I suppose, with this being the great and glorious time of the Olympics, if I really wanted to catch an audience, I should come up with an interesting piece about the gymnastics team, or Michael Phelps vs Ryan Lochte. Much as I appreciate the sports I have watched so far, I just can't bring myself to generalize with the masses. Here at BlytheLea we like random things. Most days this is either cycling or hockeyn when it comes to professional sports, but for a brief moment in time, when the sport to end all sports is given a few rays of television, I have to stop and wonder. To me, as an amateur horse shower, nothing gets my interest like the 3 Day Eventing and the Dressage. As an eventer, I acknowledge that dressage is not my strong suit. On my less shown mount, I admit that dressage is a wonderful art, and someday, maybe, we can be up at that level too.
3 Day Eventing is a true test of champions. First, the high strung horses ideal for the sport have to be tempered for dressage, and then wound back up and maneuvered around a tricky obstacle course before being asked to come back and add precision around a stadium course. I love it, there's no other word for it. I have competed in minor events for ten years now, and watching the Olympics is a wonderful moment to enjoy. Rarely, very, very rarely is eventing broadcast on major networks. For the most part, if we competitors want to watch, we watch each other or have someone tape our rounds for slow days at the farm. But now, in London, I was able to watch a truly magnificent showing of horses and riders. Pox on NBC for changing their times around and forcing me up at five to six in the morning to watch anything, but at least there was something. For someone like me, who rarely gets to see the talent that was on display compete, well, for now, it isenough.
As for Dressage, a not so quick note on how preposterous the world has become about this sport. Forget politics. Politics only serve to sully the sports world by dragging it down into the muck with it. I get incensed on a nearly daily basis to watch the pundits mocking the artistic sport that is dressage. "Horse Ballet" they continue to call it. These people, certain presidential hopefuls included, do not understand what the sport is about. Dressage has long been a way for the horse and rider to find perfect harmony. Since ancient times, man has been seeking to work with the horse to better the ride. What dressage embodies is the peak of this quest, the end to the wonderful path so many have embarked on. It is not a political moment, or juicy bit of gossip, and I beg the world to stop painting it as such. Yes, most top competitors need a lot of money to stay competitive, and most of those horses were bought for at least five figures. However, as an amateur, I have competed and won events on horses I got for free. Retired Standardbreds, Mustangs, and off the track Thoroughbreds may not be the grand warmbloods on the world's stage right now, but each has won a ribbon at dressage, and we got their together, my horses and me, through communication. We did not do it for the notoriety, or the money, but for that glorious moment when I know we just accomplished something truly special. When I watch the Olympians on their mounts, I am inspired to try more. I am not inspired to become a millionaire and buy the fanciest mount money can by. If that is how you see dressage, you are seeing it all wrong. I am inspired to try great things, to reach for the stars, and that, above all else, is truly what the Olympics are about.
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