I thought Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers could dance. I had no idea what I was talking about. Because I just watched video of Andreas Helgstrand doing freestyle dressage with his horse, Matine, on YouTube, and I've never seen anything like it.
Nancy Jaffer at Equus had this to say:
Andreas Helgstrand of Denmark had a marvelous freestyle with Blue Hors Matine that got the audience, a sold-out crowd of 40,000 crammed into every corner of the stadium, clapping in rhythm with her passage as she went down the centerline at the end of her performance. This horse is exciting and as regular as a metronome in her piaffe and passage, which was flaunted in front of the judges at every opportunity. That's the strategy with a freestyle; if you do something well, do it in their faces. If there's something you don't do well, hide it in a corner.
Andreas is a showman. As he left the ring, he passaged along the grass and the fans (I use that word advisedly) continued putting their hands together in time to the gray mare's step.
He only won the silver.... to some controversy. Read the full account here.
Or, just go watch the horse dance, and decide for yourself:
Video of the 2006 World Equestrian Games Freestyle Dressage final performance of Andreas Helgstrand on Blue Hors Matine
I saw this at the Equus site and the mare is absolutely incredible. I don't ride dressage but watching her makes me want to.
Posted by: risingrainbow | 06 March 2007 at 07:00 PM