The frustrating thing about the bell/warm-up issues is the potential impact they can have on growing the event.
It was a small field this year, mainly because of WEG. But if too many riders feel decisions weren’t made in the spirit of the sport, they aren’t going to come back. Harry Meade doesn’t have to ride here. Lauren has horses owned by the title sponsor, and while I doubt this would happen, they could easily walk away…
Given the unfailing ability of horses to damage themselves even when standing still, the glorious uncertainty of the sport, when each competitor needs a rub of the green no matter how well prepared they are… I don’t think confusion about bells and warm ups will stop people from competing at Fair Hill next year. A good course, fantastic going and far more prize money than is available in Europe, riders are going to travel.
That was very brave and kind for Tamie Smith to say that, too, since so many times when people have disability and they’re athletes, they don’t want to draw attention to that fact.
Ironically in Theater Twitter, there was a discussion about a hearing impaired person who was publicly shamed at a show for having a device out (people thought they were bootleg recording; really it was to read close-captioning).
It’s definitely a reminder to be more mindful about this, and I totally agree eventing is a test of many things, but hearing ability should not be one of them.
Harry Meade always seems like such a class act. I hope we see him back.
I feel sorry for Lauren and think it should be retimed based off the video time. But that is just me.
Tamie is HOH? I had no idea.
I think she mentioned it before in a podcast leading up to WEG. Someone needs to tell her the tip about informing the steward and getting a visual cue!
Visual cue should be new standard imo. I have a hard time at events even now, with judges in cars sending them sign language to please let me know when the bell is rung lol
Anyone who knows FEI rules better than me please chime in, but I believe saluting the SJ judge is a requirement by the competitor before the bell is rung? Did Lauren salute and then not hear the bell or did they ring it before she saluted?
Seeing this made my weekend!!! Jarret gave every rider leaving the arena a fist bump and than this with Tim Price. 
In Jealoushe’s screenshots of Lauren’s reply to Jonelle on social media, it sounds like the bell was rung literally as Lauren was entering the arena and due to the roaring crowd as they announced her entrance, she never heard the bell. She saluted twice then saw on the Jumbotron the countdown clock had ended. It sounds like she had never before experienced SJ judges ringing the bell before saluting so it didn’t fully register to look at the clock until it was too late.
I cannot understand why on earth they could not go back and remove the time penalties if even the GJ himself admitted the rule would have allowed for the bell to be rung again. If dressage scores can retroactively be changed hours after the fact because judges reconvene to subjectively discuss why certain movements on a test were scored so drastically different, why can this objective and clearly unfair situation not be made right by the GJ of all people?
To play devil’s advocate:
If competitors know they can pretend not to hear the bell and have their time penalties excused, how long before someone lacking integrity takes advantage of that?
It was pretty obvious Lauren’s situation was honest confusion. But if they did it for her, it would be harder to say no to the next person.
There is a visual cue at big events, the countdown clock. If they rang right as she entered the arena, was she running late? There were a couple of riders who took quite some time to turn up to the showjumping arena, normally they canter past each other at the gate.
As for dressage, same goes. It’s the riders responsibility to be at the arena on our before their their start time. The start time is when the test starts, not when the rider can present to the arena. If the rider is a touch late then yes, the bell is gonna get rung as soon as they are there because if everyone is 30-60 seconds late it’s not long before you’re running behind then riders are complaining because they ride their warm ups to the minute and a 5 minute delay means their horse is now past peak.
Also little tip for a visual cue or even just “was that bell for me” at days when there is several arenas running next to each other, often the judge leaves their hand up with the bell for a few more seconds so you can glance back and check.
Not in the top 10 at the 5* level they don’t. She was not running late and the ground jury rang the bell just as she entered/was announced and as the crowd was roaring. She was patiently waiting for the bell to ring, and by the time she figured out something was off and looked around for the countdown clock, it was out.
Lauren has competed at the biggest events in the world for over a decade. It wasn’t an amateur mistake - it’s clear it was not done correctly by the GJ and they then doubled down to avoid blame.
I understand your point (truly). But penalties aside (as well as the timing of the first bell), what they really should have done was ring the bell a second time when they could clearly see she didn’t hear the first one through her gesturing and confusion. Because it was perfectly legal to ring it a second time. The fact that the GJ of a 5* didn’t know it was legal is inexcusable.
Let them cheat, as Lauren and others have said it’s not in the spirit of the sport for riders to be punished over faulty officials.
Think of the time, energy, money and wasted run on her horses legs for this event. So much lost over the official being wrong! It’s not right. I’m normally understanding rules are rules but surely, they could have easily righted this.
You don’t want riders training their whole lives for the big 5* to have their dreams results dashed over something like this, what’s the point? It makes me think of MJ and that frangible falling strides after the fence. Why enter events and have an amazing ride in three phases for it to be lost over nothing.
Why must the rules be so rigid that common sense can’t prevail.
This I absolutely agree with, but at top level sport, it has to be about rules. I wonder if the Bettina Hoy case was in the GJ’s minds as their freshest memory of what happens with a SJ timing problem.
In this case, I don’t think the rules were followed by the GJ (competitor did not salute prior to bell being rung).
For all the people saying she should have looked at the Jumbotron: I doubt the rules say that the official time is the Jumbotron time. I certainly wouldn’t rely on that as the actual timer.
When I walk my SJ course I try to ask an official where the judge is. It’s often not obvious at all. I prefer to make eye contact if possible.
If you watch top level SJ, they always get their horse in the ring, look at a fence, stop, let their horse poop (for which they put up a hand so that the judge waits to ring the bell) and/or back up before they start. There’s no doubt about hearing the bell.
Honestly, this is such low-hanging fruit for universal design that it’s a bit embarrassing that it’s not already a thing. There’s no reason not to have both auditory and visual cues (a bell and a light, for example) to start dressage and SJ. Something like a red light that is turned off when the bell is rung could be battery powered and would be easily (and cheaply) commercially available so it’s not a burden to organizers.
It benefits not just deaf/HOH riders but also those with auditory processing issues and those dealing with crowd noise or wind and the person whose horse turned into a bronc and couldn’t really listen for a bell while trying to stay alive, etc. Heck, a light on the judge’s stand would make it much easier to locate said judge as well!
Very unfortunate snafu with the bell for Lauren and Patty - I feel for her and the horse’s connections, but I think she has handled the situation quite well. I hate that it happened - the judge not knowing the rule book is never a good look. However, if there’s consolation, it’s that at least Lauren knows where she would have been placed (or close enough) based on how the she and Patty performed in all three phases - and no one can take that away. At the end of the day and in the long term, it’s a blip on their records, and they will likely be back to try again another day.
I’m curious about this as well and googling has not gotten me very far!
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