Burnerbee
Well-Known Member
I very much doubt I’ll be watching the Olympics dressage now - or indeed any high level dressage that appears on TV / YouTube etc. Interested to know if you will (I’m not a journalist- just nosey!)
Will you watch Dressage at the Olympics (poll)
- Thread starter Burnerbee
- Start date
Crazy_cat_lady
Well-Known Member
It bores me to tears so I won't be watching plus I don't like the way it's gone
Burnerbee
Well-Known Member
Ha, I hear you - I generally watch one round, if that, mostly thinking how uncomfortable it all looks, try to remember if it ever looked better (or was I just young and naive?) and switch over
equinerebel
Well-Known Member
No, but I wouldn't have anyway. I hate how it looks and it makes me uncomfortable to watch.
dougpeg
Well-Known Member
I'm going to it. It has taken the shine out of it for me.
conniegirl
Well-Known Member
I generally only watch the Dressage to music anyway, I will probably still watch it.
Bellaboo18
Well-Known Member
I doubt I'd have watched it anyway, I just don't enjoy it. We are going to the eventing though and I must admit I feel weird about supporting any of the equestrian elements at the moment.
Lady Jane
Well-Known Member
I will watch the GB squad if I can but it has less appeal now than it did
piebaldproblems
Well-Known Member
Yes 100%. How can anyone definitively say "modern dressage is so horrible" if their judgement is based on a few photos which might just be a bad moment?
I will try to find the time to watch every competitor and I will praise and support on social media every rider that I see riding in an empathetic and correct way. If we don't support the good, nothing will improve.
I will try to find the time to watch every competitor and I will praise and support on social media every rider that I see riding in an empathetic and correct way. If we don't support the good, nothing will improve.
splashgirl45
Lurcher lover
There will be some tests that I won’t like and I have to say that they are unlikely to be the British. The Dutch riding style is not to my liking and never has been, and the type of spider legged horses are very unattractive to me . But yes I have paid for Discovery plus and will watch all of the equestrian sports as much as I can. I find it very sad that dressage is now in the spotlight on the main tv channels because of Charlotte and yet when any of our equestrian teams and individuals win gold they are lucky to even been mentioned. However when our football and cricket teams do badly we get hours of chat about them , and on the rare occasions they do well you can’t get away from the coverage…
Equi
Well-Known Member
Yes because I want to see all the competitors and gauge if this has caused any of them to ride more empathetically.
JFTDWS
Well-Known Member
It’s not just a few photos. It’s personal experience, personal observations, multiple videos, god knows how many photos… every instance of abuse like this one.
There is so little that is good left in high level dressage, it’s hard to find much worth praising.
equinerebel
Well-Known Member
I'm afraid, there's been so many cases like the latest that have now led me to have the opposite view. Show me a case where modern dressage isn't stressful and negative to the horse.
I just don't like what I see. It doesn't look natural and I know, as we all do, what often goes on behind the scenes to produce those unnatural movements.
piebaldproblems
Well-Known Member
Lewis Carrier, Becky Moody?
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IrishMilo
Well-Known Member
Watch some footage of dressage 20 years ago and compare it to now.
eahotson
Well-Known Member
Pmd you.
piebaldproblems
Well-Known Member
I'm not saying I support the way a lot of modern riders ride. All I'm saying is that I want to have an informed opinion and to judge with my own eyes.
JFTDWS
Well-Known Member
I’m not prepared to comment on individuals like this specifically and without context. But there are enough problems endemic in the dressage world that I have no faith in any of it, and I have very little hope for the future of the sport.
I'm Dun
Well-Known Member
Helgstrand? And a video of an olympian beating a horse with a whip in a lesson. One of the supposedly good ones. I absolutely categorically think its bad.
Rowreach
Adjusting my sails
I haven't watched pure dressage since the Barcelona Olympics which made me cry at the horrific spectacle.
I've only recently started watching occasional tests, usually because they have been highlighted in some way as either appalling (blue tongue etc) or beautiful to watch (Becky Moody).
I've only recently started watching occasional tests, usually because they have been highlighted in some way as either appalling (blue tongue etc) or beautiful to watch (Becky Moody).
Fransurrey
Well-Known Member
At best I am an 'if it's on and there's nothing else to watch' kind of viewer, so I can't say it's influenced me either way.
Burnerbee
Well-Known Member
There is a very big issue here though - riders / trainers like CDJ are probably (?) good to their own horses, more so the best ones, but not so good with other peoples - as this video demonstrates very clearly. Therefore the horses I’m watching on telly might have an okay life (but completely unnatural which to me equals poor welfare - a topic discussed in detail in other threads), but much of the rest of the sport is built on cruelty and arrogance. It’s meant to celebrate what horses do naturally, not scare the crap out of them (or much worse).
ILuvCowparsely
Well-Known Member
No but then I wouldn't have anyway as I have no interest.
Mrs G
Well-Known Member
I was - and still am - planning to watch some of it with my niece. She is like a sponge for all things horsey so we will watch it together and I will try and identify some of the higher dressage moves to her - advise what the judges are looking for etc. We'll do a bit of critique looking at the riders position, how the horse moves etc. I'll also try to educate her to look for signs of tension in the horse and we'll discuss conformation, breeding, training etc. So it will be more for education than enjoyment.
IrishMilo
Well-Known Member
I think that's a very generous - naive - way of thinking. You could argue that the 'good' ones have become that way through... ahem... more 'training' than usual.
Burnerbee
Well-Known Member
Yeah, you’re probably right…I was mostly thinking of Valegro when I wrote it - it’s hard to imagine she was brutal with him but then, 24 hours ago, I wouldn’t have thought she was brutal to any horse…
sbloom
Well-Known Member
I usually get tempted to watch some and then regret it, and that applies to all equestrian sport.
She has said he had a hard mouth...wonder where that came from...?
She has said he had a hard mouth...wonder where that came from...?
AmyMay
Situation normal
After what we’ve learned in the last 24 hours, can you be so sure????
JFTDWS
Well-Known Member
I never understood why people rave about her and Valegro. It was at best less unpleasant than most other combinations at the time - their tests never seemed pleasing to me.
(And I posted about it back in 2012 on the Olympics thread, and since - I’m not re-writing history in the light of recent events)
(And I posted about it back in 2012 on the Olympics thread, and since - I’m not re-writing history in the light of recent events)
WestCoast
Well-Known Member
Never been able to watch it - always looks like the horses are stressed and uncomfortable.