(no subject)

Rode wednesday night- it was windy enough that Trudi spooked pretty big time as I led her to the arena, but when I got on she actually started listening to me and behaved quite well. I was extremely proud of her. I had free lunged her a little beforehand, so I think that took the edge off and warmed her up. I was sitting pretty well (having been inspired by watching Courtney King) and I managed to fix our crappy right lead canter circles by actually using a step of half pass to engage her outside hind and to bring her shoulders in. Yay for excercises that help improve the gait!
Watched some of the team dressage- I really loved watching Courtney as a rider, and I hope she gets an individual medal. I liked Nadine and Elvis ok except I HATED his piaffe. Is it just me? I think he looks less collected when he does the piaffe than at any other time. I was surprised by their high score. I liked the guy on the big black horse a lot (looked it up- it was Jordi Domingo and Prestige). I felt so very sorry for the people whose horses spooked, like the poor guy on the grey, and my heart went out to him and the japanese rider, and the Japanese rider's lovely horse. I did not think the horses overall were at their best- it seemed like the brilliance I usually associate with a huge international competition was missing, though granted I didn't catch Isabel's ride.