Karl Cook Wins for California In Inaugural World Cup Class (Video.)

[outside_leg]

@MHM

Some people seem to either not know or have forgotten that the correct form was not just arbitrarily decided by some random person based on aesthetics. It was developed to be the most effective position, which is why people strive to develop it in the first place.

This is the point that I think many are missing. Good position isn’t as much about jamming your heels down or sticking your chest out—that’s posing. Good position is similar to the athletic stance you adopt in various sports with a balanced center of gravity. When you throw away the balance for the sake of an aesthetic, that’s not proper position.

So both Karl and McLain may be saying the same thing…but Karl is also on record decrying equitation and dismissing some of the fundamentals. I don’t want to diminish anything he’s accomplished, and I think he’s done a great job of late. But… I think it was Val Renihan in the comments who also pointed out that Karl has a lot of advantages that not everyone has: wealth, top training, and fearlessness. And that Karl struggled for years, and maybe could have moved up the ranks faster by focusing on his own position/technique.

Regardless, for most of us mere mortals, we’re probably better off focusing on our balance and position if we want to ride effectively.

Edited to add: John Madden just posted a very thoughtful take on FB about position and its relation to horse and rider safety. That’s well worth the read IMO

[LSBC]

I am honestly surprised by some of the comments on the NF post by top trainers. I wouldn’t think some would be so public about their opinions of Karl.

To be fair, I didn’t love the article. I think that proper position allows riders to develop the strength they need to cue the horse correctly. However, when riders are unwilling to break the stiff position they’re in to ask the horse for something, it becomes a problem. I remember I was helping a lady get a somewhat difficult horse to canter, and you had to ask definitively. She was unwilling to compromise any part of her position and, therefore, couldn’t ask effectively. I kept telling her to “ride ugly,” and once she was able to move out of her stiff position, she actually got the transition.

[MHM]

@Rel6

You need the form because it allows you to function. But if you’re trying to get the form/perfect equitation at the cost of function, you’ve lost the plot.

The fact that some people get carried away with posing instead of riding does not diminish the importance of striving to attain the most functional and effective position.

If you look at pictures of McLain and Beezie over the years jumping the biggest tracks in the world, they usually look like they are strong contenders to win the 1.60 equitation class. And they both won the World Cup finals and multiple Olympic gold medals in the process.

Coincidence? I think not.

[kenyarider]

The McLain/Karl drama is amazing! I never suspected that people like McLain, Max Amaya and Henrik von Erickman would be so open. Discourse is good, as is discord. IMO. P.S. I love Mclain’s style and was so sad when that last rail fell.

[supershorty628]

Add me to the group who thinks that there’s some deliberate obtuseness going on, and some of the comments on Facebook are, IMO, lacking in taste and class.

There are ways to disagree without trashing people, and it’s disappointing to see the direction that some people have chosen to go.

[skydy]

@sixteenhands

@bluemoon1231

Who leaves out a stride (whether on purpose or not) coming down to a 1.60m spread in the first round,

https://youtu.be/fumZkBe0Q6o?si=d_qQYAPJ1eE6_s9T

In the first round of the class yesterday 8 riders retired in the first round. In the jump-off King Edward and Catch Me Not stopped at the same fence, Lorenzo De Luca fell off, and Martin Fuchs crashed through a fence breaking a rail.

A long time ago there was criticism of Richard Spooner’s jumping form on COTH (by a junior no less.)

He had a weirdly loose leg over fences but he could default to perfect form when necessary. This never gets old for me: https://www.horsejournals.com/video/richard-spooner-jumps-without/drops-reins

I don’t follow facebook but if our top riders are arguing, that’s too bad. I hope it is more of a debate, which is interesting if the people involved know what they are talking about and just have different opinions.

I get enough of people’s (not international riders) opinions from reading here, and most COTH posters are more or less knowledgeable about horses and riding. I think reading facebook comments would be an overload of opinions from people who know nothing.

Anyway the answer to “who leaves out a stride (whether on purpose or not) coming down to a 1.60m spread in the first round…” is, Almost everyone who rides at the international level, sooner or later.

[Rumorhasit93]

I mean…this video is the horse taking off a stride early, not McLain asking the horse for one less in a line…not the same (and I am not a fan of KC, just pointing out that McLain did not ask for this, lol).

[Rel6]

No one is disagreeing with what you are saying. But McLain and Beezie aren’t the riders they are because they are posing, or trying to achieve some “perfect position” for the sake of having a perfect position itself. They are incredible for the reasons you said earlier - they epitomize form as the most effective position and the most correct position for the sake of function.

But you take a 15 year old who looks at that and thinks okay - if I look like them in the air, I can ride that way. They start jamming their heels down, bracing in their leg, and get stiff in their arm and back. Maybe they have a photo where the snapshot looks great but the moment a horse drops its heads in front of a fence or plays a little they are tumbling over its neck. That is exactly what Karl is getting at - having the goal be the “perfect position” itself, not the function behind it.

Great form is how you achieve the end goal of effective riding. Great form itself shouldn’t be the end goal.

[NaturallyHappy]

Can anyone linking to the FB post? I am curious about it, but can’t find it. Thank you.

[faultfree]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19rN5GEgQQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

It kind of feels like McLain is using his platform to create a pile on due to personal dislike of Karl. Leaving me a bit disappointed in his behavior, to be quite honest.

[MHM]

@faultfree

It kind of feels like McLain is using his platform to create a pile on due to personal dislike of Karl.

It did not strike me that way. At all. But of course, different people will take things different ways on the internet.

[LSBC]

I am hoping it was genuinely just poor timing of sharing the article and then posting who he is voting for for equestrian of the year.

[faultfree]

I saw the other post and had this thought also

[ilovetheadd27]

I’d agree with this - he doesn’t seem to get on social a ton, and he’s not one to over comment or over share. When he does post on social, his content is thoughtful and generally tactful. IMO a poorly timed re-post of the voting (“oh while I do have a minute, I’ll share this one too”). There’s so much passion and had work behind this sport, I think the man is owed some grace here.

[supershorty628]

What I find the most disappointing is when icons in our sport see comments on their posts that are nothing but personal attacks on a teammate (calling someone a “nepo baby,” for example) and say nothing to stop that.

Again, there are ways to have this conversation without letting it get ugly like that. Seeing people who are role models for many in the sport not do so… it just saddens me a little.

[MHM]

@skydy

I think reading facebook comments would be an overload of opinions from people who know nothing.

While I agree with this as a general rule, some of the people making comments in this case are the most successful riders and trainers of this century. And the last one.

So I would say their opinions have some weight.

[steelerino]

I didn’t feel that way at first but then the second post for the rider of the year nominations with Karl in it. Well yeah……

[faultfree]

Agree 100% and that’s what’s not sitting right with me. It’s one thing to respectfully add to a discussion with a countering view point. McLain’s post was a bit aggressive in that regard, but I probably could have forgiven that had he not proceed to allow a 300+ comment pile on singing his praises and trashing a fellow US team rider. Which he conceivably knew that was exactly what was going to happen. Public infighting isn’t a great look for us.

[Demerara_Stables]

I’ve not kept it a secret that I’m not a fan of Karl’s, but for reasons other than his riding. However, I do feel a little bad for him that McLain is calling his theory nonsense and John Madden is piling on.

As a fellow Californian, I think we are fighting an uphill battle to prove our legitimacy in this sport and the old guard from the east coast doesn’t want to hear about new ideas and opinions, many of which Karl has shared on his platform over the past couple of years. I think both of their thoughts on position hold some truth and I agree with others here that say it’s a shame that it has come to drama like this.

[Aussie_2020]

I don’t like to hear riders dissing another’s style. It sounds like sour grapes. I think McLain has beautiful form that follows through with beautiful function. He reminds me a bit of William Steinkraus. Steinkraus always looked correct, such an amazing rider. On the other hand Rodney Jenkins didn’t have that “correct form” but he always looked to me to be in perfect sync with his horse. Both were incredible horsemen, and they both had a style that suited themselves and the horses.

@skydy I love that video of Spooner too! His balance is , I remember some people criticizing his lower leg, but I think it was so he didn’t hit the fence with a foot.