In what way, pray tell?
Super thrilled for Sam. That kid WORKS.How do I know? Used to change his diapers. If anyone has anything negative to say? Take it to PM. I’ll meet you there.
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This question is similar to asking why Richard Spooner and Robinson won with Robinson’s tongue sticking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWnydKovOq8 Is that ridiculous, contrived, and vaudeville, too? Anything that is judged by a human and not by the clock is open to confusion. This particular type of competition is judged on the rider, not on the horse. The bottom line is that’s just how that horse likes to go and it’s not a fault of the rider.
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With a lunge whip? :lol:
I’ve seen Sam in action. (Though not in diapers.) He is a hard worker and a good rider. Congrats again to him!
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Do you make it a habit to come online and mock competitions featuring children in general or just this one? Perhaps your opinion is what is truly ridiculous, contrived, and comic-like?
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[QUOTE=MHM;n10265033]
With a lunge whip? :lol:
{/QUOTE]
If need be, yes. Yes. I can do that. Cant guarantee a clean diaper change, though.
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While I dont think Sam has classic equitation, I actually liked his riding more than the others. He was soft, giving, has an eye like a sniper and obviously knew exactly what he wanted from each question posed by the course. Looks like he could ride a hunter and a jumper equally well and I bet the green ones would respond to him beautifully. There was nothing “posed” about his equitation and I really liked the softness through his lower back (which is so often missing in the eq riders today) and his very giving hands. Frankly, I would rather see hunched shoulders and a soft lower back versus shoulders back with the often accompanied stiff lower back and stiff arms. It was quite obvious that he planned every distance and rode the entire course - a rider who both thinks AND feels.
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He’s already won a lot on both hunters and jumpers. And I believe the gray horse he won the Maclay on was a first-timer in the equitation last year, when they got good ribbons together at multiple finals on the first try. That’s pretty rare. 
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For anyone wondering, Sam just won the Canadian equitation finals at the Royal yesterday.
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@GoodTimes I imagine that’s another first!
While I was only able to see the rounds posted on FB of the different competitors in this year’s Maclay, I’ve seen Sam’s riding on a number of occasions over the course of the year, and I honestly don’t see what all the fuss is about his shoulders. I don’t see any hunching at all (zips on flame suit). He moves with the horse, which is just good riding. As others have said (and of the Maclays I’ve been able to watch from start to finish), usually the most obvious faults of the riders who don’t place are stiff arms and a braced lower leg, versus the opposite.
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Agree with above. Love “eye like a sniper”.
As many judges have said, “I look for the rider who I would want to put on my best green horse if I got injured”.
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I am not even the tiniest bit surprised. Good for him!!
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@MHM @Impractical Horsewoman He did it on a different horse too! I’m not sure if he’s the first Canadian to win both in the same year though. I know Erynn Ballard led the Canadian regional standings the year she won the Maclay, but I don’t recall if she won the final.
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It’s possible the gray horse Waldo lives with his trainer and just meets him at some of the shows, but I don’t know that for a fact. It might have been simpler for him to ride a horse from home instead of bringing Waldo all the way to Toronto right after the Maclay.
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Form should follow function.
I would so much rather see, and reward, a soft, empathetic, precise and disciplined rider with less than textbook position over a rider who is stiff and mannered, but “textbook.”
Sam has a really beautiful, soft feel - a feel that we all should aspire to (and few of us probably actually have).
I have noticed myself that sometimes when I get the softest work from my horse, there’s a corresponding softness in my own body, and that may well be a “flaw.” But the result is what’s important.
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Well yes, I just mentioned it because many riders wouldn’t have been able to pull off wins on two different horses.
I thought you might be describing your continued, tired commentary on anything in this forum given your noted hatred of all things hunter/jumper.
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Why is it that a Canadian can compete in US finals? What region did he qualify through?
US citizens can’t compete in the CET.
Canadians have been allowed to compete in the USEF classes for a long time. He’s the fourth Canadian to win the Maclay final. He could have qualified through his American trainer’s region.
Waldo is a Northrun horse, Sam only rides him when he travels stateside to ride/show for NR. He’s been competing in the Canadian Eq classes this year aboard Houdini. Houdini has sold so he rode another one of Northrun’s horses at the Royal for the Eq as well.
And all of them are very light fleabitten grey geldings, just to make it confusing for you. And Sam’s GP horse is a grey gelding too!
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I don’t mention this to diminish Sam’s accomplishments, but it’s not uncommon for riders who have won multiple equitation finals to have done so on different horses. Just of those in the last 10-15 years or so, Brianne Goutal rode Onira to the USET win and Logan to everything else. Maggie MacAlary rode Chagall to win the Maclay and Mid-Accord to win the Medal in the same year. Hunter Holloway rode Any Given Sunday to top three placings in the Medal and Maclay and then won the Washington on him the next year, which was the same year she rode C’est La Vie to the win in the Maclay, and last year Taylor St. Jacques won the Washington on DiSamorano and the Maclay on Charisma. Those who are lucky enough to be well mounted seem to take advantage of it, which I imagine makes the long finals season more doable on the horses.
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