The one announcer is Ralph Hill who likes to talk about the bridle a lot.
I was wondering why the names of some of the horses referred to above sounded familiar, and then I watched the video of Checkmate. They were trying to qualify for the Barcelona Olympics. I remember that because it was the first year (I believe) that NBC Sports televised the entire Olympic Games live. You had to rent a special receiver to hook onto your TV but then you could watch every single horse in every single event. What a thrill that was. I remember that both Sassy Reason and Adonis were competing. All I can remember about their rounds were that they were on hold for virtually hours because of a bad accident on course, and then there was some sort of huge slide that the horses had to negotiate. I also fell madly in love with one of the German horses, Feine Dame, just a plucky little mare.
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I completely agree. I think getting rid of the long format is what allowed the good riding to outperform those who were riding off pure aggression. You can’t spur, growl, and whip your way through today’s technical questions.
I never competed in the long format (obviously, I will never be that good of a rider or have the desire to tackle higher level courses). I did do some conditioning rides for upper level riders in my youth. Back when they actually hired people instead of relying on a revolving door of working students. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I do remember it was sooooo much work to keep those horses fit. They had them out twice a day, every day, rain or shine. It was hard on the horses. To stick with a sport like that, something needed to deeply motivate you to persist with the grueling schedule besides just a love of horses and riding. I feel like a disproportionate number of the long format riders were motivated for the wrong reasons to be involved with horses: ego, thrill seeking, hyper-competitiveness, a general craziness (a result of TBI?). Those traits allowed some people to be competitive in the long format who may have not had riding skills on par with what we see today.
I’m trying not to paint riders of the past or today with too broad a brush: there were incredible riders and demonstrations of horsemanship then, there are “bad” riders today. But boy oh boy do the videos highlight the shift in culture.
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I don’t know. We’ve probably all seen the Thrills and Spills video, and we see some truly lovely riding–light and technical–there, too. So while there has been a culture shift and there is much less tolerance for the kick and pray riding (both in terms of course design and subjective feedback), we can’t categorically say that this was long format vs. short format. In fact, I would say the shift happened in the mid-90s. I was just starting to ride in 1992, but I was a spectator at the 1996 Games and was a groom just as the shift from the long to short format was happening (2003-2005). I helped my coach condition his horses for the old CCI*** long format. The riding at that point was very different from those videos, the courses already having a lot of chevrons and such. So I don’t think it was the long vs. short format. I think it was a general cultural shift of “we need to do right by the horses” and one of “to win, you have to actually be accurate as well as bold.” The riders got better, so the courses got more technical. To a point, that’s actually a good thing.
Watching the video from the Sydney Games (and I know, the Olympics is a step up from Checkmate in terms of the experience of the entries), you can see the quality of the riding and everything else has improved worlds. And those horses looked every bit as fit or fitter than the horses in some of the CCIs today. I am not saying do or don’t bring back the long format; that is a different discussion. I just think it’s not really the cause of the shift towards better riding or more technical courses or the cause of the quality of the riding one way or another.
It would be interesting to see Kentucky over the years–1992, 1995, 1998 (first year it upgraded IIRC), 2003, and then the two divisions at 2004. And maybe a few since then. They might prove instructional as to how the sport has changed. Also, watching these makes me so grateful to the people who have invested their time and energy into designing and building fences with the technology to give and prevent rotational falls. It has made me so grateful that we are getting better at protecting horses if they are a bit off–for their safety and ours. It has made me grateful for the improvements in vests, tack, footing, and education.
An additional observation–look at stirrup length in these videos. The more experienced and generally stronger teams–Bruce Davidson, Mike Plumb–ride with a shorter stirrup, while a lot of these riders seem to have really long stirrups by today’s standards. Or is that just my imagination?
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They do have super long stirrups, if you watch the video “how to gallop your horse” in the same series, it’s Denny Emerson showing all about how to gallop and he goes on for a very long time how too many riders have their stirrups way too long.
This is actually something I see still at events. I would say 75% of people on course have stirrups way too long at the lower levels. Hardly anyone gets off their horses backs.
But also if you watch BD in the Checkmate video then again later on in the other videos you can see his position change and improve greatly.
One thing to keep in mind is the saddles of that era. You could not feasibly shorten the stirrups much without having your knee hang off of the flap. Those saddles were more “AP” by our modern standards, not much forward flaps out there and many of them were flat with very small pencil roll blocks.
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Good point. I kind of always attributed it to the format switch only because the aggressive types were weeded out in a hurry. I didn’t know enough about the sport to truly understand how it was changing in the mid/late 90s, even though I was immersed in it. I just know there were still too many yeehaw, breakneck riders burning through horses for my tastes.
May I throw in a name? Mark Todd was riding in the 1980s and 1990s, winning everything, with Olympic gold in Los Angeles and Seoul. He was a pioneer of NZ international eventing. His style was utterly distinctive, with a wonderful balance and harmony and he was successful on many different horses, in both eventing and showjumping. When he made his 2008 comeback, after a bet, it was nolonger possible to easily, automatically pick him out running xc because so many riders were riding in a manner similar to his. Just a thought from a lifelong eventing fan who can remember that far back!
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One of the things that was funny to me watching this video was that I just watched BD compete at Morven two weeks ago when I was jump judging. He is 71! But I didn’t take a video so can’t compare how his riding style now compares to the Checkmate video. LOL.
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Another thing that struck me is the athleticism factor. We have always known, but we have in recent years forgotten that “catty” horses make great eventers. This video prompted me to rewatch the Sydney Games, and you can see the quick footed horses correcting themselves easily even in bounces or mid-air or on a stumble. Most of the horses were able to do so. Nowadays I am less sure.
I rode two horses at Training level in the US–the first a lovely mare who was safe as can be XC and super smart. Full TB, athletic, often mistaken for a warmblood, went in a snaffle with easy brakes and plenty of go. The second, also a TB, was the lighter, “cattier” type. Also an easy horse in terms of brakes, plenty of go, way more talent than I ever could need. Both were amazing on the XC, but with the gelding, I knew that if things got hairy, he could get himself out of it and stay on his feet just a bit more easily than the mare. The mare was wonderful and athletic and capable in every respect. The gelding was astonishingly athletic (and now, at 20, is looking every bit as good and better than ever with his current owner and shows no signs of slowing)–one of those freak athletes.
The push for better dressage has caused a shift toward horses more like my mare–very good and plenty athletic in the XC–rather than those horses who can stay on their feet no matter what happens. Both will push to jump the fence even when things are not 100%, both can be amazing XC horses, but one is just that tiny bit more safe because of his athleticism than the other. Sydney had more of the cats. We see fewer of them now. Not a dramatic shift, but a subtle one.
The athleticism of the riders is another factor. In the Checkmate video, watch Bruce through the Orrible Ole, when his horse struggles a bit. He is pitched forward, but he instantly bounces back to the centre of the horse. Watch Mark Todd or Ginny or Karen O or Ingrid and you’ll see that when things are less than perfect, they have the strength to get back to where they need to be to help their horses or at least stay out of the way. Nowadays riders realise this, and I think we see more riders working on their fitness outside of riding. The riders are more athletic. Not everyone will be a natural athlete, but anyone can work at it, and more riders do.
Riders have gotten more athletic in addition to more accurate and schooled. They have become better horsemen. The best in these old videos were already those things–well prepared. That’s also why they are the names we still recognise and remember as the most successful.
Interestingly, in rewatching Sydney, the commentators talked about the friendliness of the course–that horses were able to understand the questions and get out of trouble safely if there were problems. And by and large that was true. The horses and riders were generally able to cope when things got hairy. And now, with the safety of the jumps improved, things could be even better. By studying these videos, statistics from then and now, etc. we can find that happy medium and make our sport safer, more accessible, and more enjoyable for horses, riders, and spectators.
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Great post @Thames_Pirate. I totally agree on the cattiness of the horses today vs. historically.
I watched the 92 Bromont video last night and felt the riding was much better overall. It was a CCI 2 star so bit of an easier course and more straightforward than the checkmate one. But overall, riders looked tighter in the tack and much more stylish. Even riding in the mud and rain, it was much closer to what we’d see today on course. I’m not sure if trying to qualify for Olympics brought out a lot of people to Checkmate that had no business being there?
I’m sure someone knows the answer to this:
Were there MERs in the early 90s? I feel like the answer is no, or if there were, they were minimal.
I forget which combo it was, but in the FH video they mentioned it was one horse’s second event… I think they meant ever??? I may have misinterpreted that comment.
Anyway, my point is I felt like back in the 90s a lot of people rode at the upper levels with no business being there, they were just lucky enough to have a brave horse and a lack of good judgment. That perception may have been totally incorrect, but the videos certainly make it seem like I didn’t just make that up in my head.
So yeah, maybe a lot of people were gunning for the Olympics when they had no business doing so.
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There’s fairly recent video of him riding on one of Buck’s pages (too many social media options to keep track of these days). He’s galloping one of Buck’s top horses in it. No jumping, but you can see his balance and strength. I’d kill to ride one tenth as well as he does today!
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I know he works at it–he has a single lane wide lap pool at his house, for example, which they included so he could stay fit. It was critical to his rehab in 2002.
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There’s a bit of sketchy riding scattered throughout all the videos…I think it like someone mentioned, people there that maybe shouldn’t have been.
One of the funniest bits I saw was one of the YR Trials, and the horse is clearly a saint and jumping amazing and the rider is just pointing at everything and away he goes. She comes to the double corners off a turn but doesn’t get a line and the horse runs past. The rider carries on cantering on a circle comes back does the exact same thing and the announcer starts going on and on about how these kids have no idea what to do and need better coaching because she was just going around and around running out the same way every time 
He also goes on about how a lot of the YRs arent fit enough and is calling them out in the commentary lol
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I finally got around to watching the other two videos and I have to imagine that’s the case. I know it’s a small sample size, but the other videos didn’t have nearly as many falls or make me instinctively cover my eyes as often. There were certainly some questionable rides and fence combinations but I didn’t feel like I was just watching a “thrills and spills” montage.
Thank you for sharing! Where can one find links to all the others you watched?
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Thank you so much. These are really something!
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When you watch the old videos there is a lot more terrain in the questions and more severe terrain. I think about Kentucky and there is really not much for terrain there. The fence combinations are tougher than you see today and the approaches are more interesting. You never see a rider have to jump a fence, break to a walk and then jump again on any of today’s courses. So of course you see more seat of the pants riding because it was required although I prefer to call it more dynamic riding. I’m sure if you took those horses and riders in those videos and put them on today’s courses they would look much prettier.
