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Description
EDIT: They got the third place!!!! I'm so happy!

This is my (belated ) contest entry for Hungaria Event Dressage by ~thunderinghooves
I recommend listening to [link] !!!!!! - imagine extended trot, piaffe and passage movements from 2:10 on

Story

After a long time without competing, Diego finally entered a dressage class again. He avoided to show unless he was absolutely satisfied with the training results, and finally Prelude was in best condition. The grey stallions skills had improved a lot in the last months. While Passage and Piaffe always had been his strengths - he lifted his legs extremely high and his movements were very acentuated, so that the passage tour often caused an impressed whisper in the audience - his weakness was the galop tour.
But Diego finally found a way to improve the gait, and soon the galop movements increased in quality. There were less errors in the changes à tempi and the canter pirouette got more and more collected and upward. Diego was very satisfied with his dressage stallion, who always tried his best to please his rider.

And then the day of their next competition came.

Anyone who only knew Diego in his private time wouldn't believe this was the same man.
He was a macho and sexist whenever a female of the species homo sapiens appeared in his field of view, trying to impress her with his (in his point of view) seductive charm, annoying her with stupid pick-up lines. He even acted extremely unprofessional with his colleagues and couldn't resist trying to flirt with them (except with Zoe - whyever he never tried to hit on her).
But when Diego was working with horses, he was a completely different person: Very calm and concentrated, his full attention focused on the horse he was working with, very exact in reinforcement and correction. His face was tense then, and it almost seemed as if he didn't take any notice of his surrounding.
No one ever saw Diego getting angry or upset while he was training horses. Of course, he sometimes used a whip, but very sparingly and only when he could exclude own mistakes as the source of the problem.

The only situation something else could draw his attention when he was riding, was after a good performance, when the audience started to acclaim. Then it was as if he was drawn out of the quiet world where only he and his horse lived, he turned his head to look to the tribune and his mimic awakened with a wide smile. Diego enjoyed his success then, waving towards the audience. But a small part of his attention would always be with his horse, his body giving hundreds of soft, invisible aids, telling the horse that he was still there.

Okay, this was not much of a story for this picture but more of an introduction into Diego's mind, but I hope you enjoyed ^^

Seen on this picture
Diego Romero Carillo (Spanish Dressage Rider: curriculum vitae look here [link] )
EDS Prelude, dapple grey Trakehner Stallion (notice how he greys out ^^ since their last appearance: [link] )

Picture Information
Time: 12 hours
Layers: ~30
Tools of the Trade: Ps4, Wacom Intuos3
References used: horses pose and build referenced
Brushes: Charfade's Grass Brushes

Description
EDIT: They got the third place!!!! I'm so happy!

This is my (belated ) contest entry for Hungaria Event Dressage by ~thunderinghooves
I recommend listening to [link] !!!!!! - imagine extended trot, piaffe and passage movements from 2:10 on

Story

After a long time without competing, Diego finally entered a dressage class again. He avoided to show unless he was absolutely satisfied with the training results, and finally Prelude was in best condition. The grey stallions skills had improved a lot in the last months. While Passage and Piaffe always had been his strengths - he lifted his legs extremely high and his movements were very acentuated, so that the passage tour often caused an impressed whisper in the audience - his weakness was the galop tour.
But Diego finally found a way to improve the gait, and soon the galop movements increased in quality. There were less errors in the changes à tempi and the canter pirouette got more and more collected and upward. Diego was very satisfied with his dressage stallion, who always tried his best to please his rider.

And then the day of their next competition came.

Anyone who only knew Diego in his private time wouldn't believe this was the same man.
He was a macho and sexist whenever a female of the species homo sapiens appeared in his field of view, trying to impress her with his (in his point of view) seductive charm, annoying her with stupid pick-up lines. He even acted extremely unprofessional with his colleagues and couldn't resist trying to flirt with them (except with Zoe - whyever he never tried to hit on her).
But when Diego was working with horses, he was a completely different person: Very calm and concentrated, his full attention focused on the horse he was working with, very exact in reinforcement and correction. His face was tense then, and it almost seemed as if he didn't take any notice of his surrounding.
No one ever saw Diego getting angry or upset while he was training horses. Of course, he sometimes used a whip, but very sparingly and only when he could exclude own mistakes as the source of the problem.

The only situation something else could draw his attention when he was riding, was after a good performance, when the audience started to acclaim. Then it was as if he was drawn out of the quiet world where only he and his horse lived, he turned his head to look to the tribune and his mimic awakened with a wide smile. Diego enjoyed his success then, waving towards the audience. But a small part of his attention would always be with his horse, his body giving hundreds of soft, invisible aids, telling the horse that he was still there.

Okay, this was not much of a story for this picture but more of an introduction into Diego's mind, but I hope you enjoyed ^^

Seen on this picture
Diego Romero Carillo (Spanish Dressage Rider: curriculum vitae look here [link] )
EDS Prelude, dapple grey Trakehner Stallion (notice how he greys out ^^ since their last appearance: [link] )

Picture Information
Time: 12 hours
Layers: ~30
Tools of the Trade: Ps4, Wacom Intuos3
References used: horses pose and build referenced
Brushes: Charfade's Grass Brushes