Before. The viaducts and flowers were removed. They were outside the ring with ring crew members perched on them.
Huh. It doesnât look all that bizarre in the picture, but obviously many horses felt differently about it.
I still remember the year someone had the bright idea to include a decorative fish pond in the ring at Harrisburg for the Medal finals. It was not part of any jump, and the horses had to just go past it on the way to another jump. But quite a few of the horses had a strong reaction to it, including a few that would have been considered favorites that day.
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That was my exact thought when I looked at the jumpâŚuntil I blinked and turned my head slightly and then the boxes morphed into a giant bottomless pit under the jump.
What an interesting situation!
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Under lights, I bet the horses saw a yawning pit under the rails. That matte paint and the contrast create an optical illusion. I totally understand why this would have been a really normal fence in daylight that became an unfair question in the conditions.
I know that my horse, who would jump through fire, would canter up to that asking why the Sam Hill someone put a ditch in the sand ring. And thatâs if he could process what he was seeing in time to decide it was a ditch. If it came up off a short turn, and especially if there was light glare around the turn, I bet this basically turned into an unplanned test of equine visual acuity.
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Found a video obviously after the change, but it gives an idea of how it may have seemed to the horses.
That is way less spooky than I would expect.
Actually, it looks like a pretty inviting jump to me.
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Clearly horse has figured out how to post here. We are all dooooooomed. ðŸËâðŸËâðŸËâ
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As I mentioned, I went to look at the jump more closely and saw it with the lights trained down on it, and to my eye it looked different in that moment than it came out in the photo posted here. I also took a similar photo and it didnât look out of the ordinary either, but with the lighting it sure did look weird up close in person. (Hmmm, maybe the horses just collaborated for funsies and decided to do a group spook?:D)
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What looks so scary there? Black boxes? Did they change under lights, as had been mentioned? How so?
It was something looking down onto the black boxes with the lights reflecting/bouncing off the paint, this kind of dazzling glare thing and the the boxes being dark at the same time. I donât have horse eyes, but I imagine as the horses came around and approached, they saw something in the light against the dark boxes and it obviously registered âdanger, danger,â in those horsey brains. I still go back to the fact that these were not green âdumbed downâ horses and inexperienced, timid riders out there. Canât imagine the course designers could have foreseen the issue. I imagine everyone wished it had been different, but Iâm glad they werenât afraid to take action on it before more horses were rattled, whatever the actual specifics were with that jump.
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I do think that looks like a little bit of a spooky setting in general, between the fact that the class is at night under the lights, but the horses can still see outside the ring, plus there are a lot of spectators right along the rail. I donât know if that is typical on the West Coast, but I canât think of too many shows on the East Coast with a similar setting. So if the horses were a little nervous in the first place, and then the one jump looked extra spooky, that might have been enough to cause a problem.
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There are tables right up against the rail, with clinking tableware, people moving around, etc. There is usually a line set up there and several horses generally look worried, at the least. Definitely more spooking on that side of the ring than the bleacher side, based on attending most of the regionals over the last fifteen or so years, mostly from the bleacher side. An additional distraction this year was stabling set up at the end of the ring on the approach to 2.
There is another medal final in that ring, with the last round at night, in August, with many of the same riders, so many have seen it. There are other classes in the ring before the Maclay, though none at night. But still a scary venue.
Initially I thought it was mostly the VIP effect with a bit of a funny-looking fence thrown in. Or maybe there was an exceptionally scary table right there. The course designer may weâll have thought they were making the fence more appealing with the fill; I doubt they were trying to set a trap.
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Someone commented on Holly Scapaâs facebook post (a picture of the jump in question) saying,
âThe kids that actually had a shot at representing the west coast proud and could actually ride the Maclay finals track had issues becuase of this poor judgment jump on the course (course designer error). One kid who stopped currently wins Grand Prixs. The other kid is without question one of the best riders in the entire country . She got pitched into the middle of this jump . Some first timers (fact ) chipped around the course but somehow managed to kick like hell over the oxer would have qualified , would have made it to Maclay finals , and would have sank and drowned in the national championships . Is that who we wanted to represent the west coast ?â
This feels like itâs totally invalidating the riders who made it over the course the first time - I know luck might be a factor, but sometimes riders who arenât big names have success.
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What big Facebook post?
Holly Scapaâs, it currently has over 300 comments on a picture of said jump
Thanks. And welcome to the BB. 
Does anyone have a link to the original order of go for the class?
I saw one ride, a rider that ended up in 12th. Her horse peeked at the oxer, but jumped it in strideâŚIt looked like the filler may have appeared odd, and the fact the VIP dinning tables were mere inches away from that oxer, the fist jump (second jump on course) in the outside line.
Order of go:
https://showgroundslive.com/bes/classsignup/ViewSetOrder/cgid/250
Results:
https://showgroundslive.com/bes/classes/Detail/cid/369
That Facebook thread is interesting.
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