Why I Ride

Prior to WEG, Ariat had some new promo's asking top equestrians to answer a simple question: "Why I Ride". I ride for the companionship and for the thrill of asking a 1,000-lb animal to go against thousands of years of evolution and do what I ask.

I also ride for results shown in the following video. I was at WEG and saw this ride just two months ago. There was an electricity in the air and the crowd really got into the ride, cheering Juan Manuel Muñoz Diaz and Fuego XII of Spain along the way. AND the crowd really did boo when they announced their results, many thought they should have received a medal. Was it a perfect ride? No. Fuego never truly halted at the start of the test and the final halt, he spooked and bolted with Juan who never really saluted the judges. Fuego's extended canter could be more, his pirouette's are way too large, and he was off a bit from the music from time to time. I'm sure there are other things that I'm not seeing either.

But WOW, his extended trot at 1:20 (and again at 2:18) was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! His reach in the half-pass at 1:39 (and again at 2:35) was wonderful. His piaffe at 2:05 (right in front of the judge at C) was beautiful.His two tempis on the 15-meter circle at 4:55 were so balanced and forward. And his one tempis down the centerline at 5:39, one handed no less, were so forward and breathtaking! His extended canter at 5:58 to the piaffe at 6:06 looked easy (but could have been smoothed out) and then to add in the 180 turn. Finally his passage down centerline, again one handed, at 6:17 really sealed the deal with the crowd and had us emotionally invested in his ride...maybe too much! When Juan and Fuego exited the ring, every single person (in a sold out stadium of 25,000) was on their feet applauding the aesthetic ride.



That is why I ride, I strive for this type of happy forward moving horse and I ride for the aesthetic appeal of said ride. Even if I never showed, I would be over the moon to have this type of relationship with my horse.