H&C

But Jackie, isn't that what dressage is all about, an opinion, I have never heard it being called nit picking before.

Absolutely Fabulous! That brought tears to my eyes.

Amazing!!! It made me cry :)

I've just watched Edward Gal again and can we just stop nit picking. I've never seen such a stimulating performance of Kur.

I'm a Yoga teacher and sometimes a new student might come in who has never done yoga before, but they have a fantastic natural movement, of which they are unaware they possess. It may not be classical Yoga according to the current Yoga tombs of structured analytitical movements but it is a new movement coming from the core (ie the spine). I adored Edward Gal's performance on Totilas. I'm not an expert on dressage but I'm suggesting that because his movements are so amazingly extravagant, that instead of criticising, we explore the possibility that there may be another way of performing a movement. Things move on creatively and it's important not to get stuck in the mire of general opinion. I liked sgrondahl, but you left no conclusion.
Many thanks.

This horse is so amazing that it is weird. I have never seen such amazing transitions and athletic ability in extensions. He is also so.....laid back.

I don't agree with the posts below for the following reasons. This is a small round stallion type horse. If you look at the top of his hips, when he goes to his extensions, you can see the hips drop several inches, and his withers elevate. His back stays swinging. His expression, ears, and eyes, are not reading tension. I do agree, he is too deep in the bridal, and his poll is not high enough at this level. And YES, judges are too quick to pick the favorites, and not judge strictly on THAT PERFORMANCE. Without being at this show and seeing the other rides, this is impossible to say, if this happened this day. Just my opinion. Thank you for the conversation today.

WHOA. Fantastic. His power was fantastic, as was his elasticity, and cadence. Collection is built in on this horse, with his size and shape, but those extensions were MAGNIFICENT!!

Thank you- horseandcountry.tv, for making my day, and allowing me to watch this extraordinary ride!

Possibly one of the most beautiful dressage rides I have ever seen. Both rider and horse are magnificent.

breathtaking,, that was absoluteley amazing!! Edward and Moorland Totilas have an amazing relationship and you can tell that they both think the world of each other which will improve the performance!! they both deserve much praise as they must have worked so hard to create such a spectacular performance, well done!! i also don't think they will be beaten anytime soon (:

I agree with the other posts, judge intimidation is becoming the norm now in modern dressage, it seems that they forget the fundimentals about what and how they should be judging a competitor as soon as they see a horse come into the arena who kicks itself in the nose, quite sad really. It is a shame that judges now-a-days don't have the balls to say, that is just not good enough, 10's are flying left right and centre. His walk is moderate, his extended trot is moderate his one time changes (at Windsor) had SERIOUS errors in them and yet he is the highest marked dressage performer in history.

I do not deny that his piaffe and passage are superb, but it is difficult to see the transitions between his trot paces, where does his passage end and his collected trot start??? Once he does get into his collected trot (correctly!!!!) we then have the problem of seeing where his extended trot starts, this surely is incorrect and should be judged accordingly.

Come on judges, it is time to get your books out again and read EXACTLY how each movement should be performed and EXACTLY how transitions should be CLEAR for all to see and what marks should be deducted for tenseness, as well as not showing a clear over step in extended paces and errors in tempi changes.

Back to the drawing board, for judges I think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with the previous comment!! When dressage is simply judged on the "fanciest" mover (if you find this poor horse being forced into false gaits enjoyable) then it looses all worth as a training program for horse and rider.

Utterly breathtaking to watch. I wonder if it felt as good riding the kur as it did to us watching at home.

That was amazing! A very elegant and beautiful horse! Well done!!

There is something horrifically wrong when so many people are incapable of recognising this for what it is - false collection. Simple.

The clearest indicator is the arrhythmic manner of the paces. The irregularity is a knock-on effect of a locked back - this is also what produces those spectacular flying frontlegs. But please, watch the hindlegs; it fails, even in the extended trot, to overtrack. Watch the hindquarters; they are never lowered to take greater weight behind. This horse is not collected - he is merely bundled together. The resultant tension produces that cresty neck, those paces, that lift without selfcarriage, for which the audience cheers.

Aleksandra Thostrup

This was a truly amazing ride and defines the ultimate relationship between the horse and rider. My congratulations to Edward Gal for the ride of a lifetime.

WOWOWOWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely amazing and enthralling. What a fantastic job and fantastic horse! WOWOW!!!!

wow moorlands totilas is stunning and edward is such a good rider

The horse and rider were amazing! Very well performed. I would give them a high score for that also. Wonderful riding, and the horse is gorgeous! =D

- <3 Shiloh

Fabulous!!!

Stunning!

absolutley out of this world

Simply breathtaking!

Wow yes, but H&C TV PLEASE FOR GOODNESS SAKE, stop having commentating over Kur tests. You don't want to listen to the commentator telling you that the music is great - you want to hear it for yourself whilst watching the test. You can barely hear the music on this test - HOW ANNOYING!

Wow. That's all you can really say about this amazing horse!!!!!