Did somebody already post this upthread about Luke’s horse Jamaica? Very sweet story.
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I was confused by the “first finals” comment too, since she rode him to 5th at Medal Finals last month.
Yes. Maybe she meant it was his first year doing the finals.
Again, I will cut them some slack for comments at the 8:00 PM press conference to wrap up the (much more than) 13 hour day. Lol.
Or maybe she lost track, since she rode a bunch of assorted horses in the last month, including winning three different finals on three different horses. And that does not include all the hunters and jumpers she showed at Indoors.
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I thought maybe she either misspoke or it got lost in translation when she meant “first finals season.” Considering I call my horse the cat’s name sometimes, I wouldn’t be able to keep it straight if I rode as many as her.
More surprised the writer or editor of the article did not pick up on the inconsistency than anything else.
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Yes, that was a little odd. I wonder if they posted it on the website before running it by an editor.
Here is Luke’s test for anyone who missed it on Sunday.
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Excellent Plaidcast with the judges from the Maclay Finals. It’s The Plaid Horse podcast
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tldr; for those of us who can’t listen?
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Oh my gosh, that’s an incredible story. What a great young person, to show such patience and empathy.
Cut off for the top 25 was around an 85. Most scores clustered around 85-90, few above 90. Felt that left a lot of room for big movement in later rounds from riders called back lower. If there had been a clear cut front runner, they would not have tested but they didn’t feel there was.
Being a horseman comes first - need to look out for welfare of the animals. Could have tested again, but because of that did not want to.
Didn’t see any lame horses that they felt they could not let go on.
Augusta - first round was not perfect. Blown away by her second round. Loved how she rode the first line. Loved her track. It was what they were looking for in terms of precision and accuracy. It did look like on standby she is leapfrogging, but other riders were close and others near her moved down in flat. Things got tighter and tighter as day went on.
Isabella David - beautiful second round. Beautiful style. Carly had a very good second round, but weaker than first round where she nailed it so not enough to end class. Luke had a beautiful first round and excellent second round, but not enough to stop the round and stop testing. Everything so close.
Tessa was incredible in second round, hence her coming back on top.
That’s from the first 25:00.
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Re: the flat phase.
Supposed to count for 50%. Want to see position, not just posing, hate to see overflexion/behind the bit. Noticed a few riders with stirrup on the toe which showed weak base of support.
Stirrup position big thing. Affects so many other things. Others were just weaker - struggling without stirrups. Important you can execute smooth flying change. Wanted to ask counter canter. In the flat, in the finals, when you are against the clock - you have to be efficient. Everybody is trying to fine tune length of the day.
Flat phase helped to prepare riders/horses for what we wanted in final round. Asked for lengthening of canter in flat, and needed that for first line of test. Did not ask for it at trot, because did not test at trot.
Question about dressage-type flat test at other final, answer about needing more efficiency for Maclay finals.
Second round:
Set up first round course at home and rode it on a bunch of different horses. Thought it was almost the kind of course you ask riders to jump backwards. Took some of those same questions and added new ones. Started with very forward 6, opposite direction, then room for inside turn, to very short four that required you to hold the track, you didn’t have to land the left lead, but it looked a lot better than landing and getting a change or landing the counter lead and holding it. Then some flowing lines and see riders go forward and show off a bit. Next line was flowing 8, then flowing 7, then unrelated jumps. If you were more efficient with your track the visual impact meant something. If you went wide after the 7 and were tentative, it was less brilliant than Augusta who was beautifully efficient with her track. Testament to how she knew where she was every step of the way.
End jump set up a slightly different angle. Triple combo was a bit of a scope test at the oxer. Then some shortening after the triple. Helped separate the riders. Long approach we did not specify you had to hand gallop, but if you can ride forward and positive its going to leave a mark.
Big deciding factor was triple to steady five. A lot wanted to shift left. Testament to riders who kept them straight. One or two left a little long to the last - they didn’t need to fly to it.
Extremely impressed in general with the level of riding in the second round. Made the course look beautiful. Very difficult to sort through them. Top ones left some doubt in our minds and the ones below kept rising to the occasion - especially Augusta.
Everyone really knew what we expected in the course because Bobby talked about it.
Prefer to test from the gate and not make horses stand in the ring. Don’t mind trainers give input. Riding test, not memory test. Did not want to see people doing trick riding and land the counter lead. Its been used a lot. We came up with five because it just worked out number wise because those were the five we thought had the oppurtunity to rise to the top.
Everything was tight and close after second round. We felt like we had to test. We chose our riders. Some had been at or near top all day, others had moved up. We went with testing option we liked. Asked for clear instructions of how to execute the counter canter. We gave them a chance to show off. What really dazzled us was Augusta’s hand gallop. Class was up for grabs at that point and she was the only one who took it. Hers was excellent.
Q: What does turn on the haunches look like Robin?
A: To me, keep the horses feet moving, however, they need to cross with their front legs. Outside front crosses over inside front. Horse shoulder be bent to new direction or straight - not the same as pirouette or reining spin. It’s a little bit of our own turn on the haunch. We did it to set up the counter lead. For me, Luke did the best turn on the haunch for sure. But preceded it with lack of hand gallop.
Carly had a half step where she got a bit stuck in it, and had other issues with cross cantering and swap. Other riders struggled with hand gallop.
Day went extremely fast. What every judge wants to do is get it right. We did the best we could to get it right. Tough class to judge. No clear cut winner - we had to sort through a lot. It was really close.
Don’t do the best job when you worry about the score - we worry about getting them in the right order. Testing has clear and concise language on how to score it. Failing at a portion of the test is up to 10 point deduction.
(Up to 50:00)
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You are doing a great job, thank you for the summary. I hate listening to podcasts so I really appreciate the synopsis
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So many people watching on the livestream and stands. Some are really qualified, and others don’t have the depth of knowledge we do. Unless you’re sitting in the chair and watching the whole day, you can’t have the same perspective. Talking about how a 30 feet perspective shift made it look very different even for a hunter course.
Everyone watching on the livestream who has an opinion should work towards becoming a judge. It’s thankless but rewarding. We want success for everyone who walks through the gate.
Re: Skylar Wireman’s round. As we watched her go around, we were in awe. So impressed, it was beautiful. When she got to questionable jump, green jump at far end, we gasped a little bit. A three legged jump/stutter step. Horse did not come off the ground cleanly. Discussed it for a bit. In the end, decided it did happen - we did not put her completely out of the running. In hunters it would be in the 60s. We gave her a score that in the end did not put her on the standby.
Both of us saw it, and felt like it wasn’t a trip. I was a stutter. We can’t speculate as to why and it was a serious question mark. Without that, she was on her way to about a 94 and took about 10 points off for it. Put her at around an 84 - on the standby for a bit. But as the class went on, we had other better rounds that didn’t have a serious question mark at a jump. So got bumped off our list before standby was made public at next break. We talked about it a lot. Its unfortunate for her, and for us. She’s a beautiful rider - there were a lot of beautiful riders Others who made the second round did not have as serious a question mark.
Piper says McLain walked up to Skylar and told her he also was second twice and it turned out fine for him.
Michael talking about his throwback post on fb where he moved down after feeling like he rode better in a second round vs first, used it as motivation to progress.
Our sport is strong, Maclay shows how good the riders are coming out of it.
Admired level of sportsmanship. And when kids came to press conference - everyone was so excited for each other. So impressive. We watch all of them growing up through the ranks and competing against each other from the beginning. Allows them to excel in their own way. Such a future ahead, and equitation doesn’t end with junior career now because of college opportunities.
Not and ending, just a beginning. Goes for everyone in the class.
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Stand outs to me after listening:
*Judges did not think any horses looked lame/needed to be pulled up
*They seemed to really be against the idea of landing the counter lead
*At the point a judge is saying “it’s a little bit of our own turn on the haunch,” it should not be tested
*Luke’s second round was “excellent” - impression was they preferred the swap to landing the counter lead
*Close cluster of scores allowed Augusta to move up from lower on callback list
@Sarah616 - thank you! I always prefer when podcasts provide transcripts for interviews with guests, personally. This is better than nothing hopefully.
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Thank you for the summary.
I’m glad they addressed Skylar’s round, since it really looked spectacular from the angle of the camera. But if it looked different to them from their angle, it’s unfortunate but it makes sense that they scored it as they did.
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I’m sorry, if equitation is inventing its own definition for TOH, that needs to be:
1.) Spelled out in the rulebook, and
2.) Called something other than a TOH so as not to confuse with a REAL TOH
orrrrrrrrrrrrrr
3.) NOT USED AS A TEST IN THE FIRST PLACE
I pick option 3.
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Thank you @Rel6 I so appreciate it! I tried to listen while cooking dinner and caught some bits and pieces, but have some hearing impairment so this is amazingly helpful!
I heard this and thought it was a crazy thing to say out loud.
Also so weird, but I supposed explains Ellie being left out of the test. Even though I highly doubt she intentionally landed the counter lead.
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Having watched every round, all day long, the fact that they did not see any lame horses is concerning.
There is a clear definition for a turn on the haunches. It is a dressage movement, and obviously since the judges do not tell the riders what their interpretation of a movement is, that is the definition it should be judged on. Now, if the judges don’t know what the requirements for a turn on the haunch is, they should not be asking for one.
Equitation is based on riding the horse underneath you to the very best of your ability, to get the most out of your horse. Horses are not machines, and should not be ridden (or judged) as such. E.A. horse landed right. To call it “trick riding” is a joke. She rode so sympathetically all day, and when it didn’t quite go to plan, she stayed the course and made it work. What else could you ask for? Whether she should have won or not, I don’t know. Her first round was nice but not anywhere near the level her second round was, which was phenomenal.
I have no skin in this, other than it was the first time I invested an entire day to actually watch one of these finals and thought it was a complete disgrace.
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Just came across this:
