[QUOTE=Turek]
The other day, my gf insisted on watching dressage. Dressage!? This is an Olympic sport?? It seems to be a contest of who can sit on a horse that walks funny. How is this a friggin’ sport, let alone in the Olympics??
[/QUOTE]
I am an equestrian…and I find Olympic dressage boooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrring to watch. UGH. The irony is, it’s a bore to watch because everyone is so effin’ good. I watched a videotape of the 1996 Olympic dressage routines and was amused when I heard, “Oh no, oh that’s AWFUL, how heartbreaking!” as if the rider had fallen off or the horse sat down for a beer at A. Nope, they just missed one of the lead changes. It’s not like gymnastics, where you know a big error when you see one; the person falls on their ass, that’s bad. Horse blows a lead, who but the very few can tell?
I couldn’t finish the video. I, an equestrian who is familiar with dressage, fell asleep watching it and found it so boring I didn’t bother to restart it. I actually ended up selling it to a fellow Doper years ago, after I made a similar post about dressage’s yawn-factor for me. His wife was thrilled to get it, so cool. 
That said, dressage is a BITCH to ride and is extremely physically demanding. You have to have a rider so smooth, so ambidextrous (in even the simplest riding manuveurs, all four limbs are doing four different things), so aware of their body, so in control, that their cues are nearly invisible. And they HAVE to be, as they’re riding horses that are super-sensitive to every freakin’ thing the rider does. I’ve ridden lower level dressage horses and been stunned how just shifting your weight slightly, or taking a deep breath, or looking to the right (which causes slight adjustments in your body) is a cue–everything your body does in that saddle is a signal, so you better have excellent body control and awareness. That, and abs of steel. Sitting those HUGE extended trots is a monstrous endeavor.
My mare is pretty sensitive and that’s a good thing–it’s taught me to be a better rider because I have to have more body awareness and strength to get her to do whatever the task is at hand. But Grand Prix/Olympic level dressage?? EEK! No thanks!
Not that it’s on par physically with events like swimming, gymnastics, or running, but it most certainly takes a lot of physical talent and conditioning. It’s a shame that others cannot see it; as our society becomes less and less agrarian, people have little to no knowledge of horses and riding in particular, so it does just look like people riding funny-moving horses. Bummer.
And sadly, still boring.
