Luciano would have loved this!
Many summers I spent in Italy and on a free weekend I would dash up to see Luciano and several of his Horse Shows and Riding competitions. I have a weakness for horses always have. Literally inconsolable as a child when Ginger died in the book “Black Beauty” by Anna Sewell. They are stunning and intuitive beings. This one is a rare champion of a discipline called dressage….
The history of dressage dates back to a period of more than two thousand years. The object of dressage is the harmonious development of physical ability of the horse, resulting in a calm, supple, flexible animal, both longitudinally and laterally. The horse should be confident and in perfect understanding of his rider.
All work in dressage should be free, light, aesthetically beautiful to the observer, and the horse should remain on the bit. The ancient Greeks were the first to practice dressage in preparation for war. It was this culture that believed nothing could be obtained correctly or harmoniously without the strict adherence to the laws of the universe. This is what truly defines classical dressage–the horse should submit himself happily and proudly to the will of the rider, without any disturbance in his natural way of going.
To understand this, compare that of art and music in the classical sense. Art, in the classical sense, is conveyed in realism with beauty, always reflected with respect to balance, light, symmetry, and logic. The same can be said of classical music, also governed by rules of tonality, resolution, and symmetry.
Here is an absolute “darling” champion and expert rider, quite literally the best I ever saw, albeit on a video, from The WEG2006 Freestyle Dressage Final performance of ANDREAS HELGSTRAND on BLUE HORS MATINE.
It looks as if this gorgeous horse likes to dance.!!!
