Isabell Werth’s Satchmo paniced yesterday-evening. The hugh videowall in the main arena was the cause that Satchmo almost felt on his back. Isabell told that she will file an official protest to get the screen removed or at least switched off during the training and tests.
Theo
[QUOTE=freestyle2music;3417823]
Isabell Werth’s Satchmo paniced yesterday-evening. The hugh videowall in the main arena was the cause that Satchmo almost felt on his back. Isabell told that she will file an official protest to get the screen removed or at least switched off during the training and tests.
Theo[/QUOTE]
Good for her I think that video screen is crazy…
It is too much. They are not robots. I don’t think that place is really built for horses.
I hope she is able to get that for all the competitors, it sounds like a terrible distraction.
It’s a scary place for horses in itself I agree. Why do they need to put a huge videoscreen up on top? If there is need for one why not have it elsewhere to give an extra space for watching…
At the 4 minute mark of this video made by Anky’s husband Sejf you can see the horses schooling in the ring near the the Video Wall. There is a horse that is spooking (it looks like it could be Isabell Worth but not sure) In any event, it’s not a big spook or rearing but you can see the horse is not digging that video wall and it seems in the commentary that Sejf is noting it too.
What, THAT little thing?? Please.
I agree that overall the place is scary for horses. The video screen may possibly need to be moved upwards a bit, above their sight line.
But remove it?? Are we not being just a bit extreme? Honestly, coming from 2 different disciplines (jumpers; ASBs) where large screens for the audience are bog-standard whether we like them or not… Get over it, Isabell, sorry.
Watching that video, several horses are shown working near the video wall with little problem. These are horses expected to perform in tense, electric conditions. Yes, unfair to not be able to get used to the videos, but it is a part of showing to have outside distractions. It seems unfair to say “OK, 80% of the horses were fine, but we’ll take it down since 20% including the favorite are not fine”. Should the judges ignore a horse that spooks at a banner or fence or judges box?
Bottom line- horses and riders should be able to handle the conditions given. If not, go home.
Maybe it was a particular video they were showing…
on the Video Wall. Came across this blog posting from Event rider Selena O’Hanlon
Day 10 - Aug 5th
Jog at 8 am Colombo looking very sound according to Dr. Ober. Yipee! Needed a few clenches tightened on his right front shoe, so Chris Volke the team farrier helped me out there. Light ride at 9 am.
Well no one told Colombo that. I took him into the main arena to walk around and get used to it more. Remember how I said he was easy when I rode him there last and the TV’s were on and the music…well. They had a TERRIBLE demo video on one of the big screens. It looked like a computer game from the days of the Commodore 64. It was showing the dressage tests and penalties for eventing and show jumping. Well every time the GIANT horse came on the screen most of the horses in the arena would spook and get upset. Colombo thought that was a great excuse, well if they’re doing it I should too. I walked and walked and walked trying to get him to settle and ignore it. Finally I gave up and just gave it some distance and walked around the rest of the ring. I took him to the large schooling ring and trotted a few steps of shoulder-in and half pass. Then worked a little on his canter (Mark Todd square) again. He was great because the excitement was just enough to get his butt underneath him.
I don’t think it would need to be removed, but it would seem sensible not to show extra busy animated nonsense during tests. Would it kill them for the screen to show a still picture during people’s tests?
Would it kill them for the screen to show a still picture during people’s tests?
That would make sense. And be fair. That way you don’t have one horse seeing a blank screen and one seeing some crazy video with flickering.
Um, well, no, the point is for it to be like a rock concert - where the video screen provides a closer look at what’s going on LIVE. I looked at the pics everyone has provided, and I actually thought it was pretty generous and sensible of the organizers to provide them with a “giant horse” to practice to!
Anyone here ever been to any of the horse shows they hold in KY at The Red Mile? Now THAT is some scary sh*t: you’re entering the ring at a spanking trot with a bunch of other horses - and what all y’all’s horses are seeing is the big video screen at the other end of the ring, with seemingly a whole herd of giant horses trotting straight at them!!
This would account for my “cowboy up, Izzy” attitude, no doubt! :lol:
I’ve never seen a big screen that close to an arena. Jumbotrons are usually placed high up in the stadium and well away from the horse’s line of sight. I think this placement is just stupid.
Most of the horses seemed to ignore the video screen, but still! Depending on what’s being projected on the screen at a given time, it could surely cause a distraction for the riders and judges. I hope they shut it off for the duration of the tests.
[QUOTE=War Admiral;3418271]
Um, well, no, the point is for it to be like a rock concert - where the video screen provides a closer look at what’s going on LIVE. I looked at the pics everyone has provided, and I actually thought it was pretty generous and sensible of the organizers to provide them with a “giant horse” to practice to!
Anyone here ever been to any of the horse shows they hold in KY at The Red Mile? Now THAT is some scary sh*t: you’re entering the ring at a spanking trot with a bunch of other horses - and what all y’all’s horses are seeing is the big video screen at the other end of the ring, with seemingly a whole herd of giant horses trotting straight at them!!
This would account for my “cowboy up, Izzy” attitude, no doubt! :lol:[/QUOTE]
Um Yea been to the red mile and if you are comparing those crazy saddlebreds to how a dressage horse is suppose to behave that is not realistic…
[QUOTE=ridgeback;3418320]
Um Yea been to the red mile and if you are comparing those crazy saddlebreds to how a dressage horse is suppose to behave that is not realistic…[/QUOTE]
Why not? They’re all expected to show obedience, pay attention to their riders and perform the requested movements correctly, not stop-prop-and-blow because they see Giant Horsies.
We expect our junior equitation riders to put in meticulous, letter-perfect individual tests in the Red Mile ring. If it’s THAT damn hard at the Olympics, how come Izzy is the only one complaining?
Ah well: perhaps the monsoon will blow the thing down! :lol:
I dunno…
They ARE getting the chance to work the horses on site to acclimate to the ring, and the screen. Yes, it’s a bit low, but they do have a chance to introduce it. They’re even being given actual moving video to work with.
Isn’t dressage all about that whole “submission” thing anyway? Welllll…IF the horse is truly obedient, on the aids and submissive, seems to me the horse should maybe flick an eyelash but go on about its business, in the gait and pace selected by the rider, regardless!
Many of us talk about getting people involved, increasing the spectator base and demystifying equine sports. The big screen projection is a step toward that, IMO, allowing people to see the movements up close, even if they’re not there. I think the concept is quite good, and frankly, maybe the riders just need to test their training and deal with it…
Heck, if Scout could finish his Green Conformation round at Devon WITH a whippet literally at his heels over the jumps - and stay on course, focused and not break at all - a video screen that isn’t actually chasing a horse should be OK, too!
It’s the Olympics. I don’t thinks she or anyone else should have to “cowboy up”. All of those riders have spent a lifetime getting there; to have it potentially blown by a screen that is unusually big and unusually low down…I don’t think it’s fair.
[QUOTE=Mozart;3418367]
It’s the Olympics. I don’t thinks she or anyone else should have to “cowboy up”. All of those riders have spent a lifetime getting there; to have it potentially blown by a screen that is unusually big and unusually low down…I don’t think it’s fair.[/QUOTE]
How is it not fair? EVERY horse/rider combination who competes at the Olympics and WEG has to deal with a set of circumstances which is, after all, quite unique to those two events. The jumbotron is not likely to be turned ON just for Isabell’s test and turned OFF for everybody else!!
Unless a horse has campaigned at that level before, it has probably never encountered noisy crowds of that size, or jumbotrons, or floodlights that bright, or being misted while ridden, or any of the other stuff that’s going on. Being able to perform consistently and well under exceptionally trying circumstances is part of what makes an international horse truly Olympic-caliber.
I do agree that the screen would ideally be moved UP, but as to removing it completely, I’d vote no.
I just hate the mindset that says all public events (baseball games, other sporting events, meetings) have to have the look and feel of a freaking video game. We are raising a generation of kids who can’t pay attention to anything slower moving than a video game, and we are gonna be sorry for it.
Equestrian sports are not electronic phenomena. The audience needs to be ready to shut up, sit down, be quiet, watch, and let the horses do their thing. If you are too ADD to attend to something that doesn’t look and behave like a video game, you shouldn’t be taking up scarce seats and tickets.
(I am not always so cranky, but the perpetual motion jumbotrons make me nuts.)
War Admiral, I’m with you. I’ve been to dressage shows where, if a stray napkin flutters, people gasp and panic! OOOH! It might spook a horse. Sheesh. Try a windy hunter show, with chairs flying into the ring, and jumps coming down while the Jack Russel just has to run into the ring while you’re coming down a line which has pigeons scratching around in the dirt in.
Or, the killer umbrellas ringside?
Or, Harley’s rumbling along the road next to the ring?
I get it that the screen is none of those things, but take a peak at a jumper show sometime–horses need to be used to distractions and high pressure situations to show at the Olympic/World level. Move it up if necessary, but Oy Vey.
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