Random Cool Video Wednesday

I hope everyone enjoyed last week's Random Cool Video Wednesday.  I know it probably wasn't all that exciting in the grand scheme of things, so hopefully this week will be more to your liking.

So, this last weekend was the Festival of Champions in Gladstone, NJ and it was also a selection trial for the World Equestrian Games to pick the short list of riders who will get to compete in Normandy in August and September.  I got to see a few riders have their tests before it moved on to the younger competitors and I turned it off.  I mostly only watch the Grand Prix and Freestyle Dressage because the movements are more interesting that just the basic stuff.  I love Piaffs and Passages and Shoulder-Ins and all that fun stuff.  Add it to music and it's even better.  One rider I saw really had me frowning.  In Dressage, you're not really supposed to see the cues the rider gives the horse, but this girl you could see her jabbing at her horse's sides and her legs were just all over the place.  And she was an upper level rider, too!  That had me real surprised.

 Anyway, I got to see Steffen Peters and Jan Ebeling compete and that was the best.  Steffen had the highest score after his ride and I knew that if anyone could beat his score it would be Jan.  And while Jan had a good ride, he wasn't good enough to beat Steffen.  On Sunday, which I didn't know about,(well, I know about Sundays in general, but I didn't know this particular event was happening on Sunday hahaha), was the Freestyle competition.  That's when they do Dressage set to music.  My favorite.  Once again Steffen Peters and Legolas92 came out on top and that is what the video is below.  It's a bit long, sure, but it's amazing to watch.  In Arizona, we have Dressage competitions, but not at this level, which is a huge bummer for me because I'd LOVE the opportunity to watch the big names compete.

Well, I guess that's it for today.  It's going to be a busy day at work and we have to attend our quarterly meeting/"awards" ceremony thing this afternoon.  Personally, I would rather stay at my desk and try to get caught up, but it's a requirement.  Oh well.  I hope everyone has a great day!