Best Rides and worst rides...your thoughts

[Colorado_Eventer]

I didn’t get to watch every ride, but I’d love to hear everyones thougths on who gave/got the best and worst/most interesting ride…no snarky comments, just would love all your feedback…

My thoughts (again, disclaimer, as I didn’t see everyone go):

Good Rides:

Caroline Powell and Mary King, looked like they gave solid rides, lots of encouraging pats and forward motion.

Bad/Interesting

I don’t have a bad ride, since I didn’t see everyone, but there was a guy in a BRIGHT yellow shirt who went over the last fence one handed and cheering, I applaud his enthusiasm, but I found myself yelling at the screen, wait till your horse atleast hits the ground before you start the celebration…

[BLBGP]

I loved the German on the grey horse. Is he the one leading now? He looks so amazingly smooth.

As for bad rides…well, the overall ride was good, but I have no idea how William Fox Pitt’s horse made it over that last fence. He deserves lots and lots of carrots!!

The Americans seemed to have a hard time with the brush fences at the end. Perhaps they didn’t walk it correctly?

[Ibex]

Yup, it’s the German doctor who is leading, followed by Klimke. We have an ammy in front!

[Gindarkh]

That was awesome to watch. Still can’t believe I just watched the Olympic XC live…

The Germans looked like they were giving a Master Class. Great rides on gorgeous horses. The Aussies ride by the seat of their pants but WOW they can fly. Mary King was cool as a cucumber and rode superbly in the pouring rain. I was so disappointed that they didn’t show more of Gina and Mac, what I did see they looked great.

I did like some of the underdogs though ! The Russian horse that was so incredibly kind to his rider ( the one who almost rode him into the tent ). What a sweet horse. And I liked some of the Polish horses too.

As far as sad riders, I am sure Becky is kicking herself right now. Just one tug too many and Comet said, “OK, MOM, I’ll slow down for you…” But again, they showed so little of her ride it is impossible to say how it was going before that.

[3phase]

A fairly successful x-country day!
I would say some of the worst rides were: Andrew Nicholson, Amy Tryon, and Becky Holder…definitely looked like all 3 were rider errors (Andrew should’ve opted for the option.)

Best rides: Shane Rose, Mary King, and Hinrich Romeike…there were lots of good rounds though!!!
My only disappointment is that the coverage for the Canadian riders wasn’t that great!!

Can’t wait for 2012!!!

[RAyers]

Great rides:

Mark Todd
Lucinda Fredericks
Pawel Sipsak

They set the bar for everybody else.

Bad rides:

AT

[snoopy]

andrew should have not presented to the second brush…he should have gone the long route but I must admit that his position after the first would have made it difficult to go the long route without crossing his tracks on the approach to the second brush.

His horse is not a talented horse with his knees…never has been. It is a great credit to andrew that he has achieved what he has with this horse. I remember him as a baby when Owen Moore started him and he has not improved his jumping style from then.

[TexasTB]

I regard William Fox-Pitt as one of the best riders xc in the world, however today I do not think he gave his horse as good of a ride as he could have. Parkmore Ed definitely saved him at the final combination, and he just didn’t ride the last fence at all- had his horse taken the spot (or lack thereof) that he was riding too, it would have easily resulted in horse fall. I seem to remember a couple other rough patches on course for him, after seeing so many rides though they’re all running together in my head.

OTOH Mary King rode brilliantly today. She’s always been an effective XC rider, even if shes a little lacking in aesthetic style (i.e. long reins, way behind the motion over the majority of the fences). However she was right with her horse today, and gave him such a positive ride (not that thats anything unusual for her!) It’s always so great to see her joy after her rides, you can tell she just adores her horse and really takes nothing for granted. I’ll be rooting for her for and individual medal.

Gina Miles also had a great ride I thought. I was worried how her horse would cope, being much larger and heavier on a course that really was designed for a lighter, more catlike type of animal. That’s a lot of horse to balance and shorten up, and I think she did a great job, not to mention coming home with one of the better times of the day. She’s definitely earned her to be right up there with the rest of them, and the podium is only within striking distance…

[snoopy]

Mary adopted this style of riding with Solly…I do not know why as he was forward and did not look to think about stopping.

[RubysMom]

What happened with the NZ guy Joe Meyer and Snip…he was one angry dude after his ride. I heard him cursing and saw him shove a person away that touched his shoulder post ride and the cameras cut away real fast after he said the “f” word. :eek:

He did get time penalties, (but didn’t everyone else?), but his ride seemed clean otherwise and I couldn’t understand why he seemed to be so angry.

I enjoyed how some of the riders had these maniacal grins on their faces after the last jump, you could tell they were on a total high after going xc.

It was a pleasure to watch ALL the eventing and I agree that the German guy and Ingrid really earned their 1 and 2 standings with their beautiful rides. <sigh> They make it look SO easy. :yes:

[poltroon]

I really only got snippets of various rides, but I thought Tina Cook was lovely also. I still remember her picturebook rides (as Tina Gifford) on General Jock around Badminton.

[PaddyUK]

Absolutely cracking ride by Mary King.

Team GB in 3rd place and Mary 5th so it’s a very happy household here is morning!

Will be nail bitting showjumping this afternoon (4 pm our time) as typing this at7.15 am UK time.

Paddy

[3dayeventer1401]

[QUOTE=RubysMom;3431945]
What happened with the NZ guy Joe Meyer and Snip…he was one angry dude after his ride. I heard him cursing and saw him shove a person away that touched his shoulder post ride and the cameras cut away real fast after he said the “f” word. :eek:

He did get time penalties, (but didn’t everyone else?), but his ride seemed clean otherwise and I couldn’t understand why he seemed to be so angry.[/QUOTE]

He had a stop somewhere on course… not sure exactly where as they did not show it, but it was early on in the course. Not saying that the fact that he had a stop excuses his behaviour though :no:

I was disappointed with Andrew Nicholson’s ride… he had a couple of close calls during the course and then there was the fall at the end… IMO he was going too fast and trying too hard to beat William Fox-Pitt’s time, and as a result the horse had nothing left in the tank. He should have taken the long route at that fence - he’d still have been one of the quicker rounds.

On the coverage that we got in NZ (Live, with Mike Tucker and someone else, Ian Stark I think, commentating) they said that William Fox-Pitt ‘would like to apologize to Great Britain and the rest of the world for making a mess of the last fence’

I thought the best rounds were:

Heinrich Romeike
Lucinda Fredericks
Mark Todd (to me it seemed like he rode exactly to the capabilities of his horse)
Mary King
Caroline Powell
Ingrid Klimke
Shane Rose

[TexasTB]

would Joe Meyer be the same Australian rider who on the live coverage of Badminton this year, could be seen beating the ground with his whip and throwing a temper tantrum after is XC ride where he had a refusal? I think someone needs an attitude adjustment… :eek:

Some other entertaining moments:

After Susanna Bordone’s ride, she dismounted her horse while he was walking and just completely collapsed, rolling on to her back. I had to LOL because I’ve totally been there before after a few of my rides in jockey stirrups

Also, the horse that reared up in the start box, then jumped will all 4 feet of the ground as he left out on course. Thats one way to make an entrance!!

[belambi]

ERRR NO… he is a Kiwi…nzer

[TuxWink]

live observations…

I was lucky enough to see the cross country LIVE this morning in HK. It was difficult to see everything but here are my observations…

I believe the guy in the bright yellow was Andre Paro from Brazil. I could just see part of the jump and the landing from where I was standing. It looked like he was falling off over the top of the jump, but I realized he was just patting his horse when I saw the landing. :0

Ingrid Klimke and Hinrich Romeike looked wonderful. I saw Klimke go through fences 3-7 and she and her horse looked so smooth and wonderful. Romeike and Marius were magnificent. I saw them go over 15 and 16 as well as a stretch of galloping. They were so fast and smooth, even my husband commented on how beautiful they looked.

Mary King’s ride was gorgeous. It was pouring down rain and they were listing all of her accomplishments as she cruised around. The last rider behind her got eliminated so she was the only one out there. As she finished, they announced she was grinning ear to ear…and then crying as she patted her horse.

The Australians just kicked on! My husband observed that when you come from a country that has so many deadly animals, an Olympic cross country course seems pretty tame! I did see Headley Britannca through fences 3-7 and she was pulling and very hot…not a smooth ride but very, very eager to GO.

Gina Miles and McKinlaigh were highlights for me, and they made it look smooth and easy.

I’m looking forward to watching some complete rides online so I can fill in the gaps of what I couldn’t see (which was a lot) - but the feeling of being there live and SO CLOSE was really amazing.

[DawnT]

Three cheers for the Russians horse! What a wonderful animal to try so hard all the way around. I was delighted to watch XC live, I do wish my computer hooked up to a tv screen tho. :lol: I think Poggio would have benefited from the T & S portion. He was a bit too full of himself to listen to Amy. I thought Karen’s horse did terrific for being so young and inexperienced at that level. What a great way to spend the evening.

[Thomas_1]

Mary King … of course. A superb ride and a fantastic demonstration of a forward confident competitive riding partnership

I actually thought the whole of Team GB played a fantastic part in contributing to Team effort too. (of course I’m probably biased on that one!)

Gina Miles … On a horse that isn’t my sort at all for eventing and definitely not what I’d consider to be a cross country phase horse. A great big thing that isn’t athletic and is a bit one paced but by gosh he covered the ground well and was jumped very efficiently and effectively.

Mark Todd because as always he gave a fantastic master class in how to get a horse round a cross country course

Bad rides: Amy Tryon - Fought and pulled and yanked and heaved and took a couple of serious risks right from the off and then paid the price when the horse caught a knee. IMO dreadful irresponsible riding and appalling team contribution!

Andrew Nicholson - A rider I normally like. A horse I’ve always liked that worked his socks off but didn’t deserve to be pushed too hard at the end. Andrew was so concentrating on time he so poorly presented at the fence the horse didn’t know what he was supposed to do and so tried to climb over it and the inevitable happened. He didn’t deserve that on what is most likely going to be his last event before retiring.

[TuxWink]

Photos from today…

I’m editing and uploading as we speak. While I took many of the dressage photos, my husband gets the credit for all of the cross country photos:

http://amyswantonmills.blogspot.com/

[pwynnnorman]

IMO he was going too fast and trying too hard to beat William Fox-Pitt’s time

Oh, come now! I’m saying this partly in jest – As maybe you did? It’s a cute/sly observation :yes: – but geez, why inject the soap opera into his motivations?