2004 Olympic Games - Dressage

Dancing To The Music: Olympians Show They’ve Got the Beat

The Spaniards Were Strong

Rafael Soto and Invasor warmed the hearts of everyone in the audience. Rafael is the trainer at Real Escuela, the famous riding school in Jerez, Spain, which trains their horses in Airs Above the Ground and gives performances to the public. Well, his experience doing that showed in his performance. As he was finishing up and going down the center line towards home he started to signal with his right hand and the audience started clapping to the rhythm of his horse’s passage. For spectator appeal it was a brilliant move. When his ride ended he was jubilant punching his arms in the air and at one point tossed his hat.

Later when I talked to him I asked if he had another hat, “No,” he said turning around as if looking for his hat, “I only have one.” His music had a Spanish/Flamenco theme to it and fit his horse beautifully. It was wonderful to watch the passage tour and half passes with his horse totally in sync touching the ground right on the beat.

“Today he gave 100%,” said Rafael about the horse he now had competed on in three Olympic Games. “He is an artist in the freestyle.”

His mount performed well in the first test but not so well in the Special but was back to form in the Freestyle. Rafael explained that he was not feeling well after the first Grand Prix test, he was coughing, “but now he feels very well.”

“He is a very clever horse,” concluded Rafael. “He learned the Grand Prix test in five days.”

The Dancing Continues

Great Britains Escapado, ridden by Carl Hester, performed to melodies from the movie, Mary Poppins. It was light and fun. Unfortunately at the very beginning of his ride before they started his horse pawed the ground...definitely a no no in dressage, but then they had fun dancing to the lighthearted music.

We were getting close to the top of the class and the first German was entering the ring. And when a German enters you know you might be watching one of the winners. But not this time. Just inside the entrance his horse spooked and during the ride he was a little unsettled in spots. He had a number of problems throughout his ride, especially in the tempi changes. He was performing to lots of soft 80s tunes.

Sweden’s Jan Brink aboard Briar was dancing to a number of Simon and Garfunkel tunes including the Sounds of Silence, Maria (you’re breaking my heart…) and others. Just before his halt at the end they performed a piaffe on a circle.