Summer of Dressage Part II

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?

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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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View Comments

kygal says:
June 22, 2012 at 9:38 am
what a way to turn the tables why get angry just have fun with it looks like the way to get back
Galadriel says:
June 22, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Good for them!
Andrea and sweet pea #(192859) says:
June 25, 2012 at 10:32 am
Wow, it made me mad to listen to that dude on the video that thought he was so cool. But i really admire the dressage riders for not getting mad. Sorta like when the British made up the song "Yankee Doodle" to make fun of the Yankee's during the Revolutionary War. Instead of getting mad, the American's made it their "theme song" during the War.
Good for those dressage riders!!!
Kaylee says:
June 28, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I agree with SmartPac....make him swallow his own pill. Afterall, any rider (wether English, Western or other) knows riding is a lot harder than just sitting pretty on the back of a 4-legged animal.