Dressage

[unsureofneighbour]

Anyone else watching?

It always amazes me how incredible these horses and riders are. I wonder if they all started riding numb ponies as kids and had to flap their legs to get them to move like the rest of us

Nerve wracking watching Charlotte DJ!

Lovely test and very sweet horse

Looks a bit like a working hunter though 🤣

3rd!!¡!!!!??

Wow, I can barely watch this next one!!

I noticed with some of the routines that the music played for different segments had quite different tempos. Does anyone know how much the horses recognise that to put moves to music?

What a difference it makes watching the dressage on BBC - I have watched hours of it on Discovery plus but it wasn't working there so I flicked to BBC and they gave me commentary

It's a shame we are not getting full coverage

I always thought Valegro looked like a little portly hunter too

Clever Pumpkin 🎃!

A couple of mistakes, it's looking good for Charlotte!

Can anyone tell me about the spurs the riders are wearing please? I love horses and showjumping and have just watched Charlotte and Pumpkin ... but noticed the spurs .... . How painful are they for the horse?

Surely she's got bronze??

Yes bronze! Amazing!

Aw that’s so good!! Little Pumpkin. 💕. She’ll be over the moon.

Fingers crossed for the eventing now!! My preferred discipline out of the equestrian events.

@MrsFelicianoLopez

Can anyone tell me about the spurs the riders are wearing please? I love horses and showjumping and have just watched Charlotte and Pumpkin ... but noticed the spurs .... . How painful are they for the horse?

Used properly like this, they're not painful but allow more subtle, accurate aids which is essential for dressage.

Bronze for 🇬🇧!

Well done Charlotte & Pumpkin 🎃!

@MrsFelicianoLopez

Can anyone tell me about the spurs the riders are wearing please? I love horses and showjumping and have just watched Charlotte and Pumpkin ... but noticed the spurs .... . How painful are they for the horse?

They can cause pain if used incorrectly and harshly, but used properly they don't at all. The riders are continually giving signals to the horses using their legs and pressure from their heel or with a spur gives the horse a signal to use its hind end in a certain way. The horse interprets those signals according to where the pressure is applied. Using a spur means the rider can deliver a more precise signal and can actually use less pressure - and so carry less tension in the rest of their leg, leading to a more harmonious communication.

I think we will see Charlotte and Gio back for the gold next time.

He’s her second horse too. She’s got Mount St John for the euros…

She looks more chuffed with that bronze than her gold.

Ah thank you @Dauphinois @Thistledew

@loopylindi

I noticed with some of the routines that the music played for different segments had quite different tempos. Does anyone know how much the horses recognise that to put moves to music?

The combination get marked on how well the music fits the gaits of the horse - it’s not necessarily that the horse changes it’s movement to recognise the music but that the music is changed to recognise the change in pace of the horse tempo.

A lot of time and effort goes into making sure the music compliments the routine and paces.

Wow I could barely breathe watching the last part of Charlotte and Pumpkin's test. That was so skilled given the horse's age and experience. And bravo to Charlotte who has such a sensible heed on her shoulders. Incredibly professional and impressive.

About the spurs MrsFelicianoLopez the riders are so accomplished with incredibly balanced seats, legs and hands and are precisely aware of every tiny movement their legs and heels are making, and are hyper aware of the horse's leg movements too, so there is very little chance of hurting the horse as they are applied gently and deliberately and in fact it's less intrusive than kicking with your heels at this level.

@HelenRose1111

In all honesty I have seen Carl ride Valegro just as well, but being the generous and skilled trainer he is, (as well as a brilliant rider), he recognised their partnership was gold & he could ride Uthopia their other Olympic standard horse better, so stood aside for Charlotte to take the ride on Valegro. What a guy.

Carl honestly strikes me as being such a nice guy and generous trainer. Totally agree with comments about the team and how they respect their horses. I absolutely adore them both and I weirdly always get choked up when talking about charlotte dujardin! Just felt so proud of them at 2012! Gutted I missed today's dressage... I'm finding these olympics so hard to follow with the crap coverage. I have discovery plus but all the timings etc all seem very opaque and I don't really have a clue what's happening!!

If you go on the Olympics website it has timings for all the events (Tokyo time, we are 8 hours behind), running order and also updates scores as they happen -

olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/equestrian/event-schedule-eventing.htm