Bad rules should be changed. This sport will only survive public scrutiny for so long if horses continue to get injured and die. If you aren’t motivated to revisit bad rules due to horse welfare concerns on their own, maybe the viability of your own sport will be the motivator 
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5* =/= Inexperienced
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There was a pretty exhausted horse in the 4 star. I cringed as he lost his footing and was banking jumps at the end, I thought that one should have been pulled up as well.
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Do yellow cards still exist? I’d be pretty aggressive about handing one to Sarah Bullimore for dangerous riding.
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I don’t disagree, but as with most things in life it’s not always so clearly black and white. Obviously if the rider feels like the horse isn’t up to it that day, or they’ve had more than one stop, they should probably call it a day, but … What about rides that are generally going well, then there’s a hairy moment, but the rider feels like the horse is still in front of their leg and game? They might go onto finish the rest of the course clear and inside the time … or they might make another mistake at the next fence and fall.
I would like to see stewards more willing to pull riders up when things are consistently sketchy and seem to be on their way to going from bad to worse, though.
Edited for typo.
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Yes yellow cards still exist
Yes they do! And it can take a while for them to show up on the FEI list. I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t see a couple warnings, at least for continuing on a tired horse.
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Fingers crossed for Tami and her girl 
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I thought I saw an MR next to Bobby Meyerhoff in the 5 star?
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Didn’t say the rules shouldn’t be changed, just pointing out what the rules actually are. Vets are there to react not to dictate. Now if you want to talk about Marilyn Little at Fair Hill that’s a different story.
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He came off his first horse, the grey
By which time the horse and rider will likely have finished the XC–or crashed and burned.
Don’t get me wrong–I’m not opposed to officials pulling horse/rider when they appear to be either exhausted or dangerous, but let’s put the emphasis on the responsibility of the rider to pull up before we lynch the management.
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It didn’t show it if so.
He fell off both his horses. Not sure the racing saddle is serving him well.
The racing saddle had nothing to do with it on the second horse, having been up close to the fall
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I don’t want to wish ill will on anyone, but I think there were several riders today who deserved a warning for pressing a tired horse. There’s a big difference between a horse who starts to tire a little (galloping with his head a little lower, slightly slower pace, dropping his head just a little more on landing) and a clearly exhausted animal (heavy on the forehand, labored strides, climbing over the fences, stumbling, etc).
You can sometimes hear the discomfort in the commentators’ voices as they try to use euphemistic language like “nursing them home” etc. Obviously it’s a 5* CCI, none of them are going to finish fresh… but where is the rider responsibility? I’m reminded of Ema Klugman, who chose to retire her horse at the Maryland 5* last fall near the end of the course instead of push him through it when she felt him run out of steam. There was a lot at stake, as she had planned on this being his final 5* event. But it was more important to be a horseman and do right by her partner.
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Thank you for this… if I wrap my sports car around a light pole it is not the cops fault.
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What happened?
Back when I was in vet school, and dinosaurs were part of the anatomy curriculum, I was a volunteer at a combined driving event up on the North Shore. There was a week long series of equine events, and some of the competition was final selection trials for various Olympic teams. The whole magilla was a benefit for the then new veterinary school.
I was stationed at the end of the marathon phase with a faculty member. We were doing TPRs and assessments on the teams as they finished.
It was “interesting” because the DVM had no authority to pull anyone from the competition. We were just there for window dressing.
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