I will be curious to see if Harry comes back next year.
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So, was there a countdown on the Jumbotron for SJ or not? In any case, we are drilled to not start the course until the buzzer/bell is sounded, NOT when the Jumbotron starts the countdown, otherwise why even bother with a start bell? Seeing Laurenâs obvious confusion the correct thing would have been to ring the bell again, (completely legal) but because the judges didnât know the rules Lauren gets severely penalized? Sheer stupidity.
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I really feel for Lauren as this could have been changed by the officials. There was a count down clock on the jumbotron. The crowd cheered for each pair that entered the ring, but the judge could have waited to ring the bell until the applause dies down. I was in the YEH dressage ring thursday and the judge rang her bell twice for a few competitors becasue of the rain pouring down, she could tell the rider didnât hear it if farther away and was kind enough to ring it twice rather than be a jerk about it. These are seasonsed pros too in the YEH, not kiddos doing elementary. The judge for the 5* SJ failed IMO.
That said, as Lauren is sponsored by Mars would there be an uproar if they DID erase her time penalties, that she received special treatment becasue of her sponsor?
I think they should have rung the bell twice obviously seeing her confusion.
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It will be so disappointing for the event, but understandable from his/the ownerâs perspective, if he does not.
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Yes! I mean, itâs confusing if there is no bell and the visual countdown has begun (given Lauren doesnât have a hearing issue, and is used to being able to hear the bell). She might have thought the display was off. And she knew the rules better than the officials!
@pompeiii ITAâbeing told yes and then no would throw me off far more than being told no from the get-go (not that Iâm comparing my nerves of Jell-O to Harryâs nerves of steel).
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Agree with all of this. And even nerves of steel wonât help you when youâre frustrated and (probably) angry about the warmup kerfuffle as it was too late for him to have a different plan by the time things went awry. Had they rescinded his early warmup the night before he could have worked around it. These riders walk XC and think about every possible permutation and contingency for each combination (what if we land longer than expected? what if horse is tiring? what if the slope of the terrain pushes our turn wide? what if? what if? what if?) - I guess now Harry is going to apply that to his dressage warmups!
As for Lauren, you could see the jumbotron countdown in the dressage live stream and there were a few moments where it was started despite no bell rung, and then re-started after the bell. Having seen that, I would also have had my doubts re: trusting the jumbotron timer in SJ too. So frustrating for her, and it seems insane that the people in charge of enforcing the rulebook donât know the rules theyâre supposedly enforcing.
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Per the Horse and Hound article, it doesnât sound like âyesâ was changed to ânoâ by whoever the official was who granted the exception and gave permission for Harry to warm-up inside the boards early. (TD? President of ground jury?) What we do seem to know is that when Harry went to execute his warm-up as agreed, someone objected. By the time it was sorted out, the window for executing the warm-up in the boards early had closed. The person who caused the issue could have been another competitor, or it could have been a volunteer or event staff person at the dressage warm-up who didnât get the memo.
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I was there on Friday, and they did that multiple times.(ringing the start bell as the rider entered the arena)⊠HOWEVER, many times the riders were just walking or trotting over when the test before them was over⊠they werenât even near the arena yet. Maybe the judges were just annoyed that the riders werenât ready to go after the test before them ended. Of course, I donât know how the stewards were sending riders over, so maybe it wasnât their fault.
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they mustâve had 2 booths because last year Fair Hill was right along the stadium as i spent quite a bundle there as did a friend of mine. They were near the VIP tent. This year, Fair Hill was right past the entrance along with several other vendors including a couple of bar carts, which a lot of people seemed to enjoy getting a welcome cocktail on their way in. Fair Hill seemed to have a good crowd anytime a I walked by there
He is a professional, a horseman and a gentleman. He will take the ups and downs in his stride. He has said before how much he enjoys competing in the States and I think he will be back, if he has a suitable horse, next year.
ETA all his Facebook posts are about how brilliant the horse is and what a fantastic record the horse has, jumping clear and clean.
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I was there. The bell was actually quite loud and quite a bit after they entered the ring. In fact they were waiting for the riders to acknowledge/salute the judge before they even rung it. Itâs hard to believe she wouldnât have heard it.
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I heard it more clearly for others than I did for her, but agree that it was rung. I was in the stands by the USEA jump. I just think they could have rung it again when they clearly saw that she didnât hear it.
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There is a thread of multiple people on FB saying they didnât hear it, and they were in various areas around the ring. A handful said they heard it.
It was clear she was confused and didnât know what was happening. The clock did start twice I believe also.
I canât imagine any rider complaining about her time faults being removed, however people always surprise.
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The thing that really chaps my hide about Laurenâs situation is the many ways in which it is IMO most definitely NOT in the spirit of fair sport. Primarily because the test in this case is one of stadium jumping. Itâs NOT a test of whether you can hear a bell.
The competitor was there, on time, clearly indicating she was prepared to go. She shouldnât be penalized because she didnât hear the bell. She indicated she was confused with gestures and repeated salutes. Why in the world didnât an official respond to her and clarify? Even if they (weirdly) thought no one could ring the sacred bell again, surely she could be gestured or told to start? Because yes, you have to start on time. And she WAS ready, but unclear if the officials were ready for her. It would hardly be âcoachingâ or unfair advantage by an official, simply being told to start oneâs round.
And there was talk by the commentators that maybe sheâd crossed the start line. And reports here and other social media that the timer had sometimes been wrong, so she could reasonably doubt what was on the jumbotron.
With Laurenâs absurd penalty, Harryâs mixed rulings, and the reports from dressage day of the bell ringing even before a finishing rider had left the ring (!) â what in the world? Seriously. This is supposed to be a competition at the highest level of the sport, not a wishy-washy clusterf*ck of people who donât know the rules or even have a sense of fair play. Because changing a judgement at the last minute (Harry) or failing to respond to a competitor ready to go but needing clarification of when to start is not fair play. For me, it is deeply troubling.
Again, imo.
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Also this is an issue with the officials and not the event specifically, and there are relatively few officials at this level-- so itâs likely heâll encounter them somewhere else anyway. Same goes for the dressage judges and sj judge/ground jury.
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They were pretty busy every day we were there (Fri/Sat/Sun). We spent a lot of $$ in there 
and then we went to the main store after XC was over 
very impressed with them.
My cat likes the bags they were giving out tooâŠ
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I agree with you about Lauren. To be honest, it looked like many riders were confused about where the judges actually were as they entered and didnât know who to salute to. (Thatâs just my impression of how they were looking around and some appeared to be saluting in several different directions.)
As for H.M time in the box⊠I canât see how allowing him to go at a different time, wouldnât screw up someone elseâs time in the box. Sounds like someone complained about him doing that- which makes sense if him being allowed in at a âwrongâ time messed with their plans to be in the box. I think we would need to learn more about the complaint before we pass judgement on this one.
As for dressage bells, I never heard them ringing the next rider start bell before the finish of the previous rider. I watched a lot of the tests on Friday, but I did hear them ringing right as the next rider came into the arena, not leaving enough time to go around the ring.
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Went Saturday with non-horsey DH and thought it was definitely an improved spectator experience over last year. I was also very pleased with the condition of the porta-potties! 
DH is not interested in horses but was quite pleased with the abundant and uninterrupted supply of drinking opportunities. We both got some Christmas shopping done and I was thrilled that we did not see any thrills and spills. I do not want to see anyone hurt and I debated going on xc day at all for that reason.
10/10 will return next year
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He was going to go during a planned 10 minute break, thus not interfering with anyone elseâs warmup time.
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Harry was second in the order of go for the 5* dressage day 2 so I presume the break he planned to warm up during would have been the long/lunch break between 3* and 5*. Makes we WONDER if he went to the warm-up and someone who needed to be there to supervise wasnât in place <â please note, totally a GUESS on my part but something that seems very possible.
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