The commentary audio is working on the Hagyard Pharmacy live now
1 Like
The facebook works and I’m not a member. Some beautifully turned out horses.
BUG 
I mean did we dare to doubt that it would rain??? 
Em
2 Likes
The facebook version definitely has a better angle to watch the video. Having the dual instagram (one with commentary and one with… not the best angle) videos on the live is not easy to watch. Since I don’t care about the fashion, which seems to be a majority of the commentary, I might have to give up on it.
On another note, Newmarket Jack was just held.
1 Like
I’ve been moping I’m not there but it looks like 3 or 4 solid days of rain so might not be the worst year to miss lol
2 Likes
watch FB and listen to insta haha
1 Like
Exactly my setup lol
2 Likes
Seriously… it’s so skinny I think my (very not 5*) horse would think it’s a hay bucket. Lol.
1 Like
I do wish they would up the level of difficulty to be on par with Badminton and Burghley. I’ve attended all three and Kentucky is always a notch below. Don’t get me wrong. If you gave me the best horse in the world and guaranteed me it would jump everything, I couldn’t it around Kentucky. I just wish we could raise the level.
With that said, the triple scoop had an ominous look to it. I did not care for the stumps under jump 12. Jump 17 has something I hate about how table jumps get set up these days - crap on top. I particularly don’t like the wooden box because it looks like something that could injure a horse. 24 the skinny at the ditch is funky and interesting.
I do appreciate that it looks like a real XC course not something you would find at Disney.
4 Likes
I am just laughing about the waterfowl (Is it a duck or goose???) at 21B (I think)
Looks like some one choked the hell out of it. Which in turn made me think of choked chickens. LOL.
But I digress.
Em
8 Likes
When I first saw the Triple Scoop (that is fence 6) I didn’t love it. I think the excavated ground will make it read more like a trakehner and not a series of bounces. I guess we will tell XC day. It certainly reads confusing in the photo.
The stumps under 12 look like they serve as a ground line and so protrude ahead of the first oxer. I’m not sure how I feel about that either but I bet this fence will ride very well. It doesn’t read as confusing to me, and the visual filler of the stumps makes it less airy and misread.
I’m with you I never liked the extraneous junk on top of fences, even on corners. One year we jumped a corner on course and my foot got too close to the flower pot. On top of knocking it over, I was also dragging a flower stalk around course in between my leg and the horse. Pilot error but still not my favorite XC memory.
I like the goose. That’s exactly how I remember them in my childhood, long necks and hissing tongue as they chased me from my grandparents lake into the house. 
I really like the course this year. It’s mostly natural looking fences with technicalities in the terrain. One thing I am seeing that is conspicuously absent are the airy, gappy white oxers that were prominent in years past that so many horses misread (granted they have never been as prominent in Kentucky as they have been in Burghley and Badminton). The closest one I’m seeing is 20 and it’s got a proper ditch under it.
3 Likes
I agree with jealoushe…I am moping because I am not there this year…I would love to be there rain or shine
2 Likes
I wasn’t able to watch with audio. Did everyone make it through the first jog?
yes, the two held were passed. I loved Jennie Brannigan’s outfit
1 Like
The triple scoop has been on course for a few years and has jumped well in the past (as I’ve been rewatching cross country from the past few years over the past week, lol). It’s just a single triple bar though, not bounces.
I could have been more clear: I wasn’t saying it was a bounce, I was saying in the photo the angle made it look misleading. I bet it will ride well too. 
I revised what I wrote a few times because it sounded unnecessarily critical, but I think it’s the angle of the photo that makes it look so ominous (FitToBeTied’s descriptor of the fence). I bet it reads perfectly fine from head on.
I don’t remember seeing it on course in years past but that also may be a coverage thing. I usually sit with SO with snacks and bevs and watch XC stream - hopefully one year we’ll be able to convert our yearly tradition of watching XC all day into being there for the real deal. We were supposed to go with my family in 2018 but last minute changes meant we had to give away our tickets. 
Gotcha! Yeah I don’t think it has been shown in the broadcasts I’ve see but the name has come up a few times when they’ve been talking about other fences on course.
Nursing a newborn has its advantages during Rolex week. Great reason to sit and watch horses!
1 Like
Congratulations on your new addition!!
Anyone else find it odd/kind of ridiculous that people don’t trim their horse’s whiskers (for good reason, obs), but still clip their ears inside and out? Or pull their tail the old-fashioned way? If the aim of the whisker rule is horse welfare, they might as well ban naked ears and hair ripped from their tails… 
(I also think it’s a waste of time to clip ears if 90% of them wear ear bonnets anytime they’re under saddle, so it’s not like we can see them. 
)
Asking since my horse would go insane if I took away his natural protection from bugs, plus he looks cuter with fuzzy ears. 
3 Likes
