Dressage Disaster: Double Trouble – Blood Elimination For Ashley Holzer
Ashley Holzer In The Hot Seat
Ashley Holzer and her ride on Valentine have been a hot topic here on Dressage Hub all season. When Valentine entered the ring in a state of terror the ride went downhill from there.
Part 1: https://youtu.be/l2G5u4RG19M
Part 2: https://youtu.be/uTaBxHNrzZM
Ashley Holzer is back again in the Hot Seat with Hansel in the Lovsta Future Challenge class. Hansel entered the ring in a state of terror but Ashley Holzer managed to get the stallion owned by P.J Rizvi under control and carry on her way. Halfway through the test the dressage judge at E noticed blood in Hansels’ mouth and alerted the judge at C.
Ashley Holzer Eliminated
In this video, you will see the judge at C come out and conduct an inspection. The challenge with blood in the mouth is that oftentimes you will see it in one moment and then it will be gone the next. The obvious reason being the horse has swallowed or drooled the blood onto the ground. Blood in the mouth is often not gushing from an open wound but often small and barely noticeable. This was a great catch by the judge at E. You will see both the judge at C and Ashley Holzer shrug off the blood like they are unable to find it. While that may be the case by the time she walked over to the judge at C, it is also good PR to pretend that there was no blood and she has been wrongfully eliminated in front of the camera and VIP tent.
Having a full-time live stream this season has definitely made dressage a lot more interesting to watch. Celebrating the highs and lows with many of our favorite athletes has been a delight for those of us at home in the cheap seats.
Previously on Dressage Hub
To help people understand what we here at Dressage Hub see is happening in the test of Ashley Holzer and Valentine we posted a few additional videos.
One is a veterinarian talking about Anoxia and fear is triggered in horses that are trained using rolkur. You can watch that video titled – That Horse Is Not Spooking, He Thinks He Is Dying here: https://youtu.be/zO8_F5bQMPw
The second video we published discussed trigger stacking and how to understand the elements of fear in horses and how this test is not a simple spook but rather a combination of triggers to send this horse into a state of fear and flight. You can watch the video on the basics of trigger stacking here: https://youtu.be/OU2tE-cCzlo