At this point I would assume ML herself needs to school. Not the horses.
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I would imagine that she, as a rider, would want to school more. I think a lot of professionals at that level have horses competing at the level but also up and coming horses they are schooling and campaigning and thus they are constantly sharpening their xc skills, even if at a lower level. It’s quite possible I am wrong, but I don’t believe ML has any horses competing at lower levels (and by “Lower level” I mean prelim/intermediate - my trainer still schools his intermediate horse xc ). So by this logic (not saying it’s wrong, just Inquiring), does that mean if all her horses are competing UL she doesn’t school solid obstacles at all?
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now a days…they all school a LOT more often. Not over max fences…but over the terrain working on technical questions (with smaller jumps using mixes of xc with SJ fences). It’s really different from the old days…but with all the narrows and turning questions to skinnies and corners mixed with terrain (like mounds) most riders are schooling even horses of her experience level much more often throughout the year then I ever saw 10-15 years ago. I think it’s an added reason it is harder to keep them sound now a days…and why you really need a more rideable horse to start with. You also work on a lot of the rideability issues in your fitness work and gallops.
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How do you work on the rideability stuff at speed?
hand gallop. ask horse to come back. (horse says no thanks)… now what? Come to a full stop? Try to circle at a gallop? Give a good ol’ heave ho (“cavalry halt” or whatever it’s called) and then try to go back to being soft?
If I say whoa, she whoas. If I say easy, she is 50/50 on “ok” or “shove it” haha.
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Talent, training, great trainers and horses would be the things that brings you forward in equestrian sport.
Those four things are also independent regarding the general public’s point of view 
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First, when you do conditioning sets you do not gallop at full speed. But yes. You work on straightness. You ride typically on rolling hills and ride a line just like you would jumping. You work on their gallop… their balance. And yes…you work on their rateability. I have actually pulled a horse up if they stopped listening to my half halt (for a full transition then right back). I personally don’t do voice commands like you were joking but do use whoa…and back up what that means.
conditioning time is training time just as every other ride. Their xc gallop HAS to be just like any other speed. Our aids have to be trained like anything else. And if your half halts don’t work without a jump…you probably shouldn’t be jumping xc.
And if you only run into the issue when the jumps are factored in…yes…sometime you have to full scale pull up while out on course or schooling (often multiple times until you have a working half halt). Hopefully this is done with a horse at the lower levels but I have known it done at higher levels. And Yes…you blow your competitive results at that show…but this is a critical issue. The overly strong horses are very hard to make time on (safely)… much more so than horses that have more ridability.
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I do struggle with this with my mare. I hesitate to bit her up because I can rate her no problem in the arena in a snaffle, but I understand being out in the open jazzes her up and she may need more brakes.
I would just get her out in the open more often if you can…and then just work your half halts out there like you do when teaching them in the ring. It’s a common process for most of us! And even if I do end up bitting up for competing (I like to survive too!)…we keep working on it. (Usually in the snaffle schooling). I’ve had a few horses that I was then able to go back to a snaffle for competitions. They like to make us work for it!!
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@endlessclimb, one of my old trainers used to call it “gallop dressage.” She didn’t mean keeping them round - though she did gallop round sometimes for strengthening. a different goal - but being able to gallop keeping the horse on the aids and rideable. Transitions within the gallop - yes, you do have to include speed, if you want to be able to do it out competing - and turns, and the like. You shouldn’t have to bit up for it while schooling. Gradually increase what you’re asking, like anything else. Go slower at first, increase speed later. I think you’ll find that XC becomes a lot easier when you’ve schooled the gallop. Oh, yeah, also it’s a lot of fun.
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Talent? Great training? MMMM debateable in this case. Access to a large wallet also helps.
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Are you saying the ground jurors are for sale?
No, but upper level eventers are lol
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But that doesn’t give them low dressage penalties…
There is no drug testing at the Wellington showcase…
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Are you saying you suspect her horse was drugged? Or am I misinterpreting your post.
I don’t think that’s fair. She’s been getting excellent dressage scores on that horse for quite a while at all of their events.
While I’ve got strong feelings about the pattern of bloody horses and seeming unwillingness to improve that situation, and definitely have concerns about the safety of the XC, you have to recognize that she is a talented rider. She consistently puts up dressage scores as good as if not better than anyone else’s in the country at that level. She’s got access to the best training and has a good eye for a horse. You can recognize those things and still dislike certain other things that have happened or that she has done. I don’t have any issue with her as a person, just with the series of events that has occurred and the greater impact it has. But I do think it gets into sketchy territory (and takes away from the actual valid parts of the argument) to start making public insinuations of drugging, and to be unwilling to acknowledge anything positive about her.
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How do you separate “a series of events” from ML as a person? Like these events happened to her, instead of BECAUSE of her?
Have not these events occurred multiple times because of choices this person made?
To say that these are unrelated is indeed, ridiculous.
Of course she’s a talented athlete. That does not mean she’s a good trainer, makes good judgement calls, or has demonstrated the ability to modify her training for the benefit of her horses.
i know nothing of drug allegations, just what I saw myself, and in videos.
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Yes maybe she is a good rider at intermediate dressage, and showjumping…which lets be serious even 5* dressage is nothing compared to UL true dressage.
BUT I won’t admit good trainer, because year after year she can’t fix her bitting and ripping off of the face issue.
I had a similar issue, although not making my horse bleed. Took 2 years off to concentrate on our dressage and fix our issues and now my girl is a totally different mare and can jump around like a normal horse without me needing to pull her face off. I’m no UL rider with oodles of talent either :lol:
So back to the OPs question, it would be interesting to see how ML trains in the day and day out. Maybe EN can do a write up for us since they love her so much 
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To be clear, I never said that she has good judgment, and I never said that she was a good trainer. I said that, IMO, attacking her personally or throwing out allegations of drug use (that have zero basis in fact) take away from the larger point in this entire discussion. I can say that she appears to have talent as a rider, appears to be good at finding nice horses, and can lay down a very competitive dressage test. The facts support all of that. I can also say that I personally have a serious problem with the series of bloody mouths and her reaction to them, as well as some of the XC riding I’ve seen, and absolutely detest everything about that situation and those series of events. It’s possible to see and feel both of those things at the same time. People are complicated, nothing is black and white. If you disagree with that part then I guess that’s just a difference in how we see things, which is ok.
Anyone who knows the history of all this will know that I don’t even have to say that I’m not her biggest fan as a rider or horseman, my thoughts on this have been well documented and well-circulated for years. However, I can also recognize that there is a line between hating a particular event (or series of events) versus treating her like the second coming of satan and saying she’s only getting those scores because she drugs her horses. That does no one any good, especially not the horses or the sport, and I don’t think it’s fair to make up a serious public allegation like that regardless of who it is. THAT is what I’m saying.
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You don’t know that.
