Canāt ride bitless, what a joke honestly.
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Everyday is bicep dayā¦
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That wasnāt pretty to watch at any point. The horse was not btv, not often at least, but ugh. That was not pretty in the least.
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If you as a competitor notice blood before the steward/judge does, could you excuse yourself from warm up, clean the horse up, then come back when the bleeding has stopped? If he truly bit his tongue (sure, it happens), is there any recourse there? Obviously missing your turn in the order is a problem as well, but curious how that could be handled differently.
In the photo that leads the Chronicle article the horse looks very uncomfortable in the mouth, and that was after the ride was over.
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No. It doesnāt matter why there is blood in the horses mouth. Blood=Elimination.
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Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
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Iāve had the blood thing happen to me once in my 20 year career riding. I was in early teens ironically jumping gymnastics with a dressage horse. At my dimensions (maybe 110lbs and 5ā4") it was unlikely my rough riding at the timeā¦
I feel like I see blood related elimination pretty routinely at large dressage competitions (the Singapore rider at Olympics?) moreso than even soundness issues (e.g. Lyndal Oatley with the grey horse at Herning I believe), but donāt see it in SJ. Not drawing conclusions but wonder whyā¦ Less tensions, less action in the mouth or simply less noticeable?
Either way, not a good look for the sport.
PKās horse didnāt look lame per se, but definitely had a tendency to fling one front leg noticeably higher than the other.
I hate that front leg action has somehow become so important and highly rewarded in dressage. I am no dressage judge so please correct me if Iām wrong, but I donāt recall āhigh action of front legsā being anywhere in any judging standards Iāve seen. It shouldnāt look like a saddlebred show, and yet ā¦.
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PKās horse was moving uneven in front, if you look at the rise of the forearm on each leg itās very obvious. Lame? I donāt think so. Lacking strength? Yep. Between the unevenness and the side to side bounce in passage, it really looked like the horse was being held and pushed beyond its level of strength.
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The explanation said the blood was coming from the gums not the tongue!!!
Kittelās horse had a blue tongue in a picture taken from the grand prix.
Lots of international riders coming out to defend this. If itās all ok, then why so vocal?
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My horse caught the corner of his upper lip on something in the temporary stabling at regionals one year, His bit was nowhere near it, and I showed it to the TD the day before we rode just so there was someone with some authority whoād seen it.
It wouldnāt stop a judge from eliminating us, but it mightāve helped if the bit checker thought it was fresh.
As others have said, sh*t happens sometimes and does not always mean the rider was rough with the horse.
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Caveat - I only saw the first 6 or so horses in the freestyle.
But wow there was so much tension and unevenness from several horses. One of them I almost expected to get excused (I donāt remember which one - it was a woman and not the US rider). This isnāt to say that all rides were tense and uneven.
Itās one of the things that I donāt like seeing not getting dinged harder from what is supposed to be the elite dressage riders in the world.
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My first trainer was quite classical and I was taught that in the trot, whether it was working, collected, or extended that the cannon bones from front to back were supposed to always be in parallel. The excessive leg flinging that gets rewarded has ruined so many trots. The side to side sway is likely a horse being forced without enough impulsion into P&P. At least that has been my experience from watching/scribing hundreds of FEI tests over the years.
But easy for me to armchair quarterback, as my personal horse got injured after we finished a season at PSG and never recovered enough to more than just putz around.
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If that was the winning ride, I canāt imagine how ugly other rides were.
I totally agree that the front leg flinging was uneven.
I didnāt even like the music for this horse.
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I agree, the music didnāt add much. But Iām guessing that since it was clearly a cinematic background score and didnāt really have a beat, itās much easier to hide irregularities in your rhythm . Youād think the judges would realize that too ā¦
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