So, that brings me to what I saw, some of it was surprising, some of it made me sad, and some of it made me happy.
The halo judging.... ABSOLUTELY exists. I saw BNT and BNR blow movement after movement and end up with 70's. As in whole lines of tempis blown, halts blown, movements that never developed. How does one get 7's on 2 tempis when no 2 tempis were shown? And the pirouettes?! Oh my, oh my... very, very few horses were doing proper pirouettes. Most were spinning, or stepping out and were actually tiny voltes, or doing small levades and turning on the planted foot - not pirouettes at all... but yet 7's and 8's. I saw 2 freestyles that didn't meet requirements for the level- not enough shoulder in shown and one where the horse didn't do a single 2 tempi - but yet 70+%. And the riding! The riding was by and large subpar at the PSG and above level in my opinion. Chair seats, completely loose positions, hands banging on the horse's mouth and lots and lots of tension in the horses. That being said, I didn't see a single rider warming up deep or overly round - which was nice to see. What I did see was a lot of horses propped up in absolute elevation up front. And, most riders wore helmets.
The thing that made me the saddest was the Temple Lippizans. It was an absolute parody of dressage when you watched it. And, the fact that they are purposely making inferences that they are tied to the SRS is not kosher IMO. The quality of the work was awful - you would think that the horses would at least have clean changes or true pirouettes. Not the case, the the horses were so underpowered. Sure, some did levade and pesade and some did the capriole and courbette, but overall the quality was just poor and 3 out of the 4 horses were constantly sticking their tongues out. And, of the horses doing the airs - they were TIRED by the end - day after day doing the demonstrations - and it made me disappointed that they were holding this up as the pinnacle of dressage.
So, lots to see, lots of good shopping, it was eye opening on a few levels and I'm so glad I got to be the groom for the princess
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)