Horses and such...
 

As yall may have noticed from my handle, horses play an important part in my life.

Usually I'm not a big flagwaver, but I'm very happy to make an exception for our Dutch national show jumping team becoming world champion on the 2006 World Equestrian Games at Aachen (the "Wimbledon of Horses") ahead of a strong Team USA and the big favorite Germany. Great job guys and a great come back after the slump last year!

This is already the 2nd Gold Medal after winning the Dressage Kür by Anky van Grunsven.

How popular the equestrian sport has become is evident that the events draw crowds of 40-50.000 people!

Holland has something with Horses...

http://www.aachen2006.de/aktuell/200...0831NDL_gr.gif

http://www.planet.nl/upload_mm/c/c/9...5_ankie337.jpg


Edited : darn spelling and syntax...

In the States, many athletes are jumping into the stands after a great victory...

Thank you for sharing the victory with us.

I have a Paso Fino and in Puerto Rico and Colombia, horse shows are also very well attended. It does not seem to draw as much of a crowd here in the US, for which I am saddened. I love watching beautiful horses and I do attend the nearby shows to take photos.
hh

Paso Fino's are very rare in Europe, can't even remember seeing one in real. But looking from their pics I've seen they are beautiful horses.

Here's one of our New Forest's with my daughter (front). A little less crowd here too I have to admit ;)

http://sabailand.bizland.com/Suus.jpg

Any Olympic equestrian aspirations for the young lady (not Patty Smith)?

Your daughter's NF Pony reminds me of the Pasos, small, rounded and compact. The difference is gait. Her pony looks like a sweetheart.

I just went and had pics taken of me with my Q (Querida) today. First nice pics of us together...and I've had her for 18+ months! I think Germany has quite a small collection of Pasos, enough that they have an all Paso show there that several US trainers/judges fly over to officiate at...
hh

Next year, come to Devon. You'll leave with a different opinion.

I was at a dressage show here in Indy about hmm 10 years or so ago, I was really suprised to see William Shatner(from Star Trek) there with his wife and their horses,I guess he is a really big fan of the sport, the crowd was only a few thousand so it seemed pretty intimate made for a really nice memory. If youve never been to one its worth the time just to go check it out. I was around horses alot when I was a kid so Ive always had an affinity for them somewhere on my list of to do's it says buy a nice little farm and get a few horses. I usually take the kids and wife out to the state fair and we always go to the barns,the big draft horses are my favorites,always wanted to ride a big Begiun, think that would really be riding a horse.

Belgium is big on horses, also. :cool:

Re: my comment about not drawing large crowds here in the US...
Sorry, I meant the Paso Fino shows I've attended. I know the dressage and jumping shows are very well attended.

It's a mare, so you know how it goes, a sweetheart but sometimes a bit moody ;), but like all NF's she never lets you down. She's at her 3rd level dressage now.

TBH, aachen seemed to be about dressage only. At least, that's all I saw on the Eurosports coverage. Does the whole thing cover show-jumping. eventing, et al?

Here are some pics I took of a Paso Fino show in 2003.

Two up, two down. This shows the lateral gait, how the legs on one side support the horse as the legs on the other side travel.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...%20pics/vr.jpg

A nice shot in silhouette, with the trees beyond the arena in sunshine and the horses in shadow going around the far end.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...%20pics/wk.jpg

Three kids in the junior's class. I just like how all three were sort of lined up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...xpfavorite.jpg

All of this is very interesting. But I do have to ask... could you explain a little more about the gait differences between the horses? I can't say I have ever seen a horse walk with the legs on one side at the same time rather than one on each side. So they do that naturally? Does anyone know why some walk (trot?) differently? I just had to know more. :blush: