Dressage

[Bazile]

Isn't the olympics about ' sports '

Dressage - Really? - is this a sport ?

[ummmm]

If you haven't been on a horse for some time trying a couple of hours riding and come back the next day and tell us which muscle isn't hurting.

[woofgang]

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/08/charlotte-dujardin-dominates-dressage

[woofgang]

sorry trying again with the vid

[EcclesCake]

I can happily second Woofs post, dressage is NOT for the faint hearted!

[woofgang]

its playing up...go to Youtube and put in
Dujardin Olympia Freestyle test

[Old_Geezer]

Nevertheless I'm still unconvinced that it has been proven a sport. Just a lot of protest about how difficult it is. So is chest, darts, dancing.

[woofgang]

so what is your definition of a sport?

[rsvp]

I'd say chest is very hard to become skillful in OG

[EDDIE51]

Equestrianism must be the only 'sport' where success depends far more on your 'equipment' ( the horse) than on the participant. It would show more from the rider if there was a 'pool' of horses all equally trained and the rider had to ride whichever horse they were allocated in a random draw from the pool. I realise there are many problems with this but at present I feel the horse does not get the recognition it deserves.

[woofgang]

EDDIE in the horsey world, the horse definitely does get recognition. It wouldn't be kind to the horses to make them have different riders. They know their riders and grooms and would be very unhappy with a stranger on their backs. It takes a special kind of horse not to mind who rides them. they are either very easygoing or what are called “schoolmaster” or “schoolmistress” horses and are highly prized in their own right. having said that, it takes a great rider even so to control the horse, give it the right aids and above all make it look effortless. The best horse won’t do that for a less than good rider.
In any event that requires personal equipment, the competitor is allowed to choose their own, racquets, guns, vaulting poles, foils and so on and not required to draw from a pool

[EDDIE51]

I agree with you woofgang. But items like guns, foils, racquets can be bought and all be identical where that is not possible with living creatures.

[woofgang]

Actually when competing at that level, they are not identical! Tennis players can have their frames specially made and then strung to their requirements. I know about archery because I used to do it. The best bows are built around the body of the person who is going to use it. So are guns
http://www.purdey.com/guns-rifles/building-a-bespoke-purdey/

http://www.tennis.com/tournaments/2010/06/stringing-all-england-behind-the-scenes-with-wimbledons-stringers/23140/

[trt]

Archery is a joke in the Olympics, as the bow is full of technology, and you can hardly miss the target.

If it was like the Red Indians bow & arrows, I wouldn't mind, as there is skill in them.

[EDDIE51]

^^ Agree with the above, the point I was trying to make is that a bow racquet or gun does not have a mind of it's own in the way a horse does.

[Quizmonster]

The best description of the difference between a sport and a game I have ever come across was as follows:
You can smoke while playing a game; you can't when participating in a sport.
Now, I'm fully aware that vast swathes of people have given up smoking, but just think of it, especially if you ever have smoked. On this basis, dressage and swimming are clearly sports while chess and darts aren't.

[Bazile]

Quizmonster

//..On this basis, dressage and swimming are clearly sports while chess and darts aren't.//

I don't know - you can have a fag in the corner of your mouth , while doing your thing on your horse

[Bazile]

should have read
' oh , i don't know .... '

[Tilly2]

This is driving me mad.

The word is 'skilful'.

[Quizmonster]

Sure, Bazile, you can have a fag in the corner of your mouth while putting, too, though not as easily for a full-blooded golf shot; then, however, one need only chuck the thing momentarily on the fairway! (I've done it many a time in the old days.) Thus, for me, golf is a game, not a sport.
Since so much of dressage is "show", despite the hard physical effort, I can hardly picture a top-hatted and be-saddled figure puffing away with wrinkled-up eyes at the same time!