I absolutely love Thomas, I do. But what is it about some horses, (like Abraxas, and currently, Tim Price’s horse Vitali,) very good in dressage, and cross country, and total disdain for the poles. I think Vitali was in first at Badminton this year, until show jumping. He dropped a lot of poles, and is sort of notorious for that. Abraxas never did get better. What is it about the poles? Is it because they are more tired after cross country? If I remember correctly, Charisma used to do what I heard called ‘the Braille system’ as he would apparently touch the poles, but not bring them down.
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Horses are individuals. Some distain the coloured poles and just don’t care if they hit them. Some strive their hardest to never touch a jump. Some decide they really don’t want to jump xc but are happy jumping poles. Some love the xc but just find sj boring… Then they have good days and bad days, like anyone else. It is part of the fascination of our unique sport. A horse that is good in all three phases is very unusual. Training a horse to be competent in all three phases is a long, patient road and requires riding skill and good horsemanship. To train multiple horses to run at the highest levels, well those riders’ names are famed around the world
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I don’t know Thomas’ jumping record but I do know it was incredibly hot here this week and horses were tired from it.
And yes the Rolex Arena def has lights! 
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He worked really hard on XC for Boyd, I had a feeling he would have poles unfortunately. He looked wiped at the end of cross.
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thank you for that. I didn’t mean it at all as a critism of Thomas, it just got me to thinking of some of the others who have done that. Why horses like Abraxas and Vitali do that. They were and are tremendous in the first two phases but just hit a lot of rails.
For reference, it was like 97F+ in Lex on Thurs/Fri. I’m not at KHP, but I would think even if they were proactively working on the ground, it was probably still somewhat hard due to the crazy drought we are all in. I can only imagine what it took out of all of the horses (and riders) to run in that heat.
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To me (and I am not an expert on this) it always looked like Thomas was going largely from his heart and was at the top of his scope at advanced. And add to this - he was not an efficient galloper. He didn’t have a huge stride and he could not gallop like a TB along with a TB’s endurance and galloping ability. So he was a lot more tired after cross country than a horse like a very long legged WB that covered more ground or a TB that was bred to gallop. So by show jumping day he was more tired than some of the other horses and maybe did not have that extra scope to get him over the rails.
And the very quality that provides for a clean and fast cross country day -jumping from a flatter trajectory doesn’t always bode well for keeping the jumps up in stadium. If your horse jumps well up and over every cross country jump you are losing seconds every time the horse is in the air. I never could figure out Abraxas - he looked like a good jumper on cross country and he sure galloped like a bat out of hell - but he seemingly did not care how many poles he dropped on the last day.
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Thank you for your words of wisdom.
They illustrate perfectly the fact that:
- Horses are individuals (strengths and weaknesses + the day circumstances…),
- That eventing is indeed a unique discipline which puts these amazing animals into the most demanding position imposed on them by us: excel at ballet dancing, then switch to warrior mode on xc, and finally become genius at precison jumping light mikado sticks!
- I might add that top notch riders such as Tim Price and a couple others don’t give up on their horses, even when all 3 phases don’t always come out perfect every single time.
That is, precisely the spirit of eventing.
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I felt so bad for Tim at Badminton. definitely not rider error.
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thank you for this. I just love Thomas, and am always so disappointed for him when he hits the poles. But I am far away, and can only see what is on tv. I don’t have a good eye, and you seem to really have a grasp of it.
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oh no worries I don’t think he is the best showjumper myself, but I think the reason is that the top level is hard for him. He does it but it seems harder on him than others.
Remember King William was the king of having poles, how many 5*s and champs he lost I can’t even imagine. They are heartbreakers for sure but once in a while it goes right for them.
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Can we take a moment to appreciation Roisin O’Rahilly and Happy Times? BN Amateur Masters Champions on a 26.6. Roisin is 81! A total class act, super generous and lovely human still out there absolutely rocketing it.
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Thanks for mentioning her. I heard Frankie say the oldest person competing clocked in at 81, and if she said O’Rahilly’s name, I missed it.
I live in an area where Hilda Gurney, 80, shows regularly, and I, a comparative teenybopper at 65, often say I want her team of medical experts to help me keep going that long and longer.
While I no longer have a big desire – or a budget – to show, my educated and effective care for horses, mine and others, and maintaining, maybe even, by some miracle, improving my riding skill set really matters to me.
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Hilda Gurney still shows?!?
Holy cow. I think I remember her being on the cover of Practical Horseman at least 40 years ago, if not more. Good for her!!
I would definitely be tempted to ask her for her doctor’s name, that’s for sure.
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Nice win for the 81 year old Irish/American rider!!!
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I was in her division at AECs. Everyone was cheering for her in the most heartfelt way. She’s a total badass and really enjoyed her victory lap!!
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Yup. I see her at every sanctioned show in our county. One of her students comes on the regular to drool over the Oldenburg foals at the barn where I work and keep my horse.
Editing to switch KWPN for Oldenburg because I’m a dork sometimes. Also, warmblood studbooks can be slightly confusing.
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Congratulations on making it to championships. 
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