Eventing Grand Prix at Bruce's Field

[Jealoushe]

Did anyone else watch the eventing GP at Bruce’s Field this weekend? Not a dry eye in the house after Boyds winning round, and wow, what a round! It was incredible to watch, that is one nice horse, Federman B. I am really looking forward to seeing those two grow together after that preview.

The top 7 places were all taken by Boyd Martin, Doug Payne and Colleen Loach. Talk about consistency. Colleen has some seriously nice horses coming up, and she drove herself from Ocala and did all her own grooming. Pretty amazing.

Was also a treat to see WFP catch ride and show off his incredible talent.

Watch Why They Won: Boyd Martin And Fedarman B Win $50,000 Grand-Prix Eventing

[FitToBeTied]

I’ll have to say I am not a fan of Grand Prix Eventing. I watched some of the “XC” rounds. It was like watching speed rounds in the jumpers.

[devvie_continued]

I didn’t watch. I gave up my H and C subscription a little while back – too many technical problems with content not playing back for me, and no real tech support (clean your cache and clear your history, they told me over and over). I’ll probably crack soon and subscribe again, but overall not thrilled with the service.

[beowulf]

Such a heartbreaking story, so it is nice to have a tiny happy victory in light of it. That is one keen horse on XC.

[Larksmom]

I have had the same problems. I WANT to subscribe, but getting the feed when you need it is iffy.

[Jealoushe]

The video can be seen in the Chronicle link for anyone who wants to see the winning round.

[Gardenhorse]

Agree. I’m not a fan of this format.

Also, WFP is an amazing rider, but catch-riding at the Advanced level just seems like a bad idea to me.

[BraveSC]

I was there and there was not a dry eye in the house among the people that knew the story. It was quite the emotional moment to say the least!

[Larksmom]

going back a ways but at the World championships in Germany in '82, a Swiss rider catch rode a horse and I believe and they had a catastrophic fall and the rider was killed. That is what I remember anyway. I think at that level it is way too dangerous to ride some horse you haven’t sat on before. Now maybe he knew this horse but I do not remember all the details. It was a long time ago.

[Jealoushe]

He rode it for a few days leading up to the event.

Mark Todd catch rode and won one of the Big Bs didn’t he?

[blue_heron]

Is there anywhere to watch Boyd’s dressage on Annie’s horse without signing up for the livestream?

[Larksmom]

that would make sense. It would be crazy to ride one you had never sat on beofre. Like I say, only fuzzy memories. Thanks for the correction.

[Jealoushe]

I only knew because I listened to a few of the podcasts he did while in Florida haha

[Gardenhorse]

Oliver Townend catch rode a horse in the 3* at Fair Hill last fall, but it was a horse he had ridden and competed at a high level several years prior.

I know Boyd and Phillip have competed each other’s horses at pretty short notice when one or the other of them was injured.

It just made me think of all the discussion we had about MERs, and how many events at a lower level horses and riders should have to do as a combination. I know that was primarily focused on riders moving up levels for the first time and not very experienced riders on experienced horses. But safety-wise, is it the best idea for someone to go Advanced on a horse they’ve ridden for at most a week? While exceptional riders can do it successfully, it’s not something I’d like to see encouraged.

[Gardenhorse]

But I totally agree with you about Federman B. What a nice horse. Annie obviously did a fantastic job producing him. And Boyd’s ride was incredible to watch.

[Jealoushe]

yes and William even talked about how difficult it is to do, and how actually scary it is to do it at the 5*/Advanced level.

[Gardenhorse]

@Jealoushe

yes and William even talked about how difficult it is to do, and how actually scary it is to do it at the 5* level.

If WFP thinks it’s scary, obviously something mere mortals should never attempt! Lol.

[Larksmom]

as a watcher only of upper-level eventing, I think the courses were much scarier back then. Much more technical now with the skinnies and such but the old Tiger traps were really scary.

[CindyCRNA]

That was amazing! I saw day 1 with dressage and stadium but was on a plane back home during CC sadly.