Some rather un-tropical weather can be partly blamed for the lack of turn out for last night’s CDI-W Freestyle at the Global Dressage Festival. Only the mortification of my companion kept me from wearing a big toque to the show to catch the last few freestyles of the evening. Canada was the dominating force out there, with five out of seven competitors wearing a maple leaf somewhere on their gear. There was not a single Yankee in the class. You can see the full results by going to the press release and scrolling to the bottom.
David and Capital were easy winners last night. I have taken some heat for my thumbs down post from last Saturday’s first half of the WDM freestyles, and while I cannot retract what I said unless I replace the sin of being critical with the sin of lying (because I did and still do believe what I wrote), I would like to say that David’s performance last night proved that his choreography can look fluid and harmonious when the horse is not overwhelmed by the atmosphere. Capital seemed almost too quiet looking last night, but I think David did absolutely the right thing to just let his horse have a ‘happy night at the freestyles’ to restore his confidence.
The quiet atmosphere last night benefited more than the horses and riders. Given that all the bleachers were barricaded with yellow police ribbon because they have not been approved for use, it was a good thing for the organizers that there wasn’t a bigger turn out of spectators.
As the Canadian anthem played for David and Capital, the flag was raised not up a flagpole (apparently that hasn’t been installed yet), but was held up by two people. One might be tempted to make a snarky remark, but I choose to see it as a lovely human touch to the awards ceremony.
It’s another perfect day in paradise today, though tonight it’s supposed to drop to 10 degrees again. I’m keeping the toque close by.
