He didn’t ignore them. He was further away from that photographer than he would have been from anyone at the Head of the Lake, ropes and Rovers and all
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It has always been that a rider can choose whatever line they want, as long as they go through all compulsory flags.
Roping used to only be at the very biggest events. It’s now more common, and if your course is fully roped then clearly you can’t go outside the ropes.
But a rider finding a shortcut is not at all against the intent of the course length or course designer’s plan.
If they want to change a rule so that you must stay on the path, then change it. Otherwise, put up compulsory flags or rope off lanes that shouldn’t be used.
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I almost plowed into three people on bicycles that rode right in front of a gap in bushes that I had to go through just as I approached it. They were totally clueless that they almost caused a bad wreck. I went and told the TD about it after my ride to warn him there were people out on bicycles that had no business being out on course and may cause an accident.
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There’s nowhere listed that following a timed course makes following the wheeled path compulsory.
If there were then you would need a course map showing the exact wheeled course line.
In general when you wheel you’re assuming that the designer is taking the most direct path, but as long as the rider goes through the compulsory flags they’re fine.
I’ve gotten close enough to the riders at Kentucky to count the number of holes in their spur straps, Doug was nowhere near as close to this pedestrian.
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Yep!
I saw a TD chase down someone and give them a very stern talking to about their bicycle activity.
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Thanks for the clarification. He incurred the 25 penalties then? I’d guess he wouldn’t be complaining about a warning.
FWIW, I was a jump judge and DP went outside the roped galloping lanes for a “short cut” on more than occasion on this horse at this event . So I imagine that the TD’s and POG’s were looking at the cumulative actions and not this one isolated approach that he happened to share the helmet camera view of.
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This is purely a curiosity question, but does that kind of thing get reported on the radio? I’ve never been at a big enough event to know.
It can be as that’s what walkie-talkies/radios are for. At every venue I’ve volunteered to JJ at, we’ve been given a walkie-talkie. It’s not for talking, but it’s totally for situations like this where someone needs to inform the TD of something happening. Luckily, I’ve only ever needed to use a walkie talkie once and it was to inform the TD of a massive snake (I really mean massive! Three feet long!) that was sunning on the back-side of a Training level fence. Snake was relocated and no spectators or riders were harmed.
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Short answer: Yes
Long answer: I jump judged at an event where the roping had changed between the previous day’s course walk and that day’s XC phase, removing a shortcut a couple riders had evidently planned. I called in every incident with the ropes as part of reporting for my fence. I requested the TD the first time, and the CD also dropped by.
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Thank you for this detail. That is good for thought.
What do you know about the person who jumped a jump.judge? Not seeking names, just data about what happened
Were the riders clearly forewarned??
I can see it both ways on this one. Do I think he actually put anyone in danger in this specific incident? No. Do I think that riders should make it a common practice to purposefully and repeatedly go outside of or try to circumvent very intentionally roped off lanes? Also no.
As far as him getting the penalty and the other person getting a warning, I wonder if it has to do with intent. Going outside of the ropes, multiple times in one course, shows a lot of intent. A loss of control that takes you outside the ropes is bad but rarely intentional. Both can result in a dangerous situation, for sure, and both can easily fall into the DR category to me. Perhaps they were trying to make the “punishment” fit the “crime” so to speak? Purely speculating since I did not witness either incident. Would love to hear from the officials as to what their own logic was behind this!
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I’m not convinced that intent should matter (for either person). No one intends to be uncontrollable, or create dangerous situations - but at the end of the day in this case, someone brought an uncontrollable horse to an event. I don’t think that’s acceptable, even if it wasn’t “intentional”. I’m not blaming the rider for losing control of their horse (we’ve all been there and mistakes happen), but I think in that case the penalty functions as a motivator that they have some serious homework that they must do before they return to the competition stage. It doesn’t let riders so quickly sweep it under the rug as a “one-off” thing.
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No, and I was not a fan of how it was handled. I was told the ropes were down the day before to make it easier for equipment to drive around. Then the CD put them up the morning of XC. It was an extreme shortcut, of the sort that was probably not actually faster, but they had genuinely believed it was available to them. It also came up without much visual warning due to vegetation and a curve.
If I recall correctly (it’s been a couple years), two people managed to get pulled up and rerouted with some amount of cursing. They both went early in the order and the CD’s actual quote to me was, “Word should be getting back to the barns by now.” I asked if he could at least put some bright caution tape on it or move the rope further up the lane or something to make the rope more obvious.
No action was taken, no announcement was made, and someone late in the day did not get word back in the barns, apparently, as they jumped/crashed through the rope. Their language suggested that was definitely not intentional. I was not sitting in the direct line of the track taken, but it was too close for comfort and I’m sure they couldn’t see me. No one got hurt, but it was not a good situation. This was an FEI.
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I don’t have a solid opinion on whether or not it should matter (I tend to lean towards “it should” but I haven’t sat here and thought about it long enough to commit to a side), but I’m just wondering aloud if that DID have anything to do with their chosen application of warning vs penalties in this case.
I agree. It’s funny, but when I first watched the video posted here I was expecting something that happened in a combination. So I’m watching him gallop and waiting for some combination and I’m thinking, where the hell is he going? He passed 2 fences that I swear he was looking at and I thought he was going to jump. Guess his horses don’t hunt flags.
They told him that it may turn out badly for him if he did it, and he did it and it turned out badly for him. My sympathy truck is just barreling right past this exit.
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It does but it’s usually something on the radio along the lines of “I need a TD at fence xxx” so that way it remains a private conversation and spectators and other people passing by the radios don’t overhear conversations.
The jump judge was actually a video reviewer because the jump coming out of the water was a narrow so it had cameras on it for video review. The TD/ground jury place the video reviewer’s in specific locations. Unfortunately for this video reviewer, the placement was right at the location where the galloping lanes split. The rider’s head was down on landing from the skinny out of the water and by the time they lifter their head up, they were practically on top of the video reviewer 
Totally innocent but also a scary couple seconds!
It seems to me as well that he was pushing his luck, having been forewarned.
This sort of behavior (if continued) will make necessary more rewriting of the rules, so that riders don’t skirt them. Time and money wasted…
It’s too bad that one of our upper level riders should have none but their own interests at heart and thus not know better than to split hairs as far as the rules are concerned.
It’s disappointing, and IMHO unsportsmanlike.
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