http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: "I’m enraged when dressage is referred to as “horse dancing" " en Tue, 26 May 2026 08:55:25 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235216 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 15:23:52 +0000 deckard112 235216@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>A former GF of mine is a professional dressage rider so I have a bit of an insight into the sport. Unfortunately some of the comments on here resemble the type of ill informed nonsense that we have to put up with as people who rides bikes. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235152 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:31:30 +0000 wingpig 235152@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>You'd just need something in the definition to ensure that the largest applications of force involved are derived from human musculature. Horse-based activities could be added to a category containing Ultra-Modern Heptathlon, which is basically the same thing but everyone wears powered exoskeletons.<br /> Seeing as the modern business-suit is sometimes described as being derived from eighteenth-century toffs' sportswear, toffs probably think of horse-based fox-harassment as sport. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235149 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:17:27 +0000 dougal 235149@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@steveo Not sporting, but Randall Munroe of XKCD fame tried graphing alcohol consumption against Rubik's Cube solving performance.</p> <p><a href="http://transcriptvids.com/v/zJOS0sV2a24.html" rel="nofollow">http://transcriptvids.com/v/zJOS0sV2a24.html</a></p> <p>The summary is that the time-to-solve doesn't appreciably change, but the time to pick it up again every time he dropped it escalated massively... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235148 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:05:52 +0000 I were right about that saddle 235148@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@edd1e_h</p> <p>In a sane world dressage would only be allowed on pantomime horses. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235147 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:04:29 +0000 I were right about that saddle 235147@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>If David Boon excelled at cricket, is it a sport? </em></p> <p>I dunno. I hear Bill Werbeniuk's cover drive was a thing of beauty. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235146 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:00:28 +0000 neddie 235146@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm pretty sure that training horses to perform dressage is considered cruel.</p> <p>Not much different to the dancing bears you find on the sides of Indian highways. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235144 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:58:39 +0000 Frenchy 235144@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Or perhaps a better example: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=096_X21fk3g" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=096_X21fk3g</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235143 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:56:09 +0000 steveo 235143@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Frenchy ah the old days of rugby! :) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235142 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:56:08 +0000 steveo 235142@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>250ml of strong lager just seemed to extinguish performance anxiety without affecting performance</em></p> <p>One afternoon at Megabowl my mates and I devised an experiment to plot the Beer/Bowling performance ratio but we got too drunk and forgot to write it down. Biggest problem was trying to find someone to be the control. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235141 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:55:38 +0000 Frenchy 235141@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>If you can play your "sport" whilst drinking a pint, it is not a sport</em><br /> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ti1Tvf1DNg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ti1Tvf1DNg</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235138 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:51:20 +0000 paddyirish 235138@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@IWRATS,</p> <p>If David Boon excelled at cricket, is it a sport? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235135 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:49:08 +0000 I were right about that saddle 235135@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>If you can play your "sport" whilst drinking a pint, it is not a sport.</em></p> <p>My best ever spell at cricket (that's not saying much) involved bowling while holding a half-drunk can of Stella in my left hand. 250ml of strong lager just seemed to extinguish performance anxiety without affecting performance. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235134 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:46:04 +0000 Frenchy 235134@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>her application to have Horse Dancers applicable for SPOTY is there for rejected</em><br /> Horse Dancers have, of course, previously won SPOTY (although the winners are best known for Horse Triathlon, of which Horse Dancing is just one part). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235133 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:40:10 +0000 steveo 235133@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em> the following are now declassified as sports and reduced to hobbies or parlour games:</em></p> <p>Indubitably.</p> <p>If you can play your "sport" whilst drinking a pint, it is not a sport. If you can be at the top of you're game and collect a state pension it is not a sport. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235132 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:38:28 +0000 steveo 235132@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>football and many other "sports" are also open to referee's interpretation,</em></p> <p>But they are not judged. The Referee controls the flow of the game within a predetermined set of rules and punishes those who step out of the rules. The goal/no goal decision isn't based on the opinion of 5 match officials with two randomly discarded. </p> <p>paddyirish, I have had this debate with many friends in the pub all off whom have tried to question my orthodoxy all have failed :D. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235131 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:36:03 +0000 crowriver 235131@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hm, on the basis on Rule 2, the following are now declassified as sports and reduced to hobbies or parlour games:</p> <p>Golf<br /> Lawn bowls<br /> Shooting<br /> Snooker </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235130 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:34:58 +0000 paddyirish 235130@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Also, does Danny MacAskill excel at bike dancing? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235129 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:31:02 +0000 paddyirish 235129@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Stevo - good stuff Agree with that.</p> <p>To be facetious, football and many other "sports" are also open to referee's interpretation, so can't be sports either... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235128 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:20:40 +0000 steveo 235128@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm afraid I must refer the learned correspondent to rule 3 of Is It Sport, as it fails on this measure it falls under Diving, Gymnastics and synchronised swimming as a game; her application to have Horse Dancers applicable for SPOTY is there for rejected along side Strictly Come Dancing's Application for official recognition by the IOC.</p> <p>Is It Sport:<br /> 1. Must be competitive<br /> 2. Must involve a level of strenuous activity<br /> 3. Must be repeatable and not open to interpretation </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235127 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:17:43 +0000 chdot 235127@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"</p> <p>Patron polo is hindering the sport’s perception as a serious, professional game, one with aspirations of a global Champions League-style series. </p> <p>That’s the view of Dr Uwe Seebacher, the president of Pipa, the instructors and players’ polo association, who believes that patrons investing into teams – and then playing alongside the professionals – is just “individual luxury entertainment”.</p> <p>"</p> <p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/polo/2016/09/21/playing-owners-hindering-polos-rise-as-serious-sport/" rel="nofollow">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/polo/2016/09/21/playing-owners-hindering-polos-rise-as-serious-sport/</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235126 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:08:16 +0000 I were right about that saddle 235126@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It's not just horse dancing that's under threat. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/polo/2016/10/26/revised-home-office-proposals-over-visas-for-players-and-grooms/">Horse hockey is also in peril.</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235125 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 09:58:06 +0000 chdot 235125@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Medals for bicycles campaign!(?) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235121 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 09:47:38 +0000 Murun Buchstansangur 235121@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"Horses and riders train and work together, often for years, developing trust, communication and understanding in an extraordinary inter-species partnership. One is entirely dependent on the other."</p> <p>Same with Crufts, but that's not going to win SPOTY either...</p> <p>"It seems they think of a horse as a vehicle . . . buy a good jumper and you’ll win the puissance; hop on a well-trained dressage mount and the only talent you’ll need is looking good in a top hat."</p> <p>Apropos of nothing (perhaps I should post it on the self-driving cars thread) - my great-great-uncle used to get drunk on market day in Ireland every other week - once he was insensate, the other pub patrons would load him into the back of his cart, give the horse a slap and the beast knew the way home on its own...</p> <p>"Horses ... are also athletes in their own right."</p> <p>I didn't see the geegees in Rio getting medals of their own? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235113 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:53:12 +0000 Min 235113@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I think Helen Martin is the EEN's answer to Liz Jones. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235112 Mon, 31 Oct 2016 23:41:41 +0000 crowriver 235112@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Well it's not as if there are any really urgent, pressing issues facing the city right now that require writing about, eh? So why not just let off steam and rant in a bubble? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235110 Mon, 31 Oct 2016 23:07:19 +0000 kaputnik 235110@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Did I fall asleep and wake up in a parallel universe where the chipwrapper is running opinion pieces demanding more recognition for dressagists? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235108 Mon, 31 Oct 2016 20:22:49 +0000 LaidBack 235108@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>"Well, let’s take running, cycling and swimming for example . . . all things that everyone, unless disabled can do."</em></p> <p>Well let's stop generalising about ability. Cycling is one thing we know people of all abilities can do. I've seen it for myself at LB. Helen has lapsed into last century speak. I blame it on Brexit ;-)</p> <p>Every activity she lists has had people of all abilities take part. Or did she miss the Paralympics? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17092#post-235105 Mon, 31 Oct 2016 18:45:59 +0000 chdot 235105@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"</p> <p>THE sporting awards season is looming, and one thing I’m sure of is that apart from racing jockeys, equestrians will, as usual, be under-recognised. </p> <p>As a horsey person I’m enraged when dressage is referred to as “horse dancing”, even by general “sports” commentators who might be well-informed about football, running, cycling, golf and shot-putting among other human-only sports, but are ignorant about equestrianism.</p> <p>It seems they think of a horse as a vehicle . . . buy a good jumper and you’ll win the puissance; hop on a well-trained dressage mount and the only talent you’ll need is looking good in a top hat.</p> <p>Well, let’s take running, cycling and swimming for example . . . all things that everyone, unless disabled, can do. Admittedly stars of these sports far exceed normal, human abilities and train tirelessly to build the necessary physique and musculature, plus having the ambition and drive for personal glory.</p> <p>"</p> <p><a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/helen-martin-equestrians-deserve-true-sporting-chance-1-4271579" rel="nofollow">http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/helen-martin-equestrians-deserve-true-sporting-chance-1-4271579</a> </p>