gal for the life that poor horse has had to live) and now the Gal pictures must count for something!!!!!
 
elliefiz said:
I don't see what talent there lies in abusing a horse in the pursuit of competition success. The photos of Undercover being ridden in RK are disgusting. And these photos to emerge despite claims Gal doesn't use those methods anymore because he recognised the error of his ways. The reason Totolias is now a crock is due to the unsavoury training methods used to produce him. He is so far removed from the brilliant young horse he once was. Unfortunately he was developed into a circus freak with a big elaborate front end and a way of going that in no way conformed to what dressage is actually supposed to achieve. I don't understand how that makes someone a brilliant or talented rider but then I tend to applaud real horsemen and women who put the welfare of the animal first and foremost. Having looked through 40 photos of him riding Undercover in RK in Aachen I fail to see what is admirable about his "amazing seat". Using brute strength to brace yourself against a horse's mouth is nothing to be praised for.
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So True!
 
I, too, think Gal is an excellent rider, with enormous talent. However, I feel he's using his talent and genius power for evil, instead of good :(
 
Apparently Kathrin Glock, Gal's patron, is on the war path and threatening to sue a lot of people for slander as a result of the photos. How can she defend cruelty like that?!
 
Using brute strength to brace yourself against a horse's mouth is nothing to be praised for
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It is impossible to sit that still on a horse if you are braced anywhere. To appear to sit that still on a moving animal, never mind one that moves as big as an international GP horse, you have to be in constant fluid motion yourself.

I would kill to have a seat like his. His base riding skill is absolutely supreme. It's a shame he uses it the way he does in training :(
 
It's likely due to Gal's cruel training methods that Totilas is a broken horse now. Nothing admiral about using rollkur, it's just ridden abuse.
 
atlantis said:
He is renowned for taking these super tense horses and guiding them through the tests, but why are they super tense. Because of the life they lead!!!
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Again another catagoric statement made without catagoric evidence and is simply flawed.

Barney lives out and is ridden by Carl whom we all know is sympathetic and an excellent rider and trainer. However the fact remains that Barney is still super hot. Escapado (Peanuts) was the same. By your logic the reason these horses are tense is due to Carls riding....
 
These horses are hot because they are bred to be so they need to because of the demands of the sport at the highest level .
Then because EG has a proven record with the ones at the hottest end of the scale they tend to gravitate to wards him .
Just like if you a pro know to be good with nappy horses you tend to get sent them .
Uncover always looks one step off up rideable to me .
Turnout is a very british thing many many big yards on the continent have no turnout it's normal in many places there at most levels for horses to be in .
I got sent a horse from Switzerland to ride .
He was 8 and Dutch when we researched his past he had never lived in a field even as a youngster he had no idea how to graze would not stay in a field without a human with him ,he did not know what to do he thought he was supposed to roll and come back to you and that was that .
The sad thing is that I fear there's no retirement in a safe paddock on the cards for Totilas It's likely to be indoor living at a breeding barn .
I hope I am wrong and I hope he has a kind groom to care for him .
 
Simon Battram said:
And your proof of this is?.......I mean that to make a catagoric statement like this you do have catagoric proof don't you......
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i think this video sums it up perfectly.

http://epona.tv/dressage-astray-part-one

Someone I personally really respect as a trainer and a vet. As he says, a tense athlete destroys its body. Plenty of scientific studies out there, carried out by people far more knowledgeable than me, that show how certain training methods cause long term damage to a horse's body. Jean Luc Cornille is another great trainer and very successful rider who uses scientific research to disprove the old traditional methods of teaching dressage movements to horses which he believes are the root cause of lameness issues in horses. I could quote verses of what he has written but it would be easier to provide details of his website which is called Science of motion and is absolutely fascinating and eye opening.
 
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What I find interesting is how people write about these riders like they know them personally.

No one on here knows what goes on behind the closed doors in their yards and to be honest, I really don't think I want to know. Dressage is getting more & more tense, ugly and competitive and it's the horses who are suffering.

I don't enjoy watching Charlotte on Valegro (although given how much the country completely adores her I'd imagine I'm the only one who feels like that). There's no way I'd be able to ride one half of these horses, but something really needs to change with regards to what we class as acceptable training and riding.
 
Simon Battram said:
Again another catagoric statement made without catagoric evidence and is simply flawed.

Barney lives out and is ridden by Carl whom we all know is sympathetic and an excellent rider and trainer. However the fact remains that Barney is still super hot. Escapado (Peanuts) was the same. By your logic the reason these horses are tense is due to Carls riding....
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IMO there is a difference between hot and tense. Carl deals with hot in a very sympathetic way to try to release the tension to get the best out of the horse. Gal deals with it differently - almost bottling it so that his horses often look like they're about to explode. I know which one I prefer to watch, which one is more in keeping with what dressage should be about and which one I would prefer to train my horse (if I had the means to own such a horse of course).
 
valegro and cd don`t hold my attention at all,my mind wanders to the shopping list or something else.

carl hester has recently suggested that the fei change the poll being at the highest point to further down the neck being the highest point, to suit the modern competition horse, it might be better to breed horses that have correct conformation capable of working with the poll highest.

Edward gal looks to me as if he sitting driving a car, not riding a horse the way he sits, I don`t like it and cannot change because I have to be true to what I see.

I wish people would not say, `I could`nt ride those horses` because if that is true, those horses are not properly trained, the whole idea of dressage is to train the horse so it can be ridden by ANY competent rider, and obey the commands and `be on the aids`, if this is not possible the training is fatally flawed on a fundamental level.
 
tristar said:
I wish people would not say, `I could`nt ride those horses` because if that is true, those horses are not properly trained, the whole idea of dressage is to train the horse so it can be ridden by ANY competent rider, and obey the commands and `be on the aids`, if this is not possible the training is fatally flawed on a fundamental level.
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I'm sorry but I don't agree with you.

Competitive dressage is about winning the competition, not about training the horse so that any competent rider can ride it.

Those top horses have to be sharper than sharp off the aids, and that level of reaction would scare the averagely competent RC rider to death.
 
I'm with you, I've ridden a few purpose bred horses working at Advanced Medium, and even at that level their movement is so much bigger than my own tb/pony cross types. All fine when going well but if they lost balance trying to stay with them was hard work, and I'm pretty competent as RC level riders go.
 
disagree with your definition of competent rider.

my neighbour did not ride for 20 years, is definitely incompetent, he rode round the arena on an advanced horse who is also a hot stallion, the horse just took him for what he was and acted accordingly and listened, and then cantered steadily around a small paddock, it was the first time the horse had ever been ridden by anyone else since he was broken in ten years ago, the trainer has total confidence in the horse because it is correctly trained.
 
tristar said:
disagree with your definition of competent rider.

my neighbour did not ride for 20 years, is definitely incompetent, he rode round the arena on an advanced horse who is also a hot stallion, the horse just took him for what he was and acted accordingly and listened, and then cantered steadily around a small paddock, it was the first time the horse had ever been ridden by anyone else since he was broken in ten years ago, the trainer has total confidence in the horse because it is correctly trained.
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One swallow does not make a summer :)
 
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