A real victory lap, olympics 1984

The infamous Klimke and Alherich victory lap at the 1984 olympics. One does not see horses and riders that are truly in-sync and relaxed as these two nowadays.

The victory lap (including the infamous one-tempis):
The winning ride (had some trouble with the piaffe but overall very impressive):

Great vids! Puts a lump in your throat when you watch the victory lap! Beautiful Tempi Changes!

It's videos like this that truly make me wonder when and where we went wrong. Maybe I'm wrong, but why do we never see this level of ease and relaxation anymore? There's no death grip on his head, he's alert and truly "skipping" for joy. It's so rare to see even the highest level of Dressage horse not screw up it's tempi changes, and yet this pair is able to keep it up without a single misstep the entire length of the arena!

Truly an inspiration and a question on whether we're moving forward or backward with the training of great horses.