Authentic stopped??? Wow! That is something I never expected! Do you think he misunderstood Beezie’s half halt or do you think he meant to run out? I am in shock! While I have never liked Authentic’s style, he has always gotten the job done. And I am a huge Beezie fan.
From my comfy chair, it looked like he fought her in the turn and propped, which made them lose the distance very close to a huge combination. It then looked like Beezie’s decision not to risk it without any impulsion. I could most definitely be wrong, though…I’m not the one out there!
I guess we’ll know more when COTH interviews Beezie or GM.
Melanie said he was shaking his head as though he had something in his ear. He was holding one to the side after the line.
He definitely had his mind on something else than the jump. His ears were covered, I wonder if something flew up his nose. How unfortunate.
Why is it that every single time an announcer starts saying how perfect or reliable a horse is something bad happens?
He was absolutely shaking his head, again in the line before they took the rail. Something was getting to him - he just never even locked on to that first fence.
From my point of view, Lessonlady, Authentic didn’t even focus on the fence because he was shaking his head. Beezie ended up next to the left standard in total surprise and circled quickly to jump it. Maybe an ear plug shook loose under his bonnet? Just a wild guess on my past. It was extremely unfortunate.
From Beezie’s blog:
I wish I could say exactly what happened with Authentic. John and I aren’t totally sure. Just before the triple, he started shaking his head violently and moving his ear as if he had water in it or something. He was completely distracted, and since he was shaking his head so much, I had no control at all. He had no idea that triple was coming up until he was almost on top of the jump standard, and then he ducked out of the way. We circled and jumped through the triple, but he was still shaking his head pretty badly throughout. He has shaken his head like that before, but never so that it’s affected his performance. He is such a great horse and he has come through so often for me. We couldn’t love him more – these kind of things have to be expected once in a while.
Authentic seems to be fine now. I’ll take him out in the morning, make sure everything’s okay, and then ride him again in the evening as usual since we’re competing late in the evening.
Lori beat me to it, but he was so obviously irritated by something and shaking his head hard.
No doubt he’ll come back and be spectacular.
It’s weird, his type is not usually one I like, but I have adored this horse from the first moment I ever saw him. There is just something about him that makes me swoon. I love him! And I felt so bad for the two today, but know they’ll rise above.
Authentic isn’t perfect, no horse is-- but he’s dammed good and one thing I have NEVER seen/heard of him doing is refusing. Whatever it was that was distracting him had to have distracted him enough that he just didn’t have any idea where he was going. I hope they’re able to figure out what happened, because that is just unlike him! What a shame.
Bummer. I love Authentic. Hopefully if just a bad bug or something, he will be perfectly fine for the rest. I always remember him on the broadcast of the WEG highlights, in the rider switch-off, when the other woman gave him LEG and he reacted accordingly. The announcer said, “I don’t think she’s used to riding a horse as responsive as Authentic is.” But he left the fence up, even then.
I seem to remember a dressage horse years and years ago (Ideaal?) who suddenly went into a head tossing, shaking, snorting, weird breathing fit at a major competition during his test, and his rider had to retire and undo the noseband. He had had had a bug fly up his nose. Soon as it was gone, he was fine. The weirdest things can happen if you follow horses long enough.
Better luck next round, Beezie and Authentic.
Okay a little off topic, but that tail of his makes me paranoid! I swear everytime he jumps it looks like his tail is about to knock down a rail. :winkgrin: I just want to chop it off, lol.
Terribly bad luck. Just shows anything can happen. Beezie looked the part though.
Just wanted to say how nicely turned out some of the horses and teams are. Old Pony Club DC here - I know jumpers don’t usually braid, but this is the Olympics. Beautifully braided horses, hair in hair nets and helmets properly fitted with the harnesses done up securely. Some are exactly the opposite!!
They will come back and do awesome.
Some might come from countries where their Pony Club doesn’t teach the same protocol. 
My thought was that his ear plug came out and was rattling around inside his ear net. He was so distracted by it that he didn’t even engage the fence at all. Wasn’t even on his radar screen.
I loved the NBC commentator who said that “just when you think that a horse is as automatic as a machine, something happens to remind you that they are only human…er, um, equine…uh, whatever.”
I thought an ear plug or cotton issue, too. And then my husband noticed that Authentic wasn’t wearing his bonnet for the final round, which also seems to suggest that there was some sort of bonnet-related issue with the stop. It sure was shocking, but I’m glad it didn’t ruin the US’s chances.
Someone at work asked me why they had those funny things on their ears! I told her and also said he probably had some type of ear plug under that! That makes more sense to me that it had come out and was rattling round! But then why not use it yesterday! 
No matter what I love he and Beezie! (but Judgement is my favorite horse, maybe 2nd to Sapphire!):yes:
From Beezie’s blog about why they left off the fly bonnet
From Beezie’s most recent blog post:
“On another note, I’ve been asked about Authentic’s ear issue from yesterday and about our decision not to put the bonnet on today. In trying to figure out what happened, it occurred to us that he may have been sweating a lot under the bonnet and some may have dripped into his ear. It’s humid here and actually pretty comfortable, but when moving around, it’s easy to get very sweaty so that is our theory. We went without the bonnet knowing it’s not buggy here so he would be comfortable going without it.”
Sounds like he doesn’t use earplugs. And their reasoning makes sense to me, I could see a drop of sweat being annoying running down his ear canal. Anyway, it sure seems to have worked taking it off for the team finals, Authentic and the rest were awesome!
It wasn’t exactly a refusal, it was like he turned himself right into the standard - no steering (NOT Beezie’s fault). He just wasn’t paying attention to where he was going - apparently because he had something in his ears?
[QUOTE=Eclectic Horseman;3452101]
My thought was that his ear plug came out and was rattling around inside his ear net. He was so distracted by it that he didn’t even engage the fence at all. Wasn’t even on his radar screen.
I loved the NBC commentator who said that “just when you think that a horse is as automatic as a machine, something happens to remind you that they are only human…er, um, equine…uh, whatever.”[/QUOTE]
DIng Ding we have a winner!
Riding without the fly bonnet in the team finals doesn’t mean he wasn’t wearing earplugs. Plenty of horses wear earplugs without fly bonnets.
