[QUOTE=00Jumper;5144933]
For me, it wasn’t the ride itself; Lauren had a lot of mistakes, Mario had a lot of mistakes, Mclain made some mistakes even - all riders make mistakes, like it or not. What I am upset about in regards to Mario is that he continued after the fall. The horse, to my eyes, had a rough fall, and was NQR at first. I can understand Mario continuing over the next vertical, but the way Urico jumped the following oxer (Keeneland) was definitely NOT ok in light of a fall like that, and I as a rider would have pulled up. He didn’t have a hope of beating Lauren’s score, so why push on? Cropping the horse through the rest of the course was just ridiculous. It wasn’t poor riding that got me upset, it was the poor horsemanship.[/QUOTE]
Ditto & Amen!
[QUOTE=00Jumper;5144933]
What I am upset about in regards to Mario is that he continued after the fall. The horse, to my eyes, had a rough fall, and was NQR at first. I can understand Mario continuing over the next vertical, but the way Urico jumped the following oxer (Keeneland) was definitely NOT ok in light of a fall like that, and I as a rider would have pulled up. He didn’t have a hope of beating Lauren’s score, so why push on? Cropping the horse through the rest of the course was just ridiculous. It wasn’t poor riding that got me upset, it was the poor horsemanship.[/QUOTE]
I totally agree with RoxySM’s post.
It’s really easy to make the call as an armchair quarterback…particularly in hind sight.
But having had a horse do odd things in very big classes, I recognize that in a situation like that (slightly green horse gets backed off and comes through the back end of the fence), sometimes the ride that has to take place involves some extra rider encouragement. I would imagine that he continued after the jump trying to figure out whether he felt like Urico was stepping normally or not and made a split decision that the horse felt normal enough to continue. It’s impossible to know in that second whether the next bad jump is because of a physical issue or a mental issue because the horse backed itself off at the triple bar. Rarely does a horse make a mistake like that and then jump the rest of the (BIG) fences in a completely normal manner.
And even more important to my judgement call on this…I’ve had a horse come through the back end of a fence and do a similar stumble and I would be willing to bet that it didn’t feel as bad as it looked. I think it’s highly unlikely that he knew the horse torqued his hind end in that odd manner from his seat in the saddle.
I would say that in a regular class (i.e. not at WEG) it would make a lot of sense to pull up. But at such a big event I think there’s extra incentive to continue on UNLESS the horse feels unable to do it. He made a judgement call that may or may not have been the right call. If the horse is okay today then it was the right call to continue on. My instincts as a rider are to keep jumping after an issue on course (i.e. horse backed off at something) because I want the positive encouragement of finishing the jumps after a near-wreck. I have pulled up because something hasn’t felt right before, but I just didn’t think that in this case it was so obvious that it called for him to pull up.
If the horse is injured or lame then my jingles go to a speedy recovery.
I thought Deslauriers should have made sure the horse was OK… that was surprising to me. But I also get it’s WEG and you only get one shot. Sucks for the horse though.
Found this picture, it illustrates what happened with the horse’s back end pretty darn well. http://oi51.tinypic.com/dqmb8n.jpg
[QUOTE=PNWjumper;5145030]
But having had a horse do odd things in very big classes, I recognize that in a situation like that (slightly green horse gets backed off and comes through the back end of the fence), sometimes the ride that has to take place involves some extra rider encouragement. [/QUOTE]
I agree. It looked to me like:
a) Mario was giving a soft forward ride to the triple bar (and likely focusing on the vertical to follow)
b) Urico got nervous and sucked back the last two strides – Mario was taken slightly by surprise and didn’t react fast enough.
c) Crash the triple bar; Mario circles
d) horse is shaken but steady on his feet.
I’d argue that in such a situation, even if it wasn’t the WEG, it was important from a schooling perspective to continue, and to give the horse a forward and positive ride to each jump.
The horse didn’t look hurt to me. He looked like he was mentally rattled.
So why exactly was such a green and easily rattled horse at WEG? Shouldn’t that be the highest level of competition for the most experienced horses (like Sapphire who, mistakes aside, had been there, done that)? I feel sorry for the horse if he was so overfaced by the course. Doesn’t seem like a great way to make a top quality horse. Somehow the words “green” and “WEG” don’t seem like they should be used in the same sentence.
Oh, dear dog, that picture:(
You took the words right out of my mouth, Commander Cody! I totally agree. The horse just looked overfaced, plain and simple.
It takes a real stretch of the imagination to believe that someone of Mario’s level could not “feel” what happened to his horse.
If you need to take a jump for confidence, then do it in the warm up ring, after you have excused yourself and let the Vets check him out.
It was very poor horsemanship, which led to poor horsemastership. 
Jingles that Mario’s horse was not seriously injured.
At this level you should know how to support and ride your horse, green or not. It’s always rider error in one way or another. ALWAYS. Blaming the horse is the easy way out.
First of all, he “yee-hawed” the horse to the fence it crashed on, hands way up high and in the air somewhere by the horse’s ears, and elbows flapping. Not exactly a quiet, supportive ride.
That, followed by a serious display of poor horsemanship and poor judgment in either not noticing or not caring that the horse wasn’t right, is not something I’d expect of a world-class rider.
I hope the horse is OK, both physically and mentally.
In an attempt to clarify things here, please note that as per George Morris, there is nothing physically wrong with Urico. He is sound and yesterday they jumped him over a few small jumps to get his confidence back.
I don’t know about anyone else, but this is the only piece of information I was looking for. Thank you, Molly.
[QUOTE=Molly Sorge;5145939]
In an attempt to clarify things here, please note that as per George Morris, there is nothing physically wrong with Urico. He is sound and yesterday they jumped him over a few small jumps to get his confidence back.[/QUOTE]
Thanks Molly! Good to hear.
[QUOTE=T-storm chick;5144556]
I was a little bit miffed he switched from riding for Canada to riding for the U.S.A.–but after that, you guys can have him!:lol:[/QUOTE]
My thoughts exactly! 
OK, easy to sit back and place blame. Urico is NOT THAT green and was the best of the SOUND horses eligible to go in the opinion of the selection committee compared to what was presented to them for consideration.
We have quite a number of quality horses that are currently out of commission and a few riders not able to compete for various reasons.
Part of the committes job is to move younger horses along for the next games and there is a fine line in getting mileage for the next team versus older horses at their last Games.
Unless you can say you KNEW what the rider was thinking and he KNEW how bad that “splits” behind looked to onlookers? How can you condemn when the horse lept up and wanted to keep going and was sound the next morning?
I sure can’t and I have no patience for anything resembling abuse. It is easy when you are not in the irons.
[QUOTE=Roxy SM;5144760]
I’m shocked to hear everyone ripping Mario apart! Urico is green and when Mario tried to move up to get to the base of the triple bar his horse did not respond because he is green and very careful and was backed off by the very imposing fence. The horse did not respond to Mario’s leg or stick so he jumped way up and so couldn’t get across and crashed. At that point the medals were still pretty wide open (especially silver and bronze) Sapphire had not yet gone so nobody knew she would have 8 faults. To the person who was apalled that Mario used his stick at the last oxer, he probably did it to encourage the horse to jump across the back rail to avoid a repeat of the triple bar and scaring the horse. I really don’t understand why everyone is attacking him. In fact, Lauren Hough ruined what was probably going to be a clear round the day before by asking for an insanely long distance to a wide oxer. It wasn’t long because the horse was green and backed off, but rather it was the rider’s eye being wrong and making a distance error that one would not expect a rider of that level to make. She could have had just as bad a crash but simply got lucky.[/QUOTE]
Quick Study is NOT a green horse. He has years of experience competing at the international level and winning big money grand prixs! And Lauren had to go first and the course walked differently then it rode. I thought she had a pretty good ride considering the first that she went first and wasn’t able to watch anyone go infront of her! 
[QUOTE=Secret Dove;5146441]
Quick Study is NOT a green horse. He has years of experience competing at the international level and winning big money grand prixs! And Lauren had to go first and the course walked differently then it rode. I thought she had a pretty good ride considering the first that she went first and wasn’t able to watch anyone go infront of her! :)[/QUOTE]
Nobody has said Quick Study is green, nor that he did anything wrong. That rail was purely rider error.
Maybe what he felt (and what turns out to be the case) was that the horse was fine. As I saw it, horse took a questionalble step then shook it off. If he was hurt, he wouldn’t have jumped the rest of the course.
some of you people floor me. I guess if you get to represent the US at an International competition, you subject yourself to being torn apart on a BB? I am not referring to the remarks worrying about Unico. I also hope he is ok, but some of these other comments, how about put up or shut up?
I sure hope he is okay, couldn’t that type of injury rupture the peroneus tertius?
I guess not, if he was sound and fine today.
Hope the same can be said tomorrow, too!
I’ve cheered on Mario since Aramis. He’ll always be a canuck to me:)
