The horse Shanghai Joe, does anyone know if he is alright? Apparently he was galloping back to the stable and had a crash.
Whether or not you believe climate change is real, I don’t think the climate or footing has changed significantly enough since the days when US eventing was more competitive on the world stage to account for the current general lack of competitiveness of US riders/riding when they go off to Badminton and Burghley (and WEG and Olympics). And then you consider that two of “our” best did not come up through the ranks in our “system”.
I have a thought floating around in my brain that I am not sure how well I can articulate, but basically I think our riders are between a rock and a hard place - retiring early doesn’t hurt you, your horse, or your career (much), but “we” are not at all forgiving of going all out for it and then making a bad mistake/poor decision (unless maybe you are Boyd or PD). The British culture seems much more tolerant of the “git 'er dun” approach as evidenced by the commentators and more than a few of the riders.
There were also a ton of falls today that looked scary enough to have possibly ended much worse than they did. If that many falls had happened at Rolex, there would be huge outcries from a number of contingents including the eventing community and the animal rights people. Fortunately Derek DiGrazia seems so far to be perfecting the art of designing a 4* course that separates the competitors without literally knocking them down.
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It takes a helluva of a lot of time to condition a horse properly. I’m assuming most of the top riders have working students to do the job. I’m also betting Elisha Wallace doesn’t.
You should read Micklem’s current series on fitness on EN. Seems particularly appropriate today. How many of you and your horses can continuously trot for five miles without a gait change?
I think the nasty footing made the course much worse that it would have been otherwise. Horses were slipping and sliding out there–all horses. On the Badminton feed both all of the commentators seemed to think that the grass had been cut too short, and the watering last night might have made it worse.
Andrew Nicholson did a masterful job–well, he always does-- going last after the turf had been chewed up by so many horses before him. That surely affected his time.
Tim Price’s ride was amazing. Tomorrow is going to be a nailbiter. If Klimke and Nicholson have ANY weakness, it’s SJ. Jung has none.
As to the course, remember that Guiseppe Della Chiesa’s first Badminton was carnage and his second year was easy. I think Eric Winter has learned a lot today.
Other things: I hate Mick Tucker’s voice, and he’s too loud, Harry Meade talks to0 fast and has a sharp voice. Zara Tindall and Ian Stark have lovely voices–rather deep, soft around the edges, and nice volume; I could listen to them all day.
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You’re not discussing it, you’re trying to rally a mob. Discussing it is “she should have pulled up, I bet she’s going to get carded, i wonder why she didn’t, I bet she won’t do that again”.
Obsessing over how much a rider who has fallen off makes a fuss over her horse immediately after the fall is drama for the sake of drama and has no bearing on what kind of horseman they are. Judging people based on that is like judging someone for not patting or vocally praising their horse after a good fence.
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Re: The sponsors, shouldn’t be a concern. Imagine how bad this will look for a sponsor, finish at all costs? I can see where a team scene might be a bit more difficult decision, but the horse should still come first.
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I think it depends on who you know in the US and where they are located. I’m in West Grove Pa. Most hack out here A LOT. Walking/trotting up and down hills. With good places to gallop. Which is why you throw a rock in this area and hit a 4* rider. As well as a lot of race people (timber) are based here.
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Take your own advice and stop obsessing over my posts thanks. The only drama I’m seeing is coming from you.
sharing my concerns is hardly rallying a mob.
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Probably true in who you know. It did appear the US horses were not fit enough however.
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I do not know and I sincerely hope Shanghai Joe is alright, but I must admit I was highly entertained seeing him gallop loose across the field with Badminton house in the background.
I was very critical last year of that dreadful Vicarage monstrosity. Am I right in thinking there were 10-11 falls there, which ended up being about 10% of the field? This year, 111 starters!! Falls everywhere. From the second to the last. I saw several horrid falls at the water with all the tree stumps, Falls of horse and riders. This will do nothing to improve Badminton’s prestige. They need to have a serious look at what they are trying to achieve.
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Elisa Wallace made a bad decision in a high pressure situation, and it ended poorly but not nearly as badly as it could have. She probably should get a yellow card, or at least a warning. Hopefully she learned from the experience.
I’m glad so many of the people on here have never made a poor horsemanship decision. Your horses are extremely lucky.
I’d like to say I’m in that group, but that would be a lie. I can say that I have tried to learn from the mistakes I’ve made, at least.
Re: Amy Tryon, the actual punishment from the Powers That Be may not have been as severe as it could have been, but anyone that thinks she was treated with kid gloves clearly didn’t read the COTH boards in 2007.
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we saw a lot of tired horses on that course. Not just two US horses. We didn’t see how Donner looked and the 4th US horse didn’t get far enough to tell. To me that is not enough to say the US riders do not know how to condition their horses.
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I haven’t gotten that feeling from Jealoushe’s posts. I was not impressed with the way she handled the situation, either, and I do think it reflects on her horsemanship. How you handle things when the chips are down is perhaps more important than how you handle them when it’s all going gravy.
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I think Amy Tryon deserved everything she got and then more. But the aftermath probably contributed to her death.
I thought there were only 83 starters at Badminton this year. 49 got around. I wonder how that compares to the regular % of starters and finishers there?
The cream definitely rose to the top today.
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This would definitely be a great stat to look at.
I’m not saying that at all. I don’t know why criticizing a riders decision always turns into being accused of a witch hunt. It’s nothing of the sort.
I definitely made a decision I regretted dearly with my horse years ago. I blogged about the experience because it was terrible for me and I wanted others to learn from it. No one is saying they are better than anyone. But that behaviour is not really acceptable and neither was the choice to push a tired horse. It was dangerous and resulted in a fall. Had the horse or her been injured or killed this discussion would be a lot worse.
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They looked tired at Rolex too… a lot of them. Maybe it’s a one off.
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Yes, Elisa made a mistake and should absolutely have retired. That was not fair to her horse at all and I’m sure she now realizes that. My question is, WHERE WAS THE GROUND JURY? Did they not see this happening? I was watching the FEI stream and it was painfully obvious the horse was struggling. There was also blood on one of the French horses and he was not pulled up. Riders make bad decisions, we all do. But the ground jury needs to correct for these mistakes in judgement and execute some initiative to protect the horses.
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I think the interview was already linked, but Lauren Kieffer in her post Veronica ride interview talked about how even when horses were going strongly and boldly and well, they were NOT rewarded on this course. That is very much NOT GOOD, I think.
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I would expect that in the hot muggy weather they had at Rolex…but I disagree that there were more tired Rolex horses. I remember a couple but not enough to make me question some fundamental lacking of skill in conditioning horses in the US.
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