Dutch Beauty

by CarolLMiller Photography

Title

Dutch Beauty

Artist

CarolLMiller Photography

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Dutch Beauty by CarolLMiller Photography

I photographed this beautiful Dutch Warmblood dressage horse at a barn in Ponca City, Oklahoma, in November 2005. I couldn't resist his beauty and the way the light danced on his beautiful features. Not to mention that he was focused on me and--something that is a must when photographing equine headshots--both ears were honed in on me as I photographed him.

I snapped the photo while on a break at a dressage clinic where I was an auditor. This particular horse was one of the demonstration horses in the clinic. He is trained to the highest level of dressage and has shown to the Intermediare II level. Intermediare II is one level below Grand Prix, which is the highest level of dressage competition--the level of competition used in the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games.

Dressage clinics are educational events that feature a well-known and/or well-educated dressage professional. Clinics consist of lecture together with demonstration rides where a horse and rider perform various movements of dressage while the clinician educates and critiques the horse and rider. Auditors can watch the demonstration rides, and, although they do not benefit from the firsthand experience as the demo riders and their horses, they learn valuable information they can apply to their own riding program.

The Dutch Warmblood horse is a warmblood type of horse registered with the Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands (KWPN), which governs the breeding of competitive dressage and show jumping horses, as well as the show harness horse and Gelderlander, and a hunter studbook in North America. Developed through a breeding program that began in the 1960s, the Dutch are some of the most successful horses developed in postwar Europe. [1.]

Warmblood horses are a group of middle-weight horse types and breeds, primarily originating in Europe, registered with organizations that are characterized by open studbook policy, studbook selection, and the aim of breeding for equestrian sport. The term distinguishes these horses from both heavy draft horses and refined light saddle horses such as the Thoroughbred and Arabian. Though modern warmbloods are descended from heavier agricultural types systematically upgraded by light breed influence. [2.]

This particular Dutch Warmblood horse specializes in the discipline of dressage. Dressage, which is French for "training," is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training", where "horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games. Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, a horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximizing its potential as a riding horse. At the peak of a dressage horse's gymnastic development, the horse will respond smoothly to a skilled rider's minimal aids. The rider will be relaxed and appear effort-free while the horse willingly performs the requested movement. Dressage is occasionally referred to as "Horse Ballet." Although the discipline has ancient roots in Europe, dressage was first recognized as an important equestrian pursuit during the Renaissance. The great European riding masters of that period developed a sequential training system that has changed little since then. Classical dressage is still considered the basis of modern dressage.

In modern dressage competition, successful training at the various levels is demonstrated through the performance of "tests", prescribed series of movements ridden within a standard arena. Judges evaluate each movement on the basis of an objective standard appropriate to the level of the test and assign each movement a score from zero to ten--zero being "not executed" and 10 being "excellent". [3.] There are coefficients for certain movements, which means that the judge's score for that movement is multiplied, usually by two. The cumulative score for all movements is divided by the number of movements, which results in the total rider score.

The highest dressage score on record is 92.30%, which was achieved by Edward Gal of the Netherlands and Moorlands Totilas, a Dutch Warmblood stallion. Gal and Totilas reached this record score in December 2009 at the fourth leg of the 2009-10 FEI World Cup Dressage series at Olympia in London.

I was fortunate to be present at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, at which Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas achieved a 91.80% score in the Musical Freestyle event. Gal and Totilas captured all three gold medals offered in the dressage competition at the 2010 WEG becoming the first horse and rider to win all three dressage gold medals at a World Equestrian Games competition. There are several works featuring Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas in my Fine Art America portfolio.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Warmblood
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warmblood
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressage

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Uploaded

August 22nd, 2014

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