Photo of the Day: Charles Craver and friendsImage du jour: Charles Craver et amis
Since it’s been busy out, another round of horses and rider — this time Charles Craver with horses of his breeding, born in 1957, 1958, and 1983:
Aramis: 
Fairy Queen (dam of the previously featured Atticus): 
Brass Band CF: 
The photo of aramis and Charles Craver is instructive- Charles’ hands are perfect in both the Aramis and Fairy Queen photos he’s feeling of the horses mouth with the snaffle reins but leaving the curb alone.The top photo shows true maximum extension without flicking. An Olympic class FEI level warmblood would be very hard pressed to match such an extension. Most likely a competitive show system rider would end up leaning back and grinding their seat into the saddle in order to get the horse to extend his forelegs. The horse would then stiffen as his spine caved in- moving from dorsoflexion to ventroflection, and he would then start to flick his front legs. But then Charles is demonstrating more true relation to Classical High School in those two photos than you’ll see in a ton of tuetonic show system types. These pictures are the mark of a true horseman. i can see why you value Charles so highly Eduoard.
Well, as his wife, I can tell you that Classical Dressage is his passion, aside from the Davenport Arabian horse. Thank you for such kind comments!
The gait in the first photo is absolutely amazing! The structure of the body is perfect. Like something from a magazine. Thanks for sharing these with the world.
Maybe we should scan and post the picture of Charles on Tybalt doing piaffe.
Dear RJ, Yes please scan and post the Tybalt piaffe photo asap. Spent several years getting,”instructed,” by teachers who felt themselves to be ,” world famous on the west coast. All of whom repeatedly assured me that,” arabs can’t do dressage.”
I knew they were wrong. I did pickup a few bits here and there – how to make release big enough for the horse to notice, and seperation of the aids. This, even though the instructors didn’t realize they were teaching me these crucial building blocks. Charles is demonstrating absolute forward focus with the horses birdie, as deb Bennett might say, and a relaxed straight trot even though it is done at a show. So- I vote yes please post Tybalts piaffe!!!
I looked for that one — and also for the one of Charles and Brass in costume, which I was surprised not to find. Would be happy to feature both. Maybe we’ll do Dressage Davenports and show Monsoon, Anchorage, Ibn Alamein …
Yes, go ahead, Ambar, and feature whatever is relevant to the discussion!
Hello Bruce….your comment about the west coast “experts” made me smile. Trust me: it’s not just the loons on the west coast. I used to live down the road from a 3 day eventing farm in Vermont (now it’s strictly dressage). I often scribed for judges. Whenever an Arabian dared to enter the ring there were snorts, sneers, groans, mutterings of all kinds from the judges. The older I get the more I steer clear of “experts.” In everything.
What a pleasure to watch!