since we can all have an inexpert opinion, to me it looked like a horse with a respiratory problem which results in No Gas pedal.
The non ‘extensions’ were the give away.
once the decision was made to send in DM rather than Barisone then she was charged with doing the best she could for the Team
go to the High Performance section and read the rules for being on the Team - it’s downright scary how much control is given up once you commit
[QUOTE=BoysNightOut;3445000]
Is there a replay of her test anywhere online? I didn’t see it, and just want to see what all the talk is about.
Thanks.[/QUOTE]
on the NBC site go to “Dressage qualifier II” and her test is at around the 1:11 mark (roughly).
Last night they filmed Anky in the warmup, cranking and yanking her horses head to his knees. If they filmed her, then someone must also have filmed Brentina in the warmup - it would be interesting to see that film. People are saying the jumbotron is really freaking horses out because it looks like there is a horse coming at them. Some horses obviously didn’t react, but quite a lot DID, and maybe she was one who just couldn’t cope and froze, went vacant upstairs. Seems odd that she’s been cleared so many times and yet appeared practically paralyzed. I say ‘fear’, or rather borderline hysteria probably played a big part in her reaction.
that’s just what DM says in “HorsesDaily Updates - August 15, 2008”
quote from Mary Phelps-Hathaway ---- I have heard from Debbie McDonald and she is devastated for her team and her horse, but what is the hardest is the on line and media reporting speculation that Brentina was lame, or the horse was not ready. “Brentina was not lame!” Debbie e-mailed us from Hong Kong. “She was terrified to the point of not even being able to function. And because of our relationship she kept trying instead of fleeing which is what she wanted to do, and what their nature is to do. To say she should have been blown out and that we knew that she was not sound is just not fair.” ---- end of quote
But it’s not just online and in the media. One of the JUDGES made the strongest statement of all…
I too would like to see the warmup.
I’ve yet to meet a horse whose fear manifests itself only in diagonal legs.
[QUOTE=hansiska;3446530]
I’ve yet to meet a horse whose fear manifests itself only in diagonal legs.[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol:
I agree, I am all for a public flogging and severe ramifications when a clearly broken down horse has his life risked being pushed in competition (Amy Tryon anyone?) but what I see is an older mare at the end of her career who probably by now is physically and mentally tired and sore. Nothing I saw put the animal’s welfare at risk, and she’s now off to her retirement. To be honest from what I have heard Brentina as always been a difficult mare, and Debbie looked from the beginning of the test like she wanted to do her duty and get the hell out of there.
I see FAR WORSE every single day in stables everywhere, where horses are medicated and injected and kept going and going and going in daily lessons.
One of the JUDGES made the strongest statement of all…
About what? Where?
I did not see this thread until now. I posted something about Brentina on the Dressage forum.
Anyway, she is uneven on the RF in the extension and half pass in the selection trials and in the Olympics. It is not apparent to me in the collected work and I agree her last passage and piaffe looked uncharacteristicly good (nothing like I have ever seen her go before). I could see her passing a vet check. They don’t make them do an extended trot or half pass right? She probably looks fine just trotting a long on a line. It is a great insult to anyone who knows about horses however to assert that this mare was totally sound at the trials or at the Olympics. She is the kind of sound that can squeek by and get a decent score because her uneveness is not pronounced enough nor does it show up in all the trot work. However, come on Debbie you too must know it is there.
In defense of that, I have seen other horses in international competion be uneven in this or that movement and still score a decent score. They have to be pretty darn off to get whistled out. And Brentina is usually such a Steady Eddy and probably everyone thought a safe bet to get a decent (not stellar) but decent score even with this uneveness. (After all she had scored OK before not being totally right prior to this and other horses have done the same).
Should the horse have been retired prior to this? Yeah probably. Bet she would be happier in a pasture than working her ass off in Hong Kong. However, all of us who say we would have retired her before this, can you honestly really say that? Have you ever been in this position- to be the poster child for US dressage on a much loved but past her prime horse with the heart to give it one more go. Can you honestly say 100% you wouldn’t have rolled those dice? I can’t. I don’t know what I would have done, but I might be in Debbie’s position right now and I empathize with that part of it. I think on balance she is a more compassionate horseperson than the average international competitor out there. It sucks to go out like that… but I think she should fess up to the realities we all can see. The horse was not 100% when she entered the ring. The denial of that is the part which really irks me.
Now the other thing that I saw in the test was something else go terrible wrong once she started the canter work; something I think may be entirely independent of the uneveness on the RF. Something goes off in the hind end or back, maybe she was sort of tying up or related to the heavy breathing or something. I don’t know but it is definitely there. The way the hind legs stab the ground together; the way the canter deteriorates. Now I know this mare has always had a 4 beatlike tendancy, but this is something more. The hind end falling out, the tension, the frantic look, the way the hind legs are moving…all really scary. I do think whatever this is it may very well have occured during the test, not be related to the RF and not be something that Debbie or Klaus or anyone else could have anticipated… It is definitely not this ridiculous result of spooking which has been claimed. Who thought we the horse public would swallow that pill?
I hope she is going to be OK.
The horse was NOT lame. She was scared and Debbie was doing all she could to have the horse not EXPLODE! That was the uneveness and the problems with the movements everyone ia talking about. Main thing is, unless you were on the horse (which I’m assuming none of these posters were) then no one knows except Debbie!
[QUOTE=kkj;3446643]
the collected work and I agree her last passage and piaffe looked uncharacteristicly good (nothing like I have ever seen her go before). [/QUOTE]
You must not have seen Brentina on a good day before. For years she’s had the best piaffe of any horse in the world.
Perfect Pony I agree with what you say about other horses being treated worse, but not that Brentina is a difficult mare. That mare is a SAINT. Every time I have ever seen that horse, she has been a SAINT. The joke is that she is more like an amateur dressage ride. Many find her tests too boring. I have never seen her act up. Compared to the average international Grand Prix dressage horse she is a SUPER SAINT. In fact I think she may have been in so much pain during that canter work that the average Grand Prix Dressage horse would have bucked reared bolted and thrown the riders butt off but Saint Brentina just did her best to keep trucking along.
[QUOTE=grayarabpony;3446657]
You must not have seen Brentina on a good day before. For years she’s had the best piaffe of any horse in the world.[/QUOTE]
Don’t agree with that at all. Aragon maybe, never Brentina.
Then I think you need to get your eyes checked. 
I’m a little curious – was everyone this up in arms when Gigilo was uneven at Sydney?
Regarding my statement that one of the judges made the strongest statement of all:
[QUOTE=egontoast;3446634]
About what? Where?[/QUOTE]
As was cited earlier in this thread (see p2):
Courtesy of DressageDirect and FEI
Quote:
Devastated
America’s Debbie McDonald was devastated by her performance with the 17-year old Brentina who seemed to struggle all the way through. “I don’t know what to say, I just feel awful, I know I’ve finished the team,” she said after the judges awarded her a mark of 63.000%. Chairman Gislain Fouarge explained afterwards that he felt Brentina had not been in the right shape to perform a test at all. “She shouldn’t have done this to her horse”, he said.
American Steffen Peters showed a great piaffe and passage and some nice extensions. However his score of 70.0% didn’t bring his team back in medal position.
Fouarge was the judge at C.
Edited to add: I totally agree with you, kkj
[QUOTE=Berry0317;3446653]
The horse was NOT lame. She was scared and Debbie was doing all she could to have the horse not EXPLODE! That was the uneveness and the problems with the movements everyone ia talking about. Main thing is, unless you were on the horse (which I’m assuming none of these posters were) then no one knows except Debbie![/QUOTE]
Come on…I think it would be best to let this blow over then to come on and say such silly things…It was a mistake and we’ve all made them but please don’t insult us.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. There have been several horse that have been uneven, stiff or unsound in competition towards the end of their career. I am never so OK with it when it is surrounded by blatant denial or lies. Call it like it is. “Said horse has had some limitations and corresponding uneveneness for a long time but still goes well enough to win or help the team win some prizes so we are not ready to hang it up yet.” Not, “Said horse is the best she has every been and totally amazing me every day. Said horse is 100%.” What you drinking?
Someone talked about the rules and how much you have to give up control of your horse so lets not blame all this on Debbie lets look at these rules and see who else is responsible.
