MA>No!  Keep it up!  It @as great reading your commentary.
MA>The closest I've gotten to any good coverage of the
MA>equestrian stuff so far!
Just what I need!  Encouragement!
I just got back from watching the Freestyle Dressage Finals.  I even got to
see the medal ceremony and the victory lap!! (I was thrilled to be there!)
Isabell Werth on Gigolo from Germany got the Gold.  She did a great job,
but I wasn't as impressed with her kur as some others.  It wasn't as
interesting and "showy" and the Bronze medalist's kur.
Silver went to the Netherlands' Anky Van Grunsven on Bonfire.  She seems to
have a HUGE following here.  She was ranked #1 coming into the finals.
The Netherlands also took the Bronze with a stellar performance by Sven
Rothenberger on Weyden.  He had a beautifully choreographed and produced
routine that was a real grabber from the beginning.  His showmanship was
awsome.
My personal favorites came in 4th and 5th.  Michelle Gibson on Peron came
into the finals with a strong 3rd.  She and Peron were performing like a
dance couple when Peron got distracted, or something, at F and forgot if
he was to do a canter pirouette or go forward and he kind of shied, and
the crowd said "aawwwww!"  Amazingly, she still garnered a score of 73.35
after all.  But, it wasn't enough.  With her exit from the arena our hopes
of a medal in Individual Dressage left with her.  She placed 4th.
I loved watching Klaus Balkenhol as he opitimizes German dressage to me.
Having won the World Cup in the Kur, I had high expectations.  He was SO
precise!  His every transition was exactly on cue and every step Goldstern
took was to the beat of the music.  Klaus came in 5th, and the crowd boo-ed
the judges at his scores.  I think that he was better than Isabell Werth,
but he came into the finals trailing Anky by 7.6.
Guenter Seidel did a fine job on Graf George and they both seemed to be
enjoying themselves as they rode.  The routine didn't have a great flow
I didn't think.  But, there was nothing really wrong with it.  They placed
somewhere around 8th place.
We also saw Louise Nathhorst on Walk on Top from Sweden, Ignacio Rambla on
Evento from Spain (Evento is a GEORGEOUS grey Andelusian stallion!), Tineke
Bartels-DeVries on Barbria from the Netherlands (who placed dead last with
the worst music and choreography I have ever dreamed of!), Margrit Otto-
Crepin on Lucky Lord from France, Martin Shaudt on Durgo from Germany,
Lars Petersen on Uffe Korshoigaard from Sweden, Gonnelien Rothenberger on
Dondolo from the Netherlands and Monica Theodorescu on Grunox from Germany.
I've run out of memory on most of the rides other than the ones on which I
have already commented. My husband accompanied me on this adventure and
seemed to really enjoy it.  It poured down rain as we boarded the bus for
the parking lot and by the time we walked all the way to the car in yucky
red muddy clay, we were drenched to the skin.  He STILL says he had a great
time.  Could be be catching the bug?!?!?
All in all, we had a Fine Olympic Experience.  I will hate to see it go.
I've been waiting for these 2 events for 16 months!!  I wish I could have
gotten tickets to the show jumping finals.....but, alas, money, as they say,
doesn't grow on trees!!!
See ya!!
Laura
 * LND 1.0 * It only works when you're not looking.
--- Maximus/2 3.01
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