I’ve always understood the commentary to mean that, in addition to the top $$$ horses being acquired by sponsors, that there needs to be a depth of talent for each top rider such that there are more permutations to choose from who might be successful at a particular venue, time, or level.
Each rider having one horse, unless you have a huge pool of riders to choose from, causes problems in selection.
The pipeline might be more about doing it like Germany/Holland does, to get the results they get. If you get a horse the Europeans already did, you might get to go 
While competing is top of mind for many, the sport’s foundation is still the methodical training system of developing both horse and rider in a partnership. We are constantly reminded of this in magazine articles, books, online clinics, USDF clinics, private lessons, Horse Mastership clinics, talk of the pipeline, etc. When someone purposefully bypasses the widely taught, traditional approach, it’s not surprising that it doesn’t sit well with those who have invested time and money in it. It creates a mixed message about the sport.
Someone asked about Steffen Peters buying Lorenzo. Why would he ? What would be the purpose of him buying a finished, top ranked horse, except to gamble that the horse would improve his chances of competing in an upcoming international show ? Besides winning a medal, what would he have truly accomplished in a sport that encourages and embraces horse/rider training partnerships developed over time ? The best riders, who are in it for the long haul, prefer a horse that they develop themselves,and can put their own signature on.
How many Olympic riders can you name, who have bought a ready made ride ?
It’s not something that makes people happy, but it is what it is. In any of these sports, it’s about who has the money. If it’s money combined with talent and hard work, you see a lot of success. Bloomberg and Springsteen in the jumping world come to mind. I think this happens more in Europe than here.
I’m sure it’s fun to buy the top horses in the world and show them, but it doesn’t seem very satisfying. Akiko could be out there showing Ravel and have a blast. You can tell people who’ve brought the horses up and done the training versus those who bought ready made.
I agree, Equibrit, that an Olympic rider, at least in the US, isn’t one that buys readymade horses. But, look at some of the talent in Europe. There are quite a few riders in their early 20’s competing horses they could not have brought up themselves.
This saddens me somewhat. Dressage used to be more of something where almost anyone with hard work and time could bring up solid horses and do well. Kyra Kyrklund comes to mind. She never had the “best” horses, but they were good, well trained horses and she brought them up over and over. Now it seems there’s just no way to be at the top unless you have a lot of money, which is becoming more important than the talent and hard work.
Uh, what?
The acquisition of Ravel was the direct result of a search for a top horse with Olympic quality for Steffen to ride at the Olympics. Edward Gal produced the horse and he was purchased less than 2 years before the 2008 Olympics.
Where do people get this stuff from? That’s how many riders have found themselves on a team. Rich benefactors and already-produced horses.
soloudinehere–I think Mardi means already made horses who are competing at the top levels, like what CJ is buying. Ravel had the training on him, and he was also not the easiest horse and they had to make some adjustments, like gelding him. There’s a big difference in that, and say, the Spanish girl who had Painted Black bought for her when he was already competing at the highest levels. And Steffen clearly has the background of bringing up horses, as evidenced by Udon from an unbroke three year old to the Olympics.
Actually Olympians developing their horses from the ground up is quite rare these days. Hence the hoopla surrounding Graves and Diddy.
This is more about a rider the OP thinks has not put in enough hard work training/riding horses, to deserve a team place.
Steffen Peters does not qualify. His first GP horse was Udon, whom he rode at the Atlanta Olympics. He was purchased at 3 years old.
An inexperienced rider on a made horse is very unusual at Olympic level.
The only one I can think of is Michelle Gibson.
In Europe young horses are “produced” by specialists and then sold in to BNR yards.
Young horse producers are lacking in the USA.
there is something I would like to add… There seems to be a lot of excitement about somebody buying a made horse and maybe taking spots away from other people… I would not worry about it at all.
If they are a dream team, I think they deserve a spot on the team, if not, they will not get it.
There are so many examples of riders buying amazing horses and never making it. Also don’t forget in Europe riders are usually having a long competitive career already and most of the times coming from horse families. So even if they get a made horse they know how to present it well. I really don’t know anybody in Germany who is an AA and just buys a made horse and gets on the team… So I would think this is difficult in the US as well. I think Lorenzo is an amazing horse, but I think he is maybe not the easiest horse. So if his new owner does well with him good for everybody… I wish them Luck!!!
I feel like the focus on the grass roots training is in order to be able to produce Internationally competitive horses. International competition is the goal. They want a system that produces those horses, but are happy if someone acquires a horse who came from a system like that to compete for the country. Much like being happy for riders who have the training to become citizens in order to do so as well !
What would be considered enough hard work training/rinding horses? I looked at her record and she has been at it for 14 years showing a lot of horses, mostly at FEI. Is this more about the individual rather than someone buying a made horse?
A lot of us AA’s feel the same way about wealthy amateurs and young riders getting fancy made horses to get their medals on. This is a sport for the rich, mostly. I’ve learned to accept it.
It’s about the money. That’s all it is, jealousy.
The rest of us mere mortals will never be able to ride full time and buy top talent and training. That’s reality, and getting upset about it and stamping feet, saying “they didn’t earn it!!!” is fruitless.
The funny thing is I briefly freelanced (one three week show) for an awful awful awful girl who had way way way more money that her Olympic trainer whom everyone knows. And she’s awful. And a monster. And he chooses nice horses for her, and her parents buy them, and guess what? She’s still bloody awful. And not competitive. At all. And the horses come and go, because God hasn’t made one who can tolerate her for long.
I gave the example of Athina earlier. Athina is a good rider. And she works hard literally every single day. Like she’s at the barn riding, and she has very good horses, but not top top horses. Not the pokey ones that I ended up riding and loved, but not the Baloubet type who require a lot of finesse–not that every top horse is nutty by any means. Of course she ended up with Doda’s Olympic horse, and surely she could have been riding him, but it wasn’t a great match, so Alberto Zorzi has been riding him. ETA Zorzi also got one of our horses when she didn’t work for Edwina. He rode for a year, and then Edwina took over. Because Edwina isn’t developing horses much anymore (and not just since she’s pregnant).
Because you can have all the money and access to the best horses and training but if you don’t have something extra, you aren’t going to make it. And, as I also said earlier, a little bit of luck on the right days.
In dressage, more European riders have more sponsors and longer stings of horses to qualify and many, many more events both to develop young horses and for qualification purposes.
It should surprise no one at all that a successful US rider would tap into a well-oiled Euro machine to find horses. And again, these people are not all developing these horses from the ground up. Yes, some are acquired as young horses, but usually already doing young horse classes successfully, but many more are acquired after they are already competing at larger national shows and small tours.
Most upper level riders don’t ride the very young developing horses because it can kill your sensitivity and feel for the advanced horses who require much more refinement. And because they simply don’t have to. There are also many more specialty horse starters in Europe (particularly those linked to stallion stations) than we have in the US, and they are very well regarded and utilized. But like my friend Kris started the dressage horses at Zangersheide for 12 years. And now that he’s in his mid 30s and has a very good reputation, now he’s a rider for a particular owner/dealer. Because starting lots and lots of horses is hard on the body.
This is a common progression, but not everyone is a good horse starter, and generally people who come from money don’t HAVE to do this ie start as a rider for someone else and then go out on their own or move to a show rider position for someone else. Like my rider and my boyfriend actually both started their European careers riding for Jos Lansink before going out on their own. And even then, most riders who go out on their own aren’t buying three or four year olds, they’re generally buying 5-8 year olds. Because the game is sales/competition. You aren’t buying things that will often take years to get in the ring, because it’s a business. You either have to be selling or getting sponsors.
Again, this is where a team like Graves/Diddy is unique, but it was again, a matter of necessity for Graves, she had to do her own work, because she had an actual job that wasn’t riding horses.
It is one year to WEG and three years to Tokyo. That’s the time to buy a horse who is already going. It is certainly not the time to buy an unproven horse.
Most of the horses his sponsors have bought for him to compete in the last decade were trained to GP by other people , including Ravel (trained to GP by Edward Gal and competed at CDI small tour level) and Legolas (trained to GP by Ullrich Kasselmann but not competed), and he hoped to improve them. I think Rosamund is not a winning WEG horse for him, so what he could hope to gain is winning for the USA. Lorenzo is super powerful and tries his guts out but lacks some suppleness; Steffen is a master at supple. I just thought it might be a fantastic combination and I heard a rumor (maybe not true?) that his sponsors are shopping for WEG horse for him.
BTW, LOTS of Olympic riders buy horses trained by other people for lots of reasons. Andiamo was ridden in the Olympics by two different riders. Robert Dover had Kennedy after he was a successful GP horse and did a good job with him. Totilas passed hands; sponsors change trainers; riders want to stay at the level of competition to not lose their edge. Not everyone has a deep string of up and coming horses and competent bereiters to train them to St. George level. Even Isabel Werth took over rides from her bereiter. It’s simply not accurate to think that all Olympic riders make their own horses. Look at all the horses changing hands the year before the Olympics.
I think what some people may take exception to is not the fact that Charlotte bought a top horse but that she then immediately stated her intention to aim for the WEG and be top 10 in the world.
On one hand, at least she’s honest. On the other, I don’t think she’s going to win friends or supporters by boasting in this manner.
one reason why people like Laura and Steffen is that they go quietly about getting their work done. When you look at what they say publicly, you hear them thank their sponsors, coaches, or express gratitude for their horses.
With Charlotte Jorst, it appears to be all about her, not the horses, not the team.
A) that’s marketing. It’s how people are presented not only by themselves, but also by how they are branded and packaged by sport media.
b) they all want the same thing
C) acquiring top horses for top riders absolutely benefits the team
d) this is so silly–not you specifically snickle–just all this veiled contempt? Envy? and handwringing in general.
e) a lot of people have this fantasy about how horse sport works (a la sylvester) that is simply not true.
Any good horse helps the team, but reread my post and see how the way Charlotte discusses herself is very different from some of the other team hopefuls and may help explain why some people don’t like her
There’s this funny thing about the horse industry: some great riders are lovely people, some are jerks. Some shite riders are lovely, some are jerks.
But, again, I think a lot of this goes into what amateurs think that horse sport should be like, versus what it really is.
I also think in this instance part of the issue is the horse went from a very handsome Spanish young man to a wealthy “American” girl.
Not one single rider or buyer or syndicate is buying these horses to not try to qualify for teams/events. Not a single one.
On a local level, a couple of amateurs here just acquired really expensive ($200k or plus) trained international horses with an eye toward the AA CDIs and the US Dressage Finals. One of them is a very competent rider and scored near 70% at PSG this past weekend after only two months of owning the horse; the other one is learning, so dropped down a level or two. I think it’s great for our sport locally, although it does pretty much lock out the amateurs with less flashy horses training them themselves or with local trainers, probably more appropriate horses for most amateurs from winning anything. We have a few professionals with access to that level of sponsorship (which accesses them to that level of training, privately) and that too locks out the other local professionals. But I think it is good for our region to up the bar. It does get tiresome to see the same people winning everything over and over again, but that’s the nature of this sport. OTOH, the only thing that bothers me is when a beginner rider buys a $200k horse in order to fly up the levels. I have seen that too, and what happens is that they don’t learn the basics. At some point, though, it does come home to roost.
What Charlotte Jorst is doing is what many many wealthy people have done (for example, Nadine Capellman, who bought her coach, Klaus Balkenhol’s horse–or Guenter Seidel, whose sponsors bought the same horse from Nadine). It’s just a little crass to announce that you bought a horse expecting to win a team spot–I think what some are taking offense to is the mental leap that she perhaps “bought the team spot”. She didn’t. She didn’t make the Rio Olympic games either and she bought two hopefuls for that. I think she had s super horse in Nintendo and deserved to go to the WC–I think Lorenzo is the best horse she has bought yet. And he is still only about 11.
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