Horse Illustrated Magazine

Whether it was his intention or not, Stephen Colbert’s opening bit about Mitt Romney’s indirect connection to dressage has led to quite a bit of mainstream publicity for this relatively insular sport. If you haven’t watched the video yet, please do so. You won’t regret it.

But how are those humorless, uptight, shadbelly-clad dressage kings and queens taking the mocking?

Well, see for yourself.

This photo, posted to Twitter by the USEF’s Joanie Morris, shows Rafalca and her trainer/rider Jan Ebeling showing off the newly created foam fingers that I hope become a mainstay at upper-level dressage events. This photo was from last weekend’s selection trials, which means that someone got those novelty fingers made pretty quickly after the June 12 airing of the Colbert Report.

The fans embraced Colbert’s mocking as well.

This one’s from the USDF’s Facebook page. 

Rumor has it that SmartPak Equine has sent a dressage outfit to Colbert and invited him to take a dressage lesson. It would be wrong of him not to give it a try after declaring it “Sport of the Summer,” right?

Rafalca and Ebeling had a pretty good weekend in addition to their mainstream publicity bump as they did indeed make the short list and will be traveling to London to prepare for the Olympics. 

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