Good read on history of [Grand Prix] freestyle

[Anne]

I came across this article on the history/development of the Freestyle. Lots of thoughtful and interesting comments, photos, and links to videos, from old (Klimke and Biotop 1995) to new (Dujardin and Valegro 2012) and many in-between. I thought some of you fellow DDBBers might enjoy the read:

http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2016/1 ... good-idea/

[galopp]

I would be the nay sayer, imho it has allowed the demise of traditional training. Kurs were around for some period of time which allowed the horse to show strengths and hide weaknesses, but technique was still the most important thing. Once (an iceskater) started musical freestyle, the scores went up (considerably) because the important of technique was lessened, and (non musical/non choreographers) 'artistic' was rewarded; and it allowed problematic training (rk effects) to be ignored. And now (wealthy) riders pay hundreds of thousands for music written for them or (non riding) choreographers to do their f.s. Additionally, movements which were never meant to go together, and now too steep angles are rewarded.

[Kelo]

Interesting, thanks for sharing Anne.

I guess I hear what you're saying, but respectfully disagree, galopp. Training issues are training issues, I don't think the freestyle causes that. But I do think it's important on the world stage, to allow riders to show off, if you will, on their own terms and help draw people into the sport.

I do think musical freestyles can be very much out of reach for us normal folks. There is so much required for a "good" ride, and if you don't have several thousand to burn to hire someone or a bunch of musical ability (I have neither) -- then no freestyle for you!

[M&M]

It was a fascinating article. Some day I'll watch at least some of the videos.

This isn't fair, because they are all only one moment in time, but of all the photographs, Klimke is the one that strikes me as a beautiful moment. I'm an absolute neophyte, but the position of his horse's neck just looks like it's perfectly easy to ride around in perfect harmony and communication.

I'm not finding the right words to say what I mean. Does this make any sense? And if it makes sense, does it have any merit?

[Moutaineer]

Thanks, Anne. An interesting read!