Flossy is well known to many on the British Dressage Forum as a teller of interesting stories and perhaps the odd joke or two. We have selected a few tales for your pleasure.
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Words
The latest move by the FEI to change the wordings for the collective marks at the bottom of the score sheet is well over due . One does not have to be a sport psychologist or a literature expert to know that a miss placed word with a possibility for double meaning or ambiguity can deliver a completely different message then the writer’s intention.
For example : some years ago about 10 BC Jennie Loriston Clark was asked on a TV interview what was her secret for producing such a good tune from her horse , the reply was “it is all in the relationship, I live eat and sleep with my horse and he would do anything for me” . The interviewer raise his eyes brow looked at the people around and said “That’s animal for you, I have been doing the same with my wife for 23 years but it does not seem to have the same effect”.
When Ulla Salzgeber was asked the same question in a press conference , her reply was exactly the same “ IT IZ IN ZEE RREELATIONSHIP” with her husband quietly slinking under the table trying to make himself invisible as possible.
So just like TWO liberal party politicians with THREE opinions , one word can have THREE different meanings.
That’s the reason why it is important that the FEI gets it right this time and choose a word that will express the judges message as he meant it , in a clear manner .
This word must mean something to everybody and offend nobody , to my knowledge there is only one word in the equestrian vocabulary that fits into that roll, IT is the German expression “Ach-so” some time for clarity it is shortened to simple “so” (pronounced “ZZZO”)
This word has such versatility that it can convey any possible equestrian message without ambiguity .
For instance; A German trainer with very little command of the English language is able to conduct a three month training clinic during the Florida winter FESTIVAL without the use of any other word apart from the “SO” pronounced “ZZO”.
A student preforming a half pass with some loss of something , the trainer responds is a little “zo” indicating for the movement to be repeated AGAIN , this time with little more “ZZO” with the trainer’s responds to this is a bigger “ZZZO!!”
Obviously there is the occasion that after several “Zzos” it requires the trainer to hop on top of the horse and prove to the mistrusting student that the trainer can actually perform as well as he talks , after a 2 minute ride in which the trainer executed all the GPS movements to perfection , he would halt next to the student and with a sharp pat on the horses neck exclaim “ZZO!!!!” you see !!.
The number of situations that this word can be used effectively is endless but it is worth mentioning one more scenario in which this words sum-up everything that a trainer may ever want to say which is “ACH-ZZZzzzoooo” which means “THANK GOD YOU GOT IT AT LAST I thought we were going to be here until tomorrow”.
For example : some years ago about 10 BC Jennie Loriston Clark was asked on a TV interview what was her secret for producing such a good tune from her horse , the reply was “it is all in the relationship, I live eat and sleep with my horse and he would do anything for me” . The interviewer raise his eyes brow looked at the people around and said “That’s animal for you, I have been doing the same with my wife for 23 years but it does not seem to have the same effect”.
When Ulla Salzgeber was asked the same question in a press conference , her reply was exactly the same “ IT IZ IN ZEE RREELATIONSHIP” with her husband quietly slinking under the table trying to make himself invisible as possible.
So just like TWO liberal party politicians with THREE opinions , one word can have THREE different meanings.
That’s the reason why it is important that the FEI gets it right this time and choose a word that will express the judges message as he meant it , in a clear manner .
This word must mean something to everybody and offend nobody , to my knowledge there is only one word in the equestrian vocabulary that fits into that roll, IT is the German expression “Ach-so” some time for clarity it is shortened to simple “so” (pronounced “ZZZO”)
This word has such versatility that it can convey any possible equestrian message without ambiguity .
For instance; A German trainer with very little command of the English language is able to conduct a three month training clinic during the Florida winter FESTIVAL without the use of any other word apart from the “SO” pronounced “ZZO”.
A student preforming a half pass with some loss of something , the trainer responds is a little “zo” indicating for the movement to be repeated AGAIN , this time with little more “ZZO” with the trainer’s responds to this is a bigger “ZZZO!!”
Obviously there is the occasion that after several “Zzos” it requires the trainer to hop on top of the horse and prove to the mistrusting student that the trainer can actually perform as well as he talks , after a 2 minute ride in which the trainer executed all the GPS movements to perfection , he would halt next to the student and with a sharp pat on the horses neck exclaim “ZZO!!!!” you see !!.
The number of situations that this word can be used effectively is endless but it is worth mentioning one more scenario in which this words sum-up everything that a trainer may ever want to say which is “ACH-ZZZzzzoooo” which means “THANK GOD YOU GOT IT AT LAST I thought we were going to be here until tomorrow”.