Camel Dressage

[jacey]

from mjlayman 

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

!
That's a very well-trained camel.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I never even saw the point with horses...

I'd love to know what they did that made the audience errupt into applause now and then, as I couldn't spot anything different!

[ferlonda.livejournal.com]

What fun!!! And isn't that little Arab gorgeous? Sigh...

[ferlonda.livejournal.com]

The audience was applauding various skills displayed in unison/tandem by the horse and the camel at the direction of their riders. Pretty hard to see if you're not a dressage enthusiast.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Ah, the point with horses is the same point as with any well-trained gymnast. Why try to achieve perfection in balance, form and fitness? Because you can!

Actually the basic reason for training horses (and dressage training is just several steps further on from basic schooling that is good for a young horse just starting out on its career as a person-carrier) is safety. A horse that's resonsive is going to be much safer for both the rider and the people on the ground. It's also going to be much more pleasant to ride.

Back in the way-back-whens the Spanish Riding School of Vienna taught horses and riders all that complicated high kicking dressage)known at 'airs above the ground' as movements to be used in battle. If you were surrounded and your horse could rear up over footsoldiers or leap in the air and give a good backwards kick it gave you a very nice edge and gave you a better chance of surviing the battle.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_nwRQ2cK8
and
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BI5vr_ngvXQ&NR=1

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Goodness, that must have been difficult to do with the weight of a rider on board.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

A lot of it depends on how the rider distributes his/her weight. A good rider can 'ride light' a poor rider can bounce around like a sack of spuds. This kind of work is generally undertaken by the best (now) though who knows what it might have been like in the middle of a battle.

Don't forget we take showjumping for granted these days - even over Puissance fences which are well over seven feet high.