'modern' Dressage Riders ....

[TashaKat]

I'm obviously becoming more 'enlightened' (see my post, Heather, a complaint) and have moved up the rung to 'Conscious Incompetence Level 1' (hooray ).  I can spot the more obvious things and even some of the more subtle things but still have a way to go

So ... which of the 'modern' dressage riders would you rate and why?  I've not had the opportunity to see many of the 'modern' riders so it would be interesting to see who to look out for from both a good and bad perspective

Ta x

[Ebyss]

I don't know too many of them, but I know I love Michael Klimke, and I like Hubertus Schmidt a lot too.

[shoveltrash]

Debbie McDonald....who is scarcely 5 feet tall, and rides a HUGE Hanoverian mare ("Brentina") with such finesse.  never seen a *happier* horse in modern competition.

edited to say:  one of the VERY FEW Olympic riders whose horse wasn't gnashing it's teeth, overbent, twitching it's tail, nervous, unhappy....etc.

[Patience]

I saw Paul Hayler warming up at Fry's CDI a couple of years ago under the eye of his trainer (not sure who that was), was very impressed.   I also like Charlotte Edmonds and Wayne Channon from what I've seen of them.

[GeneralPouchka]

Has to be Damian Hallam.  He is lovely rider and his horses all perform for him with grace and beauty.

He is extremely talented.
 

[1 morejump]

Debbie McDonald was a pleasure to watch at the Olympics.   Her horse was calm and relaxed clearly enjoying his work.  I really think that she was cheated out of a much better score. <_<   My least favorite is Soto from the Spanish team.  Absolutly deplorable!  Lovely horse, but he can't ride at all!    

[shoveltrash]

i forgot to mention Sabine Shut-Kery.
(altho i'm partially biased, as she is a very well known Friesian trainer here in the US )
link: Sabine Schut-Kery info & pics

[Mandeigh]

phwoooorrrrrr.

[kwooten]

I love Mike Schaffer ... http://www.mikeschaffer.com/ ... I don't think he's an olympic level rider - actually, I don't know what level he's at, I haven't seen him live. He's got a beautiful video on his site at the moment, of him in the showring somewhere, to music - it's just beautiful.

Also on his site, he's started putting together a series of 20 minute videos of his training of a new horse. It's pretty neat because the first two videos show how this 8 yr old baby develops this huge trot over the course of just a few weeks - and you get to watch his progress almost in real time. Oh, and it's free which has to be a good thing

[christuris]

My least favorite is Soto from the Spanish team. Absolutly deplorable! Lovely horse, but he can't ride at all!

I'm 100% with you there!  Although that's probably not fair as I've only seen him ride once or twice.  It amazes me that he gets such high scores in his tests -- I just don't get it.  I have to bite my tongue whenever I hear someone praising him to the skies!  His aids are SO obvious and it looks so forced -- Invasor doesn't look much better...  I think this is the prime example of an Iberian being trained in the so-called Germanic way.  An Iberian is NOT a warmblood and shouldn't be trained that way!  I'm afraid that the Iberian in dressage is going to get a bad name if this continues.

His team mate, Jose Antonio someoneorother and Guizo (a Lusitano, of course!), I think, are far superior, and it's a joy to watch them!  But why don't they get higher scores?  I'm afraid I'm too disillusioned with modern day competitive dressage to watch any more.

Christina
Indian Hills, Colorado
www.AlphabetRanch.com

[Chelle]

Im very impressed with what I've seen Damian Hallam ride like in the warmups aswell as on the circuit, and I am still a great Carl Hester fan, although Spencer Wilton is quite good.

Not a Paul Hayler fan at all, I know many many many many things about him  

[Romany]

It's got to be Carl Hester!!! (simply for his looks!) Also this country has some very good disabled riders of all levels who have far more in the odds to contend with than us and they don't seem to get the recognition they derserve - we could all learn alot from them.