I think that QEII will not allow them to dump equestrian sports, as much as she loves horses. And assuming she hangs in there for another 4 years.
And HRH Charles and Camilla, both love equestrian sports.
And then there’s Mark Phillips.
So I think it’s safe thru 2012.
Yeah right - QEII stays OUT of politics!
:yes: 100 years of subjective, sketchy judging and figure skating is still an Olympic sport–but when the chips were down, the ISU (crazy as Speedy is) revised the judging system. Dressage might want to consider it, especially the system of picking judges for the panel. Right now there is LESS placement movement than there is in ice dance, the most wait-your-turn skating discipline. Eventing has the issue of safety. Show jumping is TV-friendly and has an easily-quantifiable result.
[QUOTE=Dressage Dreamer;3483039 I saw some sports this time around with hardly ANYONE in the stands…and some of which I had never seen anything close to that kind of sport before…[/QUOTE]
You know I was thinking the same thing ! When watching the Show Jumping - for eventing and show jumping it occurred to me that there were nearly as many, if not more people, in the stands than at the Gymnastics - I guess everyone got tickets for Phelps’ events ! However it could have been the location, climate of Bejing, not to mention the state of the global economy, that made it less appealing for many spectators.London hopefully will draw larger crowds.
While I understand your concern (and I LOVE polo), I think polo has not disappeared as much from being removed from the olympics as much as it is just not accessible to the average person–and sorry but you have to have an entourage of ponies to compete. Any horse sport where you have to have 4 horses/ponies per person (3 indoor) to complete a game is beyond the scope of the average horseperson’s time, money and commitment. How much money does it take to own 4 horses (and that’s with no backup)? how much time does it take to keep all 4 in shape? how accessible is real, knowledgeable training for polo ponies/riders? This is just not a sport the average horse owner can compete in. I played in college and would have given anything to be able to continue, but the resources are just not available.
Dressage, showjumping, even eventing and hunter training are far more accessible in most areas than polo training.
I think it is a little unfair to make a determination regarding the equestrian disciplines based on number of spectators who attended in HONG KONG. A lot of people who attend the Olympics want to see Opening Ceremonies in person, and attend events involving more than one sport (particularly if you go as a family or group and have differing interests). They put the equestrian events all by themselves in Hong Kong, so presumably the only ones in attendance were those with a great interest in those events specifically. And that is really a shame, because it didn’t exactly help capture a wider audience for the future (obviously, it would have made little difference to TV viewers, though).
Regarding budget, it seems like they could scale back a little on the opening and closing ceremonies rather than cut sports. China spent some astronomical amount on those; I think reportedly around a half Billion dollars.
[QUOTE=flshgordon;3484112]
Dressage, showjumping, even eventing and hunter training are far more accessible in most areas than polo training.[/QUOTE]
It depends on what level. You can rack up a six figure bill pretty fast for a year on the A circuit with a couple of top hunters. But I agree there are some unique barriers in polo - including the fact you need other people to play with and a polo field (or sufficient indoor arena) which most don’t have in their back yard.
And whoever said reining wasn’t a popular spectator sport got that wrong.
First of all, it is the fastest growing equestrian discipline.Unfortunately for us, that means horses are getting more expensive.:eek:
Second, in many cases the big events get sold out on finals night well in advance. At the Quarter Horse Congress, the Freestyle Reining is sold out a month in advance.Dagnabit!
OF course they release a few day of tickets, at the door, very few.
I can understand the IOC saying that every country doen’t have the means or area to put up a Cross County course that is up to today’s standards. I also don’t forsee anyone putting on the opening or closing that China did.They WANT to be remembered for that. LET them have it. London not having Horses? Ri-ight!I am sure the swawk is so that there can be a compromise.
The Equestrian sports were in HONG KONG! Not exactly next door to the bird’s nest. I don’t think the buses took the tourists there.:winkgrin:
[QUOTE=ridenslide;3484170]
And whoever said reining wasn’t a popular spectator sport got that wrong.
First of all, it is the fastest growing equestrian discipline.Unfortunately for us, that means horses are getting more expensive.:eek:
Second, in many cases the big events get sold out on finals night well in advance. At the Quarter Horse Congress, the Freestyle Reining is sold out a month in advance.Dagnabit! OF course they release a few day of tickets, at the door, very few.
:[/QUOTE]
I was the one who said that reining was not nearly as popular --in EUROPE-- as showjumping and dressage are, based on my personal observation in the 9 years I lived there (as well as the fact that as I mentioned, SJ is one of the very most popular sports in European countries). I am sure it is quite popular here in the US, particularly considering how dominant the AQHA is. And I know that some in Europe are very enthusiastic about QHs, but that is not common.
I didn’t read all the pages but there is NO way that Polo could be an Olympic sport because of the expense! Can you imagine having to ship a Team and all their Ponies to Hong Kong? It would be astronomical! There wouldn’t be enough teams to compete.
My mom rides dressage and although I wish they would keep all equestrian events, dressage is pretty hard to understand for the average person. The average person won’t sit around and watch the same 8 minute test over and over again. It stinks, but that is the truth.
Show jumping has a shot because it’s so easy for the average person understands. It has an element of danger, that (unfortunately) people are drawn to, but doesn’t take up the amount of space that X-C does.
It’s just the pits that some of the oldest sports are getting kicked out. Hope not!
As long as there is ping pong in the Olympics, I think Dressage should be also.
In my opinion, the musical freestyle has the most potential for making the sport popular with non-horsey people. It is very analogous to the long program in figure skating, which IS extremely popular with plenty of people who never set foot on ice and never will. It is only relatively recently that upper level dressage riders have started getting innovative with choreography and music (thanks in part to people like Anky), and I think it is only going to get better and more competitive in that regard.
The people who scream the loudest about the judging is usually the lower level rider/fan/observers, not the non-dressage people. Most of my non dressage friends watch it and say stuff like, ‘That looks really nice, I wonder how the horse learns to do that’, and ‘I bet the judge likes that horse, that looked nice’ while the dressage people are the ones screaming about the scoring being so horrible and the world has gone to hell in a bucket.
Too, if the TD is having meetings without all the teams and the riders are complaining about the judging, they’re going to get tossed out for just being a pain in the ass and not even following their own rules. That’s how sports get tossed out. Not for being expensive, but for being a pain in the ass. There are plenty of expensive and subjective sports in the Olympics. If they can’t stop whining and complaining and can’t seem to figure out what their own rules of engagement are, they get tossed out.
The Olympics are supposed to be a pageant, where everyone goes to see great sport and enjoy a great show. That means a certain amount of cooperation and ‘oh well that’s the way it goes’ when one doesn’t win.
This was discussed very seriously in the early 1920’s, when it was said that dressage was unjudgeable, not because it was subjective - that wasn’t the problem at all.
The problem was the judges were scoring their people higher than other country’s riders, and unfairly so. The American judge, Doak, gave an American rider a score over 80 points higher than the other judges, that was the biggest discrepancy I found in the scores in the entire record of the Olympics.
Kitts, the rider, should have been about dead last. Since Doak cooked his score, he got a medal. Today we’re arguing about a smaller point discrepancy. That’s our progress. That isn’t enough progress.
Dressage wasn’t going to get tossed out due to the ‘nature’ of the sport, its ‘subjectivity’ or its expense, but because the people involved in the sport were making it so that no one else organizing and running the Olympics could tolerate their behavior.
My SO watched Satchmo have his little moment and said, ‘I wonder if the judges will let that go since it was only for a couple seconds’, he really did not think the horse did anything that important in those few seconds, he saw Brentina’s ride and said, ‘It just didn’t look right somehow’. He watched Ravel go and said, ‘Yeah, that horse does look really nice’.
I think getting rid of the traditional clothes would be an incredible mistake. That’s the one thing that the non dressage people like the BEST! I’ve heard comments just oohing and aaah’ing over the tophat and tail coats, ‘Oh it looks like an old painting, that’s so cool!’
Non horse people DO enjoy dressage - when dressage people LET them enjoy it.
And curling–don’t forget that nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat excitement. 
Granted, that’s in the Winter Games, but still…
Yes you CAN rack up a 6 figure bill doing anything, but none of those other disciplines require you to have more than one (at least 4) horses to compete
Can you imagine the bill to import 16 horses for every team to play polo in the olympics?
Yankee- In the past 3 years reining has overtaken all other equestian sports World wide, not just in the US. Germany & Italy are two of the fastest growing countries.:eek:The UK is doing just fine, itself If you watch the WEG, they kick our butts!:eek:
The Europeans have been importing QHs for over 15 years & now have some of the best breeding programs going on! Europe soon is going to be the place for stallions and prospects for reining ,as it is for SJ & dressage now. Thank you Arcese, Breug, & company! :no:
winkgrin: Dam the euro!Dam the Europeans.:no:
[QUOTE=ridenslide;3484458]
Yankee- In the past 3 years reining has overtaken all other equestian sports World wide, not just in the US. Germany & Italy are two of the fastest growing countries.:eek:The UK is doing just fine, itself If you watch the WEG, they kick our butts!:eek:
The Europeans have been importing QHs for over 15 years & now have some of the best breeding programs going on! Europe soon is going to be the place for stallions and prospects for reining ,as it is for SJ & dressage now. Thank you Arcese, Breug, & company! :no:winkgrin: Dam the euro!Dam the Europeans.:no:[/QUOTE]
Well, I have lived stateside for the past 3 years but honestly I find that hard to believe. I will take your word for it, though : )
No. It is no different than dressage in terms of sport: subjective scoring, not easily understood by the outsider, repetitive–circles, spins and sliding stops.
Actually, it’s pretty true. I know one of the top reiners in the US, who is also a judge and won many world titles. This is the best breeding year he’s had, selling all his weanlings born (about 18 or so) to clients overseas. He travels over to Europe frequently to clinic. He’s got trips to the UK and Italy coming up. When I was at his place about a week ago, he had just had a client from Italy leave, and had from the Netherlands I think there. The market is huge over there.
Uh–I hope this was a joke? Tongue in cheek?
I really don’t see how it would help to remove the 3 existing equestrian sports and add one that is about as equally difficult to understand as dressage? And trust me, I often find dressage difficult & tedious to watch as could the average bystander, but I don’t see how a horse spinning in circles is going to win over any big audiences.
And no…I’m not ‘dissing’ reining, I understand how difficult it can be to perfect but it’s not going to be any easier to “get” for the average person than dressage.
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