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I woke up with Fuego XII's theme blasting in my head. I cannot get enough of this horse. I've watched videos of him about fifty times in the last week and every single time I am moved to tears. This is the very incarnation of impeccable. I don't usually go for Andalusians, even as I love the baroque horses, because their heads are too Arabian. I prefer the Lusitanos and the Friesians because of this. I have to make an exception for Fuego. It seems so nitpicky in light of this splendor, this consummate performance. You have to know the filthy politicking of the horse world to understand why they are so loath to replace Totilas with Fuego as the premier dressage horse. It's about the rider. If he were a member of international equestrian nobility, it would have been a done deal already. Still, I think he is going to make it anyway.
The whole orgasm of watching Blu Hors Matiné was ruined for me by watching the bad equitation and poor horsemanship of her rider. Not the case this time. This guy, Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz, is as impeccable as his horse. He isn't digging with his spurs and flopping all over the horse's back. It is perfect. Perfect. Even if you know shit from Shinola about horses, you can tell when it's transcendental by the crowd roaring. Watch the legs. Watch the miraculous expression of possible gaits and the seeming effortlessness of transitions.
I would kill to have this horse, but at the same time I do not begrudge this man his ride. He is living proof of deserving the honor, the privilege, of riding this magnificent stallion.
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Another vexing matter: The word "KOYAANISQATSI" was also running through my head all morning. I haven't the first part of a clue why, and am almost afraid to confirm this for fear someone's trying to nab me, but... well... there you have it. So I have to watch the video again, now, I guess, to see if there isn't something about it bubbling up from my unconscious.
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The trick is not to let them feed on your anger and fear. I'm choosing love.
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Just to show you what I mean, here's TOTILAS [Dutch Warmblood] and FUEGO XII [Andalusian] at Rotterdam last year. Totilas came in fifth and Fuego sixth. Aside from having a flashier piaffe, Totilas did not distinguish himself over Fuego, and in fact, seems to shrink in the movement department when held up next to Fuego... note the stony audience for Totilas and the cheering for Fuego. Yes, yes, both were beaten by the seriously stodgy headliners from England that day, and I don't even have to look to call bullshit, but Totilas missed a change and snuck one in too early and Fuego only looked a little less on it than usual. So, even if the first four horses miraculously had perfect days and somehow belonged where they placed, which I find hard to believe, putting Totilas ahead of Fuego that day was bogus. The judges are supposed to be going off the performance of the horse. They are not. Politics. People continually cave to politics.
You can throttle them with the evidence of the slaughter this enables and they STILL do NOT have the humanity or courage to ignore political advantage in favor of truth and justice.
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