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Unfortunately, what you saw is not uncommon at competitions around the country. Welcome to the world of competition dressage which has diverged radically from classical dressage. There are a few who hold to the classical methods but most nowadays are in a hurry and don’t develop a seat first.

It was on the border of downright disgusting, if you'll pardon the use of an extreme description. Watching the Grand Prix riders, it was more of "Lets teach the horse how to do fancy movements, but forget about doing them correctly." In fact, forget riding correctly at all. One horse just about fell over during a canter pirouette. That's what blew my mind. I saw one or two great rides, one of them by a trainer that I do all of my clinics with. She is bringing up a grey section D welsh cob, and was doing 1st level with her. They were correct, harmonious rides, and she placed first in one test and second in another.

All in all, it did two things for me. 1) Made me realize that I'm not such a terrible rider after all, and 2) made me really, really appreciate how much of a stickler my trainer is for correctness.