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Friday, August 22, 2008

Highs, Lows and Raised Eyebrows The 2008 Olympic Dressage Freestyles
By Karen Robinson for DressageDaily

From 15th to Gold (Horse By Horse) and Not Entirely in Order

Mythilus – Courtney King Dye - USA - This was another one where I watched Riexinger with confusion. I don’t know how Courtney figured out when she should start, but somehow the gate opened and her Cat Stevens music began. Some of the music was very pretty, some of it discordant.

There was no melodic development in the canter tour, which as everyone who has made an FEI freestyle knows, is the most challenging part of the freestyle when it comes to finding music with enough transitions to carry the variety of movements.

I loved getting to know Courtney and Mythilus at these Olympics. Never having seen them before, I have the impression they are stars of tomorrow. Mythilus does get a very short neck, and I suspect that is where she paid a price in the technical marks.

Courtney really made the most of Mythilus’ strength, the piaffes – but she did have mistakes in the tempi changes, which were placed in difficult situations, like right after a pirouette or on a serpentine (actually I am not sure if she meant to do a serpentine or two short diagonals, but there was a mistake).

Nadine – Hans Peter Minderhoud - NED - This was easily my favourite freestyle. Hans Peter or someone he trusts (and it can’t be Edward because his music is nothing like the club music Edward likes) clearly understands how to suit the music to the horse. Nadine is a pretty, light, expressive horse and the music made her look positively like a ballerina (sounds cheesy, but I mean it). All the pieces had clear rhythm that not only matched her footfalls; they made her look more exciting than if there were no music. And that is the goal after all. Not everyone would get it, but Hans Peter used “for every season turn, turn, turn” for his canter pirouettes. He did get a bit ahead of his music at one point, but I know he was really listening to it and working to make the transitions work with his choreography. The ending was the only part I didn’t love. The passage music just kind of ended – not messily like a bad edit, but just a bit quiet.

Max – Kyra Kyrkland - SWE - I’ve seen this Cabaret freestyle several times, and to me the sparkle wasn’t quite there in Hong Kong. Maybe Max was tired – goodness knows it was awfully humid day after day with no break (unless you stay until November). True to Kyra’s style, her music is quirky, happy and rhythmical. There aren’t always transitions for movements, and the canter music is a bit repetitive. The same bit is used for the pirouettes as the one tempis, for example. I noticed this time how easy her canter half passes are  - just from centre line to the wall like PSG half pass – but I’ve discovered that the judges seldom notice when the angle of a half pass is less than it would be in a test of the same level.

Vincent – Berna Pujals - MEX - (warning of bias as in the case of Pop Art) – Berna got horribly ahead of her music, and she panicked. Instead of continuing to trot until her walk music came on, she walked because she had reached the place she planned to originally. She told me afterward she doesn’t trust herself when she rides to music. Gotta work on the self-confidence there. She nailed it so well at WEG that I was convinced she was a freestyle magician…Vincent’s music suits him and is a nod to Latin America, which Berna represented single handedly in the freestyles. She got back on track in the canter tour, but she still struggled with getting ahead.

Balagur – Alexandra Korelova - RUS - Ah, the little pink machine. I love his police horse history and I love his piaffe.

Alexandra speaks just enough English to make us understand how special he is to her. He was clearly tired by the freestyle, and his Broadway music might have shone a bit more if he had a little more spring in his eighteen year old step.

Satchmo – Isabelle Werth - GER - Bonaparte –  Heike Kemmer - Germany