With all of the attention given the horse of the Romney family competing as the ultimate dark horse at the Olympics, there seemed little discussion of the far more relevant question: why is this still an Olympic sport?
That is the question I kept asking myself while watching the dressage competition, which comes off as horse dancing. The World Federation insists that dressage is “the highest expression of horse training” but of course it is not the horse that receives these medals. In surfing between gymnasts doing multiple dangerous exercises to achieve one medal, I could only think of how one of the gymnasts or track and field athletes must feel watching a guy dance a horse around a field for the same medal. I am not saying that this does not take work or that it is not impressive to watch the horses, but I fail to see how this merits olympic medals. I am willing to accept that events like jumping have athletic components but dressage has to go. Honestly.
Frankly, I often have the same reaction about the awarding of a medal to the coxswain in rowing who is selected for his of her ability to steer the boat and keep the pace — and of course being as small as possible. I also have serious question over the athleticism needed for some of the shooting competitions, which seem more skill than athleticism.
None of this takes away from the effort and training of dressage riders, but it would seem that the Olympics should try to keep some rough relative sense of effort for medals. There will always be more physically demanding sports but dressage seems well below what should be required.
What do you think?
Sincerely, The Dressage Queen 1, March 23, 2013 at 1:22 pm
————
Are you a 12 year old lesbian?
DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH DRESSAGE?
Rant time suckers.
I’ve been riding dressage for 9 years. I’m only 12. If dressage wasn’t a sport, why would be in the Olympics? Why would it be on the top 14 hardest sports on America list? Why would it take 4 years to be only a novice? Dressage originates from the French word training. I certainly don’t see any other sports training like we equestrians in Dressage. Dressage was originally for Calvary horses in war. WAR.Do you read the facts much? Dressage is by far a sport. It is by far more than you can handle. Dressage requires more physical strength and time than most sports. And I certainly don’t see FOOTBALL in the Olympics.
AND SAYING ALL YOU DO IS SIT THERE? The goal of the sport is making it look like all you so is sit there. Clearly, those are exellent riders if that’s what you think.
IT ISN’T A STUPID SPORT.
YOU DON’T JUST SIT THERE.
THE HORSE DOESN’T DO ALL THE WORK.
IT ISN’T ONLY FOR RICH PEOPLE.
And….
YOU CLEARLY HAVEN’T RIDDEN MUCH.
I’m done now 🙂 I hope you snap out of your little zone one day.
YALL ARE STUPID AND OBVIOUSLY DON’T SEE HOW PHYSICALLY FIT THESE PEOPLE HAVE TO BE TO RIDE CORRECTLY. THIS TAKES JUST AS MUCH EFFORT AS ANY OTHER SPORT IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES IF NOT MORE. NOT ONLY DOES THE RIDER HAVE TO BE IN SHAPE BUT SO DOES THE HORSE. AND IT TAKES THAT MUCH MORE TIME TO TRAIN BOTH YOU AND YOUR HORSE. I THINK IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS WHY THIS IS AN OLYMPIC SPORT. EQUESTRIANS ARE ATHLETES!
The girls like to ride horses. Don’t know why, but they do.
Shouldnt be in the olympics. The horse is doing the dancing, not people. People are just riding it and telling it what to do. The olympics is supposed to be where people from all nations come together and compete, not where we bring animals to compete for us. Why not have dog races in the olympics? Nascar? Plane races?
Im not saying dressage is dumb or stupid, just it shouldnt be an “olympic sport”
@ Barkindog. Great idea! We’d all watch the Olympics to see a horse ride you in your swimsuit and your pedophile priest cap. I’m starting the letter writing campaign tonight. Get your swimsuit ready and pick out your favorite cap!
Why is this question on a law blog? @ those who poo poo dressage, not everyone who rides is so privileged but they do enjoy watching it. My mother rides dressage. My dad was a Navy man for 30 years and we had a single income family but mom rode because it was something she loved to do. She was born during the dust bowl days and was a farm girl in Oklahoma. We were not poor but we were not rich either (fyi you can rent your horse). I shot rifle in HS (go Cavs) and it got me into the school of my choice (goooo Navy). To be good takes a tremendous amount of skill. I think the professor’s assumption about the Olympics and athleticism is incorrect. I believe that it’s about competition rather than about athleticism. I’ve read this blog long enough to know that most commenters and even guest bloggers would not make the Olympic grammar, punctuation, or spelling teams. Trolling team, maybe. As for diving teams, why can’t they do cannonballs? That’s my question of the day.
The horse would ride just as well if schmucko was in a swim suit. Where do they get their fruit little hats? Next worse thing to pedophile priest caps.
I take it from all the comments that there are few, if any people among you that have ridden a horse, much less tried dressage. I would suggest you track down a serious rider and find out how much work it is. It requires great physical control, intense concentration, and years of training. It is not particularly easy physically—perhaps not up to the standard of track & filed events, but it is right up there with all those dance-like events.
!
Dressage is mostly about what happens between the rider and the horse…the ultimate expression of communication to a performance end….if you don’t think dressage takes skill I can’t imagine what your definition of skill would be. The rider must send perfect signals and the horse must respond perfectly to those signals. There is probably nothing more difficult in execution nor more lovely in result than perfect communication no matter what the team looks like.
Dressage is an ultimate expression but you can really learn good communication skills when working with animals as they have better ‘ears’ than humans.
I am more apt to question Sailing and thankfully, I no longer have to fret about Golf.
Well granting dressage should be in the Olympics, what then disqualifies the really athletic events such as barrel racing, roping, reining, team penning or even the mounted shooting events*
*does anyone know just how athletic one must be to shoot an arrow from a galloping horse into a train’s window?
Considering that Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, was an aristocrat and all members of the IOC have been aristocrats, having the time and opportunity to get horses to do funny things like dressage must seem like a sport to aristocrats.
As a former rower, I disagree with your thoughts on the coxwain. Rowing is about team coordination and precision as much as it is about brute strength. The coxwain is an important part of that team.
I feel sorry for Christopher Reeve. I feel even sorrier for his wife.
Tom Cruise is next.
Too much of the Olympics is entertainment for our modern day money royalty, which makes me wonder, when did America decide to reinstate royalty with a new set of rules for admission. Dancing horses are right up there with the worst examples. Some of my favorites are luge, skeleton and bobsled, real peoples sport; with about10 tracks in the world.
Tony C, More likely in the UK. They have a more progressive sports book that even allows wagering on elections. The only lines I’ve seen @ the sports books in Vegas are for mainstream sporting events. My favorite sport book in Mandalay Bay. I saw Pete Rose there last summer. He wasn’t pleased that I spotted him w/ his sunglasses and cap pulled down and said, “Hello, Pete..good luck.” I got a terse, “thanks.” He looked like a degenerate gambler; which of course is what he is.
Darren
A classic Monty Pyhon clip!
there is one horse event that I really like, don’t know what the official name is, but it’s the one where every contestant has to ride EVERY horse in the thing! they get like 10 minutes to meet the other guy’s horse, then they have to ride it over the jumps! speaks to both the rider’s skill AND the horse’s temperment & TRAINING!
LOTS of the Olympics is done by “not ordinary physical specimens”. In fact, MOST of it, these days. How many “ordinary” folks can invest the time and money in YEARS of competition and preparation, anyway?
My favorite “dressage” ’cause cowboys do it best: (Horse starts at 1:29 in)
@nick: I think you can bet on just about any sporting event in Vegas. Just about every casino has a sports book.