This has been arranged for over a year and I was so excited, I've been planning a series of sculptures based on these horses and knew I would come away enthused and inspired, I wasn't wrong!
My friend bought the tickets, so when we were shown to our seat I couldn't believe it - we had the best seats in the house!! She had hinted she'd got us good seats but I wasn't expected to be sat within 8ft of the edge of the ménage!
The show began and a familiar face appears, Nicki Chapman (presenter of Pop Stars, Escape to the Country and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show) came out to introduce the event. It was lovely as she was obviously delighted to be involved in it, and even though she read from scripted cards, her enthusiasm really shone.
Now, a lot of this information I am sure many of you will already be familiar with, but to illustrate what we are seeing I have tried to explain in lay-man's terms, I hope that's ok.
The first stars to come out were 10-time Paralympic dressage gold medallist Lee Pearson and his horse, Zion. They performed a lovely routine, I've never watched dressage live before and the concentration in both Lee's and Zion's eyes was intense. At the end Lee dismounted and did an interview with Nicki. It wasn't until he dismounted that you could tell he even had a disability, it is quite severe and showed just how incredible it is that he can ride so beautifully, though he did admit that Zion had chosen to add in a few "unexpected" moves during their routine, we didn't notice though!
This photo was taken without zoom, we could almost touch the horses! We could hear them breathing and the sound of their hooves on the soft sand/sawdust floor, even the riders as they spoke to them, I kept thinking I needed to pinch myself to believe it!
I tried taking some photos, flash photography wasn't allowed but you could take photos without flash, I tried but they just blurred so from then on I mostly took little video clips so I had something I could use for sculpting reference. I'm including those on this blog post and hopefully they'll come through to you guys, fingers crossed! If you're reading this on a mobile using 3G be careful about your download allowance, all these videos might add up to a lot of megabytes!
Next up, another Olympic superstar and his rider appeared, this is "Dances with Wolves" (stable name "Golly"), as I recall; a huge, 17.3hh Oldenburg horse, he is a Grand Prix dressage horse (ie the very top level), he is liver chestnut and under the bright lights he positively gleamed! Carl and Dances with Wolves performed another beautiful routine, here they are performing "tempi changes" - where the horse changes its lead leg on every stride (in a series of "flying changes"). This is a move that only Grand Prix level horses can do!
Then, Carl started talking us through some of the moves in dressage, explaining the most difficult ones in preparation for the Lipizzaners. This move is called a "Piaffe" - it's where the horse basically trots on-the-spot, it is an example of how the horse can collect itself into a very flexible, springy position, which became important later on... If the horse moves forward during this move, it is called the "Passage", which is a beautiful way to view a horse in motion.
Carl then brought on another dressage horse and rider, I think the horse is Uthopia (stable name Uti) but not 100% sure, the rider was Rebecca Hughes. Carl got Rebecca and Uthopia to perform some dressage moves, explaining the difference between high-level moves and Grand Prix moves, including the canter pirouette - performed with an 8m diameter in high level dressage but "on a dinner plate" at Grand Prix level. I was concentrating so hard during this part that I didn't capture the moment I'm afraid! He got pretty out of breathe talking while riding, but I'm really glad they did this as it gave us a much better appreciation for what we were about to see! To finish, Carl and Rebecca performed together before leaving the arena.
Then it was time for the stars of the show. Nicki gave a little history about the Spanish horses and then introduced some of them to us. There was one bay horse (there is always one) and the rest were gleaming shades of white. Did you know that you can only call a Lipizzan horse white - all other "white" horses are called gray?
The horses performed a beautiful routine to music which set the scene for things to come! After they had left the arena, Nicki introduced the next section - the Schools Above the Ground! We sat there a little puzzled saying "the Schools Above the Ground - doesn't she mean the Airs Above the Ground?..." but it turns out that to start with, they perform the moves without riders, their handlers standing to the side. These are called the Schools Above the Ground. Later, when they perform with their riders in the saddle, the moves are called the Airs Above the Ground.
Both the School and the Airs above the Ground were originally military moves (though I don't know how many horses could have been so well trained to perform then during battle!), these horses are trained in order to preserve the tradition, keeping it alive. We enjoy it for entertainment now, I am so pleased that the tradition is continued (without the war bit!).
The first move is called the Levade - this is where the horse lifts its front legs and holds its body at an angle of thirty degrees. Before I knew all this stuff I'd say "he's just rearing isn't he?", but no, this is an extremely difficult position for a horse to get into and to hold it only the strongest stallions are capable.
The next move is called a Courbette - this is where the horse rears up to as vertical a position as possible, and then hops along on its back legs. It amazes me that any horse has the strength to perform this move! (terrible photo but please keep reading, there is better to come!)
The most incredible move the horses perform is called the Capriole - this is where the horse leaps up into the air, all four hooves off the ground and then kicks out with the back legs. This is the showcase manoeuvre, the highlight of the event and the most breath-taking sight (though not in this photo sadly!).
As you can see, taking photos was very disappointing, so after trying my best and failing to get any good shots, I moved on to taking movie clips instead so keep scrolling, there's better stuff below, starting with this clip showing the Capriole:
After the interval, the horses returned to perform the Airs Above the Ground. The riders must have performed these many times before and felt they needed a bigger challenge - so they performed them all without stirrups!!!
So, here we have the Levade performed, ridden. You can see that the horse enters each move doing the Passage and Piaffe which gathers them up to the ideal position to be able to move on to perform the move.
Then more of the Courbette, I am still astonished at the power the horse needs to get both itself and its rider into the air like this!
And finally, the incredible Capriole! You can see the whips that the riders use - these are actually pieces of birch-wood which the riders find in the forests near the stud and whittle down to use. I don't like whips, but I was satisfied that their use wasn't extreme or excessive. We were quite impressed throughout at how well the horses were handled, with the occasional strong use of the bits only when the horses were playing up -they are stallions after all and they are chosen because of their cheeky attitudes, so I had no worries that these horses are spoilt rotten and live very well while they are working and then retire in luxury too. As explained during the event and substantiated online, the Lipizzaner breed is know for its fast learning and long life, the training is designed to build the horses athleticism and many horses work well into their twenties and still enjoy a long retirement. I appreciate there are many differing attitudes to this way of life for the animals and their riders, but this post isn't designed to provoke any sort of debate on the matter, I am viewing purely from an artistic point of view and am satisfied with their training and living conditions.
And finally, the horses performed the most beautiful act - the "Quadrille" - where eight horses perform in complete harmony in a ballet of elegance and power. I won't talk too much about this, just turn up the sound, sit back and enjoy :)
(if you look closely, you'll see a bit of a near miss on this one - the second from last horse nearly bumped into the one in front as they crossed over!)
It all ended with an encore from the horses and their mounts, parading around the ring performing a move called the "passage" (spoken in an accent, a bit like pass-arsh), which is basically the Piaffe, but moving along. It's a lovely way to see the horses doing this as they move along slowly enough to take in their amazing gold-embellished tack (which only the very best horses can wear!) and appreciate the power and grace of each one.
Now I'm home, I have some incredible memories to carry with me for life, some great reference material to use on the upcoming sculptures that I just knew I'd be wanting to make after the event, and also, a lovely keyring which I shall hang proudly in the Making Room to keep the memories alive of a great event, and a great weekend with my buddies :)
1 comment:
Lovely pics and videos.....thanks for sharing !!!
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