Who’s the current female commentator? I missed the intro when Tina Cook stepped out.
They took Ros’s flag away!
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I agree, Rosalent was overbent and short-necked in canter and I wish it were penalised more.
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Nicola Wilson
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But not a single hold today.
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I believe there was one very short hold to reset the frangible pins.
Right. Forget that.
That’s why they use them! It could have been a nasty fall if that jump was solid. I’m very glad the whole thing just fell down.
Two things: Harry Meade blows my mind. His and his team’s concept of a horse’s fitness seems galaxies away from many of his competitors. Though I’m paraphrasing, he said that all the human interference, the changes in galloping speed and rhythm, tire the horse and that the pace, as much as possible, should stay at the horse’s resting heart rate. As someone who used to do extremely slow full-length triathlons, I have experienced much time it takes to train for that kind of conditioning and to get it to something close to a peak in the same week as a competition. He did it with four horses in two countries, two weeks apart. I want to give him some kind of global horsemanship award for that alone.
The other thing: I cracked up at Tina Cook’s post-competition blithe refusal to be drawn in to the other announcer’s – not one I recognized right off, apparently, he’s normally a race announcer – attempts to make the current flag rules into some drama.
Yes, they currently feel a little dumb, and no one likes uncertainty. Cook wants to keep her job, though, dude, so she’s not going to take up arms against the freaking FEI. Even Ros Canter, who had a temporary penalty, seemed resigned to the weirdness around the current flag-no-flag part of the game.
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This! It is a feat that more folks should recognize. I’m in awe of his conditioning program.
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I’m watching Meade and Superstition right now. The way he and the horse come into balance and measure the jumps from like 15 to 50 yards away is palpable and kind of the opposite of the Gallop Then Take a Pull Jump Then Race Away method commentators blather on about.
n.b. Please take everything I say about jumping with a handful of salt. Though I ride a semblance of dressage up to five times a week, I haven’t jumped across the country since 2014.
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@sami-joe You might not be jumping xc any more but you have the eye to see and understand excellence. Fan girl here: Harry is my hero! Any horse he rides, he is always in balance and his horses look happy in their work. He invariably says a polite thank you to the fence judges around the course, sometimes even as he is jumping the fence - which always makes me grin. I’m waiting for him to win a 5* and it’s going to happen soon.
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Aw, shucks.
I looked for what he said, and he described his technique perfectly. Harry’s only been on my radar for a couple of years, though I’m old enough to have seen his father at the Mexico City and Munich Olympics if USA television ever aired any part of the three-day event.
Now that I’ve clocked Harry’s x-c secret sauce, I’ll watch his stadium trips tomorrow that much more carefully.
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Ballaghmor Class withdrawn from holding box at the final inspection
Cooley Rosalent passed upon reinspection, after going to holding box.
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several to the holding box
Breaking boy
MasterClass
Game Changer
Feloupe
also now Rehy Revelation
Rehy DJ not presented. That’s disappointing.
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Yay Salty!!!
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Ros first, finishing on her dressage score
Harry fourth, on his dressage score (that after finishing the only two horses to complete XC without jump or time penalty in Kentucky)
Austin only 0.4 added to his dressage score, finishing in 3rd
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So happy for Ros!!! With the way her record is going, she might need to try for the grand slam!
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