It is the accuracy of the horse that impresses you, and it is a thing of perfection to see the pair at work. There are no rough edges, nothing to interrupt the eye - just a long sigh of pleasure. Bonfire makes a nice antithesis. Dressage people like to talk about expressive paces , and it s a pleasing phrase. What the horse expresses by the extravagance of his gait is life itself.
Bonfire expresses that little bit more.
He is more extravagant, more fallible. There is just a tiny touch of the maverick in him. If he were a human athlete, we would warm to the humanity in him. Four years ago at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, the two foes were locked in the self-same duel, and van Grunsven and Bonfire were in the lead as they went into the final musical session. Bonfire won the crowd, and Gigolo and Werth won the gold.