From the live comments:25 a.m. Cooley Rorkes Drift jumped himself into the open oxer at the Eclipse Water, and Jonty hops off to help the horse out. What looked scary for a moment was quickly resolved. Both walking away looking OK.
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How awful for him 
GJ statement.
http://www.badminton-horse.co.uk/bad…liver-townend/
He was waving his whip a lot, not always making contact.
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Lets be serious, he whipped that horse all the way home.
happy to hear they will be keeping a close eye.
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Er no, seriously.
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Seriously what? I think you have rose coloured glasses on. And what the officials were wrong too?
Watch it again. He was waving the whip alongside his horse’s shoulder a lot, just as a jockey does.
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I’m not new, I can tell the difference between waving a whip and smacking a horse over and over. There was a whole lot of both going on. Gunna see less whipping at the Kentucky derby…
Temperature and footing differences aside, does anyone have the length of the Badminton course (and the max time) handy? I would assume it’s longer than the one we saw last weekend because it sounds like the Kentucky course was short for a 4*.
Wish XC at Badminton had gone a little more smoothly. It sounds like there were some hairy moments - and of course, a tragedy to hear that a horse has been euthanized as a result of injury.
Poor Jonty, it was terrifying for him there for a minute when he realized how stuck Art was, with his front end between the rails! Thank goodness Art was so sensible and realized how stuck he was and just stood there, waiting for someone to help him out! Jonty and his team have posted on FB that Art is feeling fine tonight and all is well.
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Speed: 570m/min
Optimum Time: 11 min 49 seconds
Official length: 6740 metres
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Anyone know why WFP had to retire on XC?
Run out on third element of Huntsmans Close, fence 6C. Big log with attached stump on right and set on what looked like a somewhat steep angle Seemed like it rode well early and then accounted for about a half dozen run-outs to the left in the middle of the day. WFP jumped one more after that and then raised his hand.
ETA: I think it was one of those “early run-out, save the horse for another day” situations though I haven’t seen anything to confirm or deny that.
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Thanks for the info. That early on the course. It does sound like an “it’s just not his day” situation.
Jonty was so frantic for a moment he tried to knock the fence down with his shoulder to free the horse. Be still my heart.
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I wasn’t able to watch today - everyone ok? what happened to Jonty?
The horse ended up straddling the front rail of an oxer. It does not seem that he was hurt.
Thank god. I just love that pair.
Everything through final horse inspection apart from a clearly lame Nereo
they just announced that Nero was retiring permanently!
