I am so tired of whiny, rich horse [people] complaining about WEG

[Palm_Beach]

@NCRider

I make it a point to never brag about a trip insurance policy

Why did you use the word “brag?” I don’t think Tiramit was “bragging,” but simply making a statement, and then answering my question about which company issued the policy.

[MHM]

@AffirmedHope

I’ve seen them cancel for the weather more than once down at WEF. They always have rain cancellations on the ESP WEF website throughout the season which shows the updated schedule for the next day. The 2017 series had a lot of them actually. Hell, they even rescheduled the big $500,000 Grand Prix in week 12 from the SNL to the next morning one year because of the rain!

Yes, there was some bad weather in 2016 as well. Including a tornado watch during the first week of WEF, as I recall. The radar map showed some crazy colors!

They do cancel at WEF if the weather is bad enough, and they’re good about communicating the schedule changes. Plus they’ve had a lot of practice over the years. And it’s 12 weeks long, along with all the shows before and after, so it’s not quite as huge a deal to drop a class here or there.

The situation at WEG is a bit different, since it’s just once every four years. Much higher stakes when the weather turns bad.

[TMares]

@Palm Beach

Why did you use the word “brag?” I don’t think Tiramit was “bragging,” but simply making a statement, and then answering my question about which company issued the policy.

I think the bit about bragging was in reference to how great the coverage is…until one has actually redeemed a policy, one can’t know how well it work IRL. That’s all I took away from it, nothing more.

[Belowthesalt]

@Sannois

Wow, all I can say is after watching that drone birds eyeview of the course, it looks huge, and long and maxed out.
And if folks had as good a rides as I have read here, no major spills then it is all good. Too bad I am too cheap to subscribe to FEI TV I would have like to have watched Ingrids Ride.

Not really. Some tricky fences (e.g., The corners), and many horses found the cascades off-putting, but really a moderate 3*** with high completion percentage. And Tryon got steady but not gusting, overpowering rain, not a hurricane. Poor contingency planning.

[yaya]

@Belowthesalt

Not really. Some tricky fences (e.g., The corners), and many horses found the cascades off-putting, but really a moderate 3*** with high completion percentage. And Tryon got steady but not gusting, overpowering rain, not a hurricane. Poor contingency planning.

And how do you think they would know that it was less than expected? Storms are tricky, uncontrollable things. They can turn at the last minute and either leave you dry, or destroy everything, depending on which side you end up on.

[Mardi]

@Gardenhorse

Except insurance is most needed when something is a financial stretch or a bigger than normal expense for you and you can’t just blow off the cost if something goes wrong.

This ^^ Many leisure travelers don’t consider their trip as an investment. Unless someone is willing to lose their money, travel insurance is always a good idea.

But I hope there’s a way for dressage freestyle ticket holders to get a refund…they deserve it. The decision to cancel the freestyle was made by people with little or nothing to lose financially.

[NCRider]

They should have scheduled any riders who were able to stay an extra day (ie not flying out on Sunday or Monday) as a musical freestyle demonstration after the eventing SJ and it should have been free. The people with tickets for the dressage freestyle should have been given free tickets to the eventing SJ and the freestyle demo if they wanted them. There was plenty of room

[BigMama1]

@RPM

Why can’t they? Are dressage horses really such speshul sNOflakes? Or are their riders? What about the dressage horses and riders who have performed demos with reiners? In the same indoor, on the same footing, at the same time?

I am so tired of the nasty comments and put downs of dressage riders because they didn’t want to risk their horses’ soundness by competing on unsuitable footing. If you really don’t understand why deep footing designed for sliding and spinning is unsuitable for Grand Prix dressage horses who have never trained or competed on it, well perhaps you should do some research. The horses’ safety comes first. If I refuse to enter certain local shows at First Level on my inexpensive draft cross because I know the footing won’t hold up in bad weather, why should the expectations of top international riders on their multimillion dollar horses be any different?

[BigMama1]

@RPM

Why can’t they? Are dressage horses really such speshul sNOflakes? Or are their riders? What about the dressage horses and riders who have performed demos with reiners? In the same indoor, on the same footing, at the same time?

I am so tired of the nasty comments and put downs of dressage riders because they didn’t want to risk their horses’ soundness by competing on unsuitable footing. If you really don’t understand why deep footing designed for sliding and spinning is unsuitable for Grand Prix dressage horses who have never trained or competed on it, well perhaps you should do some research. The horses’ safety comes first. If I refuse to enter certain local shows at First Level on my inexpensive draft cross because I know the footing won’t hold up in bad weather, why should the expectations of top international riders on their multimillion dollar horses be any different?

[BigMama1]

@RPM

Why can’t they? Are dressage horses really such speshul sNOflakes? Or are their riders? What about the dressage horses and riders who have performed demos with reiners? In the same indoor, on the same footing, at the same time?

I am so tired of the nasty comments and put downs of dressage riders because they didn’t want to risk their horses’ soundness by competing on unsuitable footing. If you really don’t understand why deep footing designed for sliding and spinning is unsuitable for Grand Prix dressage horses who have never trained or competed on it, well perhaps you should do some research. The horses’ safety comes first. If I refuse to enter certain local shows at First Level on my inexpensive draft cross because I know the footing won’t hold up in bad weather, why should the expectations of top international riders on their multimillion dollar horses be any different?

[BigMama1]

@RPM

Why can’t they? Are dressage horses really such speshul sNOflakes? Or are their riders? What about the dressage horses and riders who have performed demos with reiners? In the same indoor, on the same footing, at the same time?

I am so tired of the nasty comments and put downs of dressage riders because they didn’t want to risk their horses’ soundness by competing on unsuitable footing. If you really don’t understand why deep footing designed for sliding and spinning is unsuitable for Grand Prix dressage horses who have never trained or competed on it, well perhaps you should do some research. The horses’ safety comes first. If I refuse to enter certain local shows at First Level on my inexpensive draft cross because I know the footing won’t hold up in bad weather, why should the expectations of top international riders on their multimillion dollar horses be any different?

[Palm_Beach]

So a reiner doing circles and changing leads is somehow different than a dressage horse doing circles and changing leads? That exact same footing will make a dressage horse unsound but not a reiner?

[GraceLikeRain]

@Palm Beach

So a reiner doing circles and changing leads is somehow different than a dressage horse doing circles and changing leads? That exact same footing will make a dressage horse unsound but not a reiner?

Slow cantering a 20 meter circle v. a pirouette

a single sweeping lead change v. 15 tempis

…I’d call that different.

[Palm_Beach]

@GraceLikeRain

Slow cantering a 20 meter circle v. a pirouette

a single sweeping lead change v. 15 tempis

…I’d call that different.

Why don’t you compare a slow circle with a canter circle, and reining spins with pirouettes? A sliding stop with Halt at X? Yes, very different, reiners go at it much harder and faster than dressage horses.

[sascha]

@Palm Beach

Why don’t you compare a slow circle with a canter circle, and reining spins with pirouettes? A sliding stop with Halt at X? Yes, very different, reiners go at it much harder and faster than dressage horses.

Ok, let’s make this easier to understand .you’ve trained your entire life running on pavement. You enter a pavement race only to find out that the pavement is not available. Are you foolish enough to run the race on the deep loose sand provided?

Or how about a you are a ballet dancer who has trained forever on a sprung floor. Do you happily ruin yourself on a bad floor because the proper floor you were promised is unavailable?

How about a gymnast asked to do a floor routine on concrete or deep sand .would you expect them to come out of their routine unscathed because it’s still a floor?

[saje]

@Tiramit

I’m so tired of the weather bitching and facility complaints. I don’t get the point of all this negativity? For those complaining, is it to make yourselves feel superior for not going or are you trying to kill off the Games completely?

Yes, it’s hot, but gosh, it was hot in Kentucky and at the Atlanta and Los Angeles Olympics as well. Atlanta in the summer? Yeesh. Major hurricane disruptions are not the norm for Tryon. Had the storm shifted a little it could have easily dumped much more water on Washington DC, not a typical Hurricane zone.

The facilities aren’t complete. Shocker. It’s rained heavily up and down the East Coast all year causing construction delays everywhere, including my own farm. It’s been a crappy year for trying to build anything outside. Add to that a booming construction industry and finding workers on dry days has been a serious challenge. I have friends who have been waiting (and waiting) for crews to show up. I waited 6 months past a promised date. The TIEC had a ridiculously short timeline that would have required everything to go right for them to have had a 100% perfect facility. Mother Nature had other plans.

What I have seen from the people who are there is that the competition has been fantastic, the main part of the facility is incredible with dream footing and the staff and volunteers are eager and helpful. Spectator creature comforts have been addressed and issues are being resolved overnight. The Expo is fine and well attended, despite the weather. The horses, the most important part of the equation, are nicely stabled and didn’t experience a drop of flooding, again, despite the storm.

The dressage riders and their flight crew cancelled the freestyle, not the facility managers. The endurance riders had their issues long before the WEG.

How about we give the incessant bitching and nitpicking a rest and enjoy the amazing competition going on in the USA, ok?

Yes to this.

I went expecting a debacle. I had a ball and was SERIOUSLY impressed with the efforts to keep the horses safe and comfortable. The XC footing and the ring footing, even Monday after flooding rains, was incredibly good. Is there a lot that could be better? Of course. Were there things I whined about? Yep. (But I had a great time anyway) Did some people have an abysmal time? Yes, probably. But there will be those at any enormous international event that get screwed one way or another. Nothing is ever 100% perfect. And frankly, some people make their own misery by poor planning or decision-making. TIEC has pulled off a miracle, I think, given the time frame and Nature’s hijinks.

As for using the reining arena for Freestyles:

• I don’t think they could get the footing changed fast enough IN A STORM
• The arena is smaller and has (apparently) lousy ventilation. Very humid and stuffy.
• The reining footing is different enough that it would seriously impact the dressage horses’ performance, and might even do tendon damage. Try doing your aerobic workout on mats for years, and then go put in a balls-to-the-walls workout on a deep sand beach sometime and see how well you do, how sore you are the next day.
• This was mostly a teams decision (as I understand it) and not of TIEC’s doing.

[Palm_Beach]

@sascha

Ok, let’s make this easier to understand .you’ve trained your entire life running on pavement. You enter a pavement race only to find out that the pavement is not available. Are you foolish enough to run the race on the deep loose sand provided?

Or how about a you are a ballet dancer who has trained forever on a sprung floor. Do you happily ruin yourself on a bad floor because the proper floor you were promised is unavailable?

How about a gymnast asked to do a floor routine on concrete or deep sand .would you expect them to come out of their routine unscathed because it’s still a floor?

So are you insinuating that reiners don’t care about their horses and will run them through anything? They have no concerns about proper footing and don’t give a darn about what happens to their horses? Do you really think that good reining footing is “deep loose sand” or “bad floor” or “concrete?” Wow.

Good reining footing is nowhere near a deep sand beach. It may be deep-ER than good jumping or dressage footing, but it’s not a deep sand beach.

[TMares]

I don’t know what’s so hard to understand about wanting the right footing

[DownYonder]

@Palm Beach

So a reiner doing circles and changing leads is somehow different than a dressage horse doing circles and changing leads? That exact same footing will make a dressage horse unsound but not a reiner?

As others have explained multiple times - reiners need deep, loose, round sand for their slides. They are used to working in that type of footing. Dressage horses need a different type of footing and a more angular sand for better grip. They are used to working in that type of footing and would be prone to injury if worked in typical reining footing. Add to it the fact that reiners can wear boots in competition, but dressage horses are not allowed to wear boots or support bandages in competition.

While it is not a given that any particular dressage horse will be injured competing in reining footing, the TOP RIDERS in the world were not willing to risk it with their MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR HORSES. And I would be willing to bet that the reiners would not want to risk THEIR horses either trying to compete FOR MEDALS on incorrect footing.

Remember that many of these folks have their eye firmly on Tokyo in 2020. Not worth the gamble just to entertain us lowly hoi-polloi.

[roseymare]

@GraceLikeRain

Slow cantering a 20 meter circle v. a pirouette

a single sweeping lead change v. 15 tempis

…I’d call that different.

I think it’s the lateral movements that are an issue.

But they could have adjusted the footing. They can take out dirt.