We have had wall to wall eventing coverage for the last five days so John asked me to change things up in this post for variety’s sake. Friday night, I was lucky enough to talk my husband into (another) trip to WEG, in hopes of watching the best dressage horses in the world (for the third time). We were supposed to have free tickets, but that deal fell through. The event was completely sold out, and attempts to find tickets online resulted in prices well beyond our budget. We resigned ourselves to watching it on the big screens outside the arena. Luckily, we happened upon a nice lady outside the arena willing to part with a pair of tickets for $100 total. SCORE! We were in!
The seats were fairly good, in the main grandstand about five rows up in the upper tier, about even with letter F. Hubby knows next to nothing about dressage (but learning quickly), and we settled in to enjoy the first few rides. During the first break, a large group of people shuffled past us to their seats, dressed quite fancy and clearly European. I caught a glipse of one of their badges as they squeezed past us…it said “HORSE OWNER” at the bottom. The country code was “DEN.” I couldn’t believe it…were we actually sitting next to the owners of The Horse? I scanned the competitor list…there was one other Dutch horse performing. I nudged my husband and mentioned “I think we’re sitting next to celebrities.”
Not one to be shy, he turned and asked the gentleman to his left, “Do you own one of the horses here?” The man smiled and nodded. “Which one?” (I held my breath!) “Totilas,” he said. We both broke out into huge grins and blabbered how much we loved that horse. “We think he’s pretty special, but of course, we’re the owners,” the man said. He was extremely nice, happy to talk about his horse, and giving huge credit to Edward for his patience and riding style. It was such an honor to sit with dressage’s “royal family,” and learn a few traits of the hottest dressage horse in the world.
After a while, Mr. Totilas (as I now call him) excused himself to go watch his horse warm up. Hubby and I enjoyed the rest of the horses– especially Fuego, who was seriously rocking the Spanish dancing. Then came Totilas… it wasn’t his best performance, but that horse at only 80% his best can beat anyone else in the world. Mr. Totilas returned to his seat, pleased with the score (91%!!), and talked us through the final rider of the evening, another lovely Dutch pair. He complimented her riding– the mare is difficult, he said– and told us her music (which was BEAUTIFUL!) was especially written and performed by a famous Dutch pianist for her kur. It showed!
Hubby and I hadn’t planned to stay for the medal ceremony– but when you’re sitting next to the gold-medal winning horse’s owners, how can you leave early?! Mr. Totilas grinned when we laughed at the gold bell boots– “We thought it was a good joke,” he said– and the smile on his face watching the victory lap was priceless.
Totilas entering the arena… I wish the gold bell boots showed up better!
Mr. Totilas
Other highlights from the night:
–The Spanish horse, Fuego, got robbed. Yes, he had some technical mishaps (his pirouettes were a little big), but he stole the audience from the start. The music was absolutely perfect, and the showmanship (one-tempis one-handed!) had the crowd on their feet. Truly a performance to remember for a lifetime. The 81% score was LOUDLY boo’ed by the entire crowd… I half expected a “B-S” chant to begin. Link to video.
-Another score that seemed a little low was the final Dutch rider. Her ride was (to my eye) quite smooth, with few flaws. It perhaps wasn’t as challenging as some, but there were no obvious mistakes. The artistic portion of it was spectacular– not as much as Fuego, but I’d say second-best of the evening.
-I thought the top 3’s scores were a bit inflated. Not that I’m complaining, those WERE the best three horses all week. But I don’t think any of them gave the performance of their lives. Totilas video.
-Best non-dressage moment of the night: Mr. Totilas gettin’ down dancing to “Cotton Eyed Joe.” Picture an immaculately-dressed man in suit and orange (Dutch) tie, wearing a $50,000 Rolex watch, boogie-ing to redneck remix. I nearly fell out of my chair.
