One of my other favorite things about last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games?

The chance to see some of the horse world’s greatest superstars — both horses and people — in person. It’s one thing to hear the buzz surrounding the (formerly) Dutch superstar dressage horse Totilas, and to see photos and YouTube videos of him. But it’s quite another thing, I have to say, to be standing just a few feet from where he’s warming up for his dressage test. I didn’t get a chance to see his actual (gold-medal-winning) tests in person, but his warmup routine — heck, just the way he moves — is nothing short of breathtaking.

As an added bonus, I was able to see the equally magnificent Spanish dressage horse Fuego XII warming up for his test. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t know anything about this horse before the WEG but, my-oh-my, he’s a beauty.

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Fuego XII with Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz at the 2010 WEG …

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… in the warmup arena before one of their dressage tests

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he’s a gorgeous horse, no?

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On the night of the dressage Grand Prix Freestyle competition, the main stadium was packed. I wasn’t planning to stick around the Horse Park that night, as the competition was supposed to go till quite late. But I had received an offer to watch the event on a closed-circuit TV, and I figured that it would be silly to miss it.

Totilas was, indeed, magnificent … as we all knew he would be. And Fuego XII was awe-inspiring. I’ve never heard the audience at a dressage competition erupt into applause and cheers like they did after Fuego’s test. There was certainly no polite dressage/golf-clapping here that night.

After the final test, I walked through the deserted trade fair to catch the bus home … while the awards ceremony was taking place in the main stadium, under the lights, and to more loud cheers and applause. Even though I had watched the competition on a closed-circuit (not a “real”) TV, we were still a bit removed from the action, and it was easy to forget that what we watched was happening right then, just across the food court from where we sat. But the cheers from the stadium that night were another reminder that all those magnificent horses were right here.