According to the International Olympic Committee, “the ancient Greeks recognized that if rider and horse were to survive in battle, complete cooperation was necessary between the pair and developed dressage as a method to train the horses for war”. Dancing animals! In the Olympics!
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Man, it was a hot one on Monday in Rio, where Spain’s Severo Jesus Jurado Lopez had his horse, Lorenzo, dance to Santana’s “Smooth” like it was seven inches from the midday sun.
The six and a half minute performance opens with parts of “Smooth”, 1999′s smash hit from Carlos Santana weaving in and out of the orchestral music.
And now, Santana and Rob Thomas have finally made it to the Olympic Games.
Then again, we’re 17 years removed from the song’s June 1999 debut, and “Smooth” is enjoying quite a resurgence in Rio de Janeiro. Put this song on.
Another horse, Steffen Peters’ Legolas, also performed to a snippet of “Ice Ice Baby”, and that video’s over on NBC’s site if you want to seek it out. It’s prancing little hooves are so delightful that they stomp out the syrupy smarm of the guitar strings.
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It was easily the smoothest performance of the day, with the horse breaking out some seriously good moves, but unfortunately they ended up placing 5th in the discipline. If the horse is out of sync to the song’s rhythm, or if the music doesn’t particularly jibe with the actions the rider is taking, that score will drop.
