Horses Dance to Bee Gees, Beach Boys and Broadway

Posted on Aug 20th 2008 1:00PM by James Sullivan
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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dance to Pink Floyd.

You can't, that is, unless you're an Olympic-class rider in the individual dressage competition, commonly known as Horse Ballet. This week, horses performing to songs by the Bee Gees, the Beach Boys and Broadway tunes thrilled a packed arena in Hong Kong with their freestyle moves.

Although dressage has ancient origins in military tradition, modern riders now match their horses' personalities to pop and rock music. One Danish rider trotted to Floyd's 'We Don't Need No Education' and Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven.' A Swedish competitor had an easy explanation for his horse's affinity for Brazilian samba: "He's a little bit of a Latino guy, you know," he said.

The horses are clearly raised to be hoofers. One Olympian from Germany was called Satchmo, and American rider Steffen Peters rode one named Ravel. Dutch gold medalist Anky van Grunsven and her partner, Salinero, took their third straight gold medal. Maybe they should change their tune: 'Beer for My Horses.'

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