CDI Villach Treffen 2013 - Grand Prix Freestyle

Again, I decided to slack off and only watch a few rides of the Grand Prix Freestyle, but I couldn't resist seeing how Edward Gal did on "home" turf (okay, not really). The freestyles I saw all were ridden with nice contact from supple horses, making them a real pleasure to watch.

Edward Gal & Undercover: 83.450%

• The trot work from this combination's ride was exemplary, adding more suppleness and relaxation to their usual activity and power. The extended trots did not only reach up and forward in front, but had power from behind creating good ground-cover. They were also more uphill than usual. Gal increased the tempo of the collected trot, getting Undercover to carry and step under more. The trot half-passes were powerful, cadenced, and in soft bend—the best I've seen from this combination. The power of the piaffes really moved over Undercover's back into a nice frame. The canter work was slightly tense today. Gal rode tiny, active pirouettes, but the canter was almost too quick and Undercover turned more around his middle than his haunches. The two-tempi changes were nice, but the ones were not sufficiently ground covering. Even with the small weaknesses in the canter, it is hard to beat Gal's precise riding and the seeming effortlessness of the test. 

Milczarek Katarzyna & Ekwador: 75.500%

• Milczarek rides Ekwador in a lovely soft frame: he is up in the bridle and moves through his spine into a contact where his nose is just in front of the vertical. The passage has nice cadence and elevation, though could perhaps Ekwador could step more underneath himself in it. The piaffe was the weakest part of this test: it was very small and slow in the rhythm. Ekwador's elastic trot carried through into half-passes with good crossing. Unfortunately, to the right, the half-pass slightly lacked bend and in both the haunches were lagging slightly too much. In his relaxed extended walk, Ekwador stretched into the bit and showed good over-track. The pirouettes were the highlight of the test: closed at the base, uphill, in-place, light in the contact, and maintaining a good collected canter. Both the one- and two-tempi changes were uphill, straight, light-footed, and ground-covering. Milczarek's music is very pretty and it's lightness suits the apparent lightness of her huge horse, though if I were to nit-pick, the transitions in the music are not always smooth. This test was the best I have seen from this pair and left a wonderful impression.

Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz & Fuego de Cardenas: 79.225%

• Fuego showed his excellent piaffe and passage which have lots of expression and strength behind. Although they lacked some cadence, the extended trots were very ground-covering and showed lengthening of the frame and stride. Fuego sometimes became slightly short in the neck. The collected walk was diligent, but slightly short in the strides behind. There was much better over-track and relaxation in the extended walk. The transition from extended walk to collected canter was effortless, a reflection of the horse's training and attentiveness. The canter pirouettes were executed in a good collected canter, but were slightly big. The one-handed changes down the centerline were straight, effortless and uphill, but Fuego could have stepped under more. The music—the same as from the 2010 WEG—was still great for the horse.

CDI Villach Treffen 2013 - Intermediare I Freestyle

I turned on the live steam of the CDI at the sparkling Glock Horse Performance Center to watch a few of the freestyles, starting with Anja Plöznke and Le Rouge. I was quite enjoying her test: she always picks dynamic and unusual music and Le Rouge was going positively and energetically. Unfortunately, it seems that the judges saw some blood on the horse's mouth, so she was eliminated. 

I have two overall criticisms from the tests I saw. The first is that many people ended their tests on weak notes, both in the music and sometimes the movements. Much of the music trailed off into halt, giving no suggestion that the end of the test was approaching except that the rider had turned down the centerline. The second was that a significant number people were riding tempi changes by turning their horses' heads from side to side, resulting in changes that were crooked and lost their forward momentum. 

Timna Zach & Federleicht: 68.700%

• The best element of the test might have been Zach's shoulder-ins, which were uphill, powerful, lightfooted and in nice bend and angle. The trot extensions were huge, with the horse reaching powerfully across the arena, though the horse climbed and got tight in the neck rather then lengthening the frame. The half-pass right was lovely and flowing with the horse showing very good freedom in his shoulder to reach forward and sideways; the one to the left was similarly good, except that it lagged slightly in the haunches. The flying changes were executed with much turning of the head causing the haunches to swing slightly from side to side. While uphill, none of the canter pirouettes showed sufficient bend and Federleicht was running through them a bit. The horse's incredible gaits—as a result of tension—often were not quite harnessed to the movements of the test. The music by Yann Tiersen was incredibly lovely, especially for the trot and walk, though it did not quite have enough variation for the changes of collection in the canter work. 

Valentina Truppa & Ranieri: 70.500%

• Ranieri looked a little heavy in the contact at times and could show more shoulder freedom. In the voltes Ranieri could have come up more in front and carried more weight behind. This was also the case in the shoulder-ins. The difficult half-passes were very nice with Ranieri coming up more and showing good crossing and power sideways. The canter half passes were also ridden at steep angles very effectively. The canter pirouettes were problematically enormous and not sufficiently uphill. The finish of the test, three-tempi changes on the centerline, was rather ineffective since the changes were executed with lots of turning of the head and were sometimes short or late behind. Truppa's symmetrical test pattern was beautiful to look at, and the electronic music she used was compelling and suitable. 

Allan Skov & Walk Of Life: 77.575%

• The shoulder-ins were ridden at too steep an angle sometimes resulting in some moments of imbalance. The half passes were steep and ridden with lovely engagement that just floated sideways. The extended walk showed nice overstep but not enough stretch into the contact. The pirouettes were small, uphill, and had good bend—without a doubt the best that I saw in the class. The tempi changes were still ridden with some twisting of the horses body. The rhythm of the canter music did not match the rhythm of the horse's canter and was rather loud without sufficient variation. The pattern of the test showed the horse off very well, and Skov rode Walk Of Life in a consistently nice uphill and soft frame. 

Hans Peter Minderhoud & Ziesto: 79.650%

• Minderhoud looked like he had a more relaxed Ziesto on his hands today and rode a mistake-free test. With consistently correct angle and effortless balance, the shoulder-ins were superb. The trot extensions covered ground well and Ziesto had incredible shoulder freedom, but he could have lengthened a touch more in the frame. The walk was slightly quick in the rhythm from tension. The canter pirouettes, ridden following fluid half-passes, were very small; however, the canter in them became slightly tense, and they needed to develop so that they carried more weight behind. There was some swinging of the haunches in the tempi changes which caused them to lose a little of their forward power, but they had plenty of jump. The patten of the test was much like the Prix St. Georges, so was not the most difficult, but Minderhoud rode to his music with accuracy and harmony, allowing Ziesto to flow through the movements while maintaining his incredible gaits. 

Jennifer Hoffmann & Ramon: 72.700%

• Hoffmann started her test with very powerful half passes that could have shown more suppleness in their bend. The horse shows lots of power and moved well uphill but the contact was very strong. The pirouettes were small enough but sometimes the canter strides jumped together behind. Hoffman effectively rode the Grand Prix level canter half passes with lots of power.