So this weekend and next weekend are the USDF Festival of championships, which are also the 2010 US WEG selection trials. I live about 30 minutes away from USET, less without traffic. You would think that living so close and being a dressage enthusiast that I would be thrilled to have not 1, but 2 weekends of world class dressage right in my back yard. Well, you would be thinking wrong. And I am not sure why that is…
I have gone to many festival of championships in the past, but with the rain last year and the trials being in California the year before…well I guess I just got used to not going. The reason I loved this show in the past was its totally low key vibe. Not a lot of people go to watch so the stands used to be filled with the top level riders and the up and comers all cheering on friends, trainers and barn mates. When I saw a news article about the new competitor area for this year it made me really sad. Sure, you always had the VIP area, but a lot of people used to not want to go there, often just getting food and then coming back to the stands to hang out.
The other reason I think I am not that enthused is that some of the front running riders are what I call “new dressage” riders. You know the type…lots of flashy movements…and side reins. I just don’t get excited about jerk and spur training. I know that there are some great classical riders as well, but it just seems like there are fewer and fewer of those these days.
Maybe I am just not that excited about it because I am not going to WEGs.
So this weekend I am taking a pass. I will be there to volunteer on Friday (which I think is Young Rider’s so it should be fun) because my whole barn decided to do it together (we are such dorks) since they didn’t have enough people. I don’t know if I will go for the weekend or not.
im in the same boat. i watched the live streaming but i just couldnt watch after awhile.
I think my reason is that Steffen Peters isn’t riding. I dont know many of the people riding now anyways.
I can see your _oint. Sorry about my stu_id keybaord not ty_eing the letter _ Rabbit fur. Again.
I lost a taste for cram and jam riding long ago. Riding from the front to the back is abvious when you know how to ride from back to front. Hand riding and yanking to _unish don’t make sense.
This method, however, is easier to teach and shows “_rogress” sooner with less skill and no natural ability. The dressage industry seems to be selectively breeding horses to so well anyway.
Off the soa_box now.
Dang rabbit fur.