Giddy up, Anky

Photo by Arnd Bronkhorst/courtesy Anky van Grunsven

Multiple Olympic Gold winner for individual dressage (2000, 2004, 2008 — yes, for three consecutive Olympiads)  Anky van Grunsven has said that she intends to compete in reining, too, at the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

She’ll swap her top hat for a cowboy hat.

Sounds like crazy talk? Not in the least. And she’s not the first champion to try another sport.

(Note to readers: links to the embedded videos are included in the story, if you are unable to play the videos here.)

The history of the switchers

In 1989-90, athlete Bo Jackson was famous for “Bo knows” ad campaign to sell sneakers. He was the first athlete to play both football and baseball.

The video shows a Nike commercial where Bo Jackson tried all sorts of sports – including horse racing.

Michael Jordan made headlines for switching from basketball to baseball in 1994.

More successful in similar field

Formula One race car drivers have moved from the open wheel Indy-500-style cars to the stock cars of NASCAR. Among them are Tony Stewart, Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya.

For someone who loves to race, competing in both divisions is an opportunity to race as often as possible.

Once,  Stewart split a day between both styles in major competitions. He competed in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca Cola 600 on the same day, first one then the other.

(I know – I referred to the race drivers their last names, but I use Anky’s first name. It’s not out of disrespect. Among equestrian athletes — and couch potatoes like me — her first name is instantly recognizable.)

Montoya switched totally to NASCAR. I can’t imagine Anky switching totally to reining, and she has said that she intends to compete in both events.

Dressage and reining

It’s all about the patterns. Think compulsory figure skating. How does an athlete execute these fundamentals that she or he to know how to do to accomplish the job?

Dressage demonstrates the training, physical conditioning and submission of a horse.  The quiet stop, the grace of the sidepass, the change of gaits. (BTW, this is what a sidepass looks like.) Dressage was originally intended to train military horses.

Here is Anky’s gold medal winning performance at the 2006 WEG in freestyle dressage:

Note the soothing music, the elegance and the precision of how the horse seems to dance to the music. Also note the quiet, observant crowd that only erupts in appreciative cheers at the end.

From Europe to the West

Reining has been described as the western form of dressage. Wikipedia has a history of reining and includes a list of reining moves.

In a reining competition, a horse demonstrates his or her ability to stop, spin, back up and skid to a stop. Just like a horse would use when the rider is herding cattle at a western ranch.

Again, both disciplines reflect their sources. Classical dressage? Military. Reining? Working cattle on a ranch.

Video is from the 2006 World Equestrian Games Reining run-off for the gold medal.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to rip off my headset and throw it up in the air after that one.

Reining may be the western version of dressage, but you can see big differences. And it’s not just in the attire or the tack. The music is popular with a driving, energizing beat. The crowd — note the packed stands, too, — can’t help but react to the action, even when the rider asks for quiet.

Tickets to reining will likely be the hottest ones at the games in Kentucky.

And I can see why Anky is  interested in competing in both events. Champions like a challenge. New equipment, new moves and a new arena.

I hope she has a great time and puts on as good a show during reining as she does in freestyle dressage.

And I hope that, since she’s working toward competing in two events, that she has no scheduling conflicts.

YeeHAW!

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Tags: 2010 World Equestrian Games, Anky van Grunsven, Arnd Bronkhorst, Bo Jackson, dressage, reining, Tony Stewart