Isabell Werth wants the video-walls removed at HongKong

[Mozart]

I’m not saying just move it for Isabell or just the dressage horses, I think it is too much and should be moved for all of the horses.

And yes, there is plenty of distraction at hunter shows, but as someone who has shown hunters, jumpers, eventing and dressage, it is my experience that the same horse will react differently to an external distraction during a dressage test than during a jumping round. When they are jumping, the fences and the course in general have a much stronger “pull” on their attention. They notice much less of the external stimuli than when they are doing a dressage test.

[Lori_B]

Moving it isn’t necessary. Just project something STILL for the duration of each test.

And no one told the riders prepping for the Olympics that they would have to bombproof their horses for jumbotron animation before they came to Hong Kong. How exactly does one school that at your average indoor arena?

[War_Admiral]

[QUOTE=Lori B;3418451]
Moving it isn’t necessary. Just project something STILL for the duration of each test. [/QUOTE]

Thereby defeating the whole purpose. If I were to travel to Hong Kong & get stuck in the cheap seats, I know I would love to have a close-up of Isabell’s (and everyone else’s) application of the aids during the tests…

Guys, they had jumbotrons at the last WEG, too. For everybody. In this day & age I just think it’s an occupational hazard that riders are going to have to learn to accept and work around, sorry.

[ridgeback]

[QUOTE=War Admiral;3418356]
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:[/QUOTE]

Obedience hmmm I don’t think they are the same…I don’t want to make this a saddlebred thing but they want those horses on the edge of exploding and I’ve seen plenty of it while at the red mile. I’ve seen horses spook, cut corners, can’t stand in line and still win…lets just say it’s different…Lets be clear they don’t have a giant screen on the ground at red mile it’s up in the air where the horses don’t even notice it.

[ThreeFigs]

War Admiral, I understand that dressage shows in Europe are lots noisier and the crowds rowdier than here in the US. Yes, here we tend to treat dressage like a tennis or a chess match – which is a bit over the top the OTHER way.

No, there’s no comparison between Saddleseat and Dressage. As far as I know, no dressage trainer uses fire extinguishers and the like to “entertain” (yes, a term I’'ve heard used by Saddleseat people) horses. The methods of training and expectations for ASB’s is not even in the same universe as dressage.

A previous poster remarked that these people have worked years and years to get to the Olympics. Yes, everyone is likely to have to tolerate the Jumbotron, so in that sense, it’s “fair”. OTOH, what is fair about everyone having to put up with such a distracting device during what may be the most important competitive event of their lives? Why can’t the 'tron be shut off for the duration of the tests? If it is meant for the people in the cheap seats, well, the placement is unfortunate. It is still placed too low compared to other venues I’ve seen. Move it higher and/or further back. The cheap seat folk will still benefit from it, but land’s sakes, get it away from the arena edge!

If a person or a horse gets injured or killed, will you still be so smug? I hear the train a’coming on this one.

[STF]

I dont blame her. Its stupid to have it there.
Poor horses thinks a HUGE horse from outerspace is out to get them

[ridgeback]

[QUOTE=War Admiral;3418469]
Thereby defeating the whole purpose. If I were to travel to Hong Kong & get stuck in the cheap seats, I know I would love to have a close-up of Isabell’s (and everyone else’s) application of the aids during the tests…

Guys, they had jumbotrons at the last WEG, too. For everybody. In this day & age I just think it’s an occupational hazard that riders are going to have to learn to accept and work around, sorry.[/QUOTE]

Yes they had them at the World Cup, Spruce meadows etc but the point that it’s at ground level and the horse can see itself as it trots toward the screen is crazy.

[magnolia73]

they would have to bombproof their horses for jumbotron animation before they came to Hong Kong

Some horses seem fine. Some horses need more bombproofing than others. Some need more work on being supple. Some need more work to get good gaits. Everything is a trade off. You have some benefit with a big explosive horse with great gaits- but there is sometimes a tradeoff. Why should anything be modified to accomodate what is indeed a fault of the horse’s and its training?

They have a few days to get in that ring and get the horses used to it. Sorry your horse reacts to things by rearing dangerously. But you aren’t a 4-Her at your first show. It’s a risk you take showing a brilliant horse. The unexpected is expected to figure into scoring sometimes. That’s part of a show.

Being a spook is not a “given” for performance horses…

[Tiligsmom]

@Beasmom;3418476

No, there’s no comparison between Saddleseat and Dressage. As far as I know, no dressage trainer uses fire extinguishers and the like to “entertain” (yes, a term I’'ve heard used by Saddleseat people) horses. The methods of training and expectations for ASB’s is not even in the same universe as dressage.

Beasmom - AGREE! What a silly comparison!!! All you have to do is watch a SB competition to see that Tension is stimulated and rewarded. Relaxation is the foundation of the Dressage training scale. The 2 are mutually exclusive.

[Lori_B]

I ride a horse who didn’t spook when an ultralight plane buzzed the field she was being trail ridden across. However, she won’t be doing any Prix St. George work in the near future. (ha) It’s an exceedingly rare horse who is both bombproof and extraordinarily athletic and talented.

The fact that the screen is down near ring level just seems like bad planning and a decisionmaking, divorced from the realities of handling horses. Most screens at arenas and stadiums are quite high in the air, making them a far less immediate source of distraction.

[slc2]

This is not a napkin fluttering, and this is not a bunch of local DQ’s.

[Regal_Grace]

Eurodressage - Video Screen Causes Problems

http://www.eurodressage.com/reports/shows/2008/08og/pre_screen.html

[Ginger]

Satchmo is not a novice dressage horse, and Isabel is not being a prissy DQ. She is putting the safety of her horse first, I applaud her for that. I hope she prevails. Maybe Satchmo reacted more because he was being ridden in a snaffle compared to everyone else who was in a double??

WA, you can see much better with binoculars than with a jumbotron, which usually has a pretty fuzzy picture anyway. I am sure you can find good ones pretty inexpensively in Hong Kong.

[freestyle2music]

[QUOTE=Regal Grace;3418559]
http://www.eurodressage.com/reports/shows/2008/08og/pre_screen.html[/QUOTE]

Yes I love this QOUTE :

In an interview with the Dutch national television (NOS news), Anky’s Sjef trainer was asked if this year would be the year that the Dutch team would beat The Netherlands, and Janssen quipped, “you should ask if the Germans are able to beat the Dutch.” The assertive Janssen, who is the official Dutch team trainer and Anky’s year long individual coach, has all the right to say that it will be very hard for the Germans to beat The Netherlands this year based on the lower than average scoring performances of the Germans this show season.

[War_Admiral]

LOL, OK, the Red Mile comparison wasn’t all that apt - other than I was trying to agree with y’all that Jumbotrons can be scary.

However: Competitive riding - no matter what level or discipline - is a game of mental toughness and preparation.

All the team leaders, from every country, had the opportunity to review this layout and observe mock competitions in that selfsame arena with all the bells and whistles as early as 2007. They all knew the Jumbotron was going to be there WELL in advance. That gave them all plenty of time to be prepared.

I forget which blog I was reading, but I know one team was sufficiently concerned about the plastic horse statues scattered around at ringside that they went home and built some at Team HQ. You telling me that they couldn’t afford a few grand for some big screen teevees?

Everybody from every country in every discipline has seen the Jumbotron well before these Games. No one else has said anything.

So what’s Isabell playing at here? Did the rest of her team prepare at home with big screen teevees and she thought she was too epic to NEED to, and is now finding out the hard way? Or do you think she’s playing a psychological game here with her fellow competitors?

I can see a certain amount of merit in trying to psych out one’s fellow competitors so that THEY go in the ring all tensed up, thinking “OMG, OMG, my horse is gonna spook at that Jumbotron” and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy…

There is no such thing as a perfect environment for any equestrian competition. Every horse, at some time in its competitive career, again irrespective of discipline, is going to have to compete in a ring where it Sees Dead People and other horses don’t. And every rider is going to have to learn to deal effectively with that.

This is called competition. And I’m sorry, but any rider who is sitting there thinking “OMG, my horse is gonna spook at that” and whining that it should be removed is less of a rider than those more mentally toughwho just get on with the job of preparation.

[gieriscm]

Well, it looks like the problem has resolved itself. From the article:

The monitor is not very technically reliable, and it can not be guaranteed that it will work during all rides, which will lead to unequal circumstances for the participants. So for the moment, the thing will stay shut down.

Also, after seeing the picture of it, I have to say that my horse would probably freak as well if I tried to ride by it.

[Dixon]

[QUOTE=Ginger;3418566]
Satchmo is not a novice dressage horse, and Isabel is not being a prissy DQ. She is putting the safety of her horse first, I applaud her for that. I hope she prevails. . . . you can see much better with binoculars than with a jumbotron, which usually has a pretty fuzzy picture anyway. I am sure you can find good ones pretty inexpensively in Hong Kong.[/QUOTE]

Yes. And the jumbotron is but one unusually visible example of how the Beijing Olympic organizers and the HK facilities do not place the horses’ best interests first.

[War_Admiral]

[QUOTE=gieriscm;3418598]

The monitor is not very technically reliable, and it can not be guaranteed that it will work during all rides, which will lead to unequal circumstances for the participants. So for the moment, the thing will stay shut down.

Now, that I would totally agree with.

[mp]

[QUOTE=War Admiral;3418356]
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.[/QUOTE]

What Beasmom said. If dressage horses were trained to be animated with fire extinguishers and shaker cans, you might have a point. Since they aren’t and dressage tests aren’t ridden “in a herd” the way rail classes are, you don’t.

[slc2]

Isabel has years and years of competing successfully at very, very noisy loud venues with all sorts of distractions and with very, very powerful, fit, excited horses performing the most difficult dressage tests at the highest standard in the world. I have seen her ride thru incredible spooks, bucks and young horse shenanigans on her video of training young horses.

If she says it’s too much, it’s too much.