As if the overwhelming persistence of bad dressage wasn't enough, now there's Dressage Knockout.
Picture this: instead of the traditional “bore-you-to-tears” Dressage we're used to seeing you get the pleasure of watching two Dressage riders compete against each other in the same arena.
- No scripted tests,
- No scores,
- 5-6 “flashy” movements,
- Winner is announced immediately,
- Audience participation determines the winner.
Hmm.
According to Horse & Hound, this is the “brainchild of organiser Tom Biaudet, who wants to liven up the sport.” You know, because it's become so stuffy with all the blue-tongue, bloody-mouthed, hyperflexed, yank & spank dressage horses and need more flash!
Biaudet adds, “It should be easier to understand for those who can't see why one rider gets better points for a halt or a piaffe.”
So I guess it's Dressage Knockout!, instead of making efforts to educate the audience about scoring, movements and the subtleties of Dressage. Although this could be good since there aren't many subtleties left and judges can't really explain why they score the way they do (it's embarrassing to state ‘politics' as the reason you gave someone a 10 instead of the 2 they deserved..).
It's a gimmick
Remember being told by your Dressage instructor that gimmicks are bad and unnecessary in Dressage if you're doing it right? Yeah, me too.
The point of Dressage is to gymnasticize your horse to the best of his capabilities, and competition was originally to serve as a test of the work you'd been doing. No winners, no losers, you were only competing against your personal best.
But seriously, this has to be a joke? As if Dressage wasn't already the butt of many jokes (including the several I've personally made), at the very least they could've chosen a less obvious name for it than Dressage Knockout. I see this turning into some bad horse fair style competition which leaves the horses scathed and the riders gloating over having won some junk.
I guess we'll be able to see if Dressage Knockout is the new Dressage craze or fizzles out quickly.
Join 3,000 Equestrians
Receive New Articles In Your Email
Hmm … maybe we can salvage the concept. How about we go with the head-to-head, but we open it up and then handicap it like golf. Allow snaffles, bitless and even bridleless horses to compete – the guy who gets to hang on to the curb rein for dear life starts out with a big handicap on his score, and everyone else gets bonus points just for being able to control their horses without several pounds of leveraged metal!
Seriously, they just keep going from bad to worse …
Only if they’re required to ride in plaids as well .. !