That was so exciting to watch, that’s what XC is all about!
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But is it a 5* event that also has a 3*, or is is 3* event that happens to have a small 5* attached to it.
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I don’t know if itt was mentioned above but it was super hot today. I struggled and I’m actually sitting in my car waiting on my friends. I can’t imagine what it was like galloping up that hill.
I’ve gone too all 4 years this year was a rough one. I didn’t think the course looked overly hard but that uphill climb in this weather maybe? I don’t know I think I got to see 4 horses at the upper water complex before the heat got three better of me. Really enjoyed walking three course for the 3*
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Spencer Sturmey.
Sinead Maynard is with him in the booth.
I know nothing of their prep, but I did wonder if a lack of “match practice” might have been affecting him.
Unfortunately it did seem that the hold affected them, and they lost focus. But to have to restart and do that difficult water right away was pretty tough, I don’t think anyone could hold that against them.
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While it is a bummer only 8 are going into show jumping tomorrow, I don’t think it was a bad day overall. Small field, issues were pretty spread out, options were there, no real big/scary things from what I saw. Sounds like it was a pretty warm day, so there were maybe more tired horses. Ollie said it was on par with Badminton, Burghley, and Kentucky… that notch up from the other 5*s.
I think with it being an Olympic year and the same weekend as Le Lion contributed to the small field.
Rooting for David Doel tomorrow!
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I would say this is my typical opinion of the event (have been all 4 years), but this year was noticeably different. The size of the field didn’t give you any time to wander along at your own pace and catch a few riders at every jump - you had to plan where you wanted to watch from and accept you’d maybe only get to see 5 different jumps. Of course this doesn’t apply to the 3*, we saw much of the course that way. Add to that the smaller crowd sizes at each fence, and then the carnage of the last half of the 5*…after Harry Meade retired his first horse, we saw maybe 6 more riders make it to the other questions in Sawmill Field. The energy was low overall. We have tickets tomorrow as well and are staying nearby (live over an hour away) so we will be here tomorrow, but hard to imagine we might be watching 6-8 in the SJ depending on who turns up to the jog soundly tomorrow. In addition, not that there aren’t some lovely riders left in the field, but a bummer to not have any US riders in the top 3 heading into the day! Fingers crossed for Jennie tomorrow!!
I do think the event organizers have been great about collecting and implementing feedback received, and know they will have to change course to attract more competitors (and convince spectators to return who came for the first time this year…).
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I agree. Some of the issues were clearly rider mistakes - not that I blame them, when you go to a 5* you want to try for the best result - but a 5* also magnifies any little mistakes and makes them big so quickly.
I think if you had an 80-horse field of the quality of Badminton or Burghley, you would have seen closer to a 50% clear rate and 60%+ finishing rate.
It’s really a shame that so many that came from overseas didn’t finish, I always feel bad for everyone having done the long expensive journey for it not to turn out.
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Away Cruising took a few false steps 3 fences I think before he pulled up, he looked pretty lame, I hope the horse is ok he’s been such a gem for Harry.
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Until you see something like I did a couple years ago. The rider (EV85/Entry/BN) came off very gently in the water, landed on her feet, and only fell on her butt because the water pulled her over. I caught her horse before he booked it back to the barn. I checked to see if she was ok, joked about how it was a good day to come off in the water (it was really hot lol) and had an entire lucid conversation with her about whether she wanted me to walk her horse back with her, and she explained how her horse was funny about water so she trotted him in but he still looked at the jump on the other side of the water…nothing weird at all. She said she was good to go, took her horse and started to walk back, out of my view behind a treeline. Maybe 15 seconds later, the jump judges were running over calling for medics because she apparently went down.
Turns out she’d had a fall and concussion about 10 days prior, and had been cleared by a doctor to return to competition. I saw her come off and it was one of the gentlest falls I’ve seen. I had no worries about letting her take her horse back alone to the trailers. But, just that little jostling was enough to reinjure her head.
I’m all for the one-fall-you’re-done rule. Then again in Canada if you fall in competition during any phase you’re eliminated (as far as I know, if you fall off in warmup you can continue after being cleared by the medic). Adrenaline makes you unaware of how badly hurt you are. I’ve seen motocross riders crash and break bones, and want to get back on and keep riding because they don’t realize what’s happened.
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I was wondering if heat played a role - it’s been a warm autumn in Maryland for the most part, but today was like 10 degrees warmer than it’s been for the rest of the week. The horses are coming from all over and I don’t how far in advance any of them arrive, but I think the temp had to be part of it.
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Has there ever been a 5* where only 8 (or maybe fewer after the jog tomorrow) go into Show Jumping? Between low 5* entries and the few going into SJ tomorrow, I know I won’t be making the trip to this venue again. This is my 3rd time and it disappoints each time. We have Tier 2 West tickets and the bathrooms are very far away from Section 4 making a short SJ session a good thing…if you can imagine that. They seem more concerned with squeezing us through the vendor area than anything else.
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Are there not outriders any longer at this event? I didn’t see any today but can’t remember if they were around the last 3 years either.
it almost seemed like the ground was tiring them?
that was the worst fence to restart at. It’s too bad they were really rocking it.
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I also think many riders should have gone long at those corners once they saw how it was riding, but they all kept going straight there!
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I didn’t walk on the actual lanes but the ground was SO hard. We haven’t had rain at all in …2 ish weeks? Maybe 3. Edit- definitely 3 weeks
And the hill up into Sawmill field is no joke.
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Long day volunteering. Came here to see what the thoughts were on the 5 star course since so few made it home.
I can confirm the heat and the course took a lot out of the horses. Even the 3 star horses were coming back knackered once it warmed up. They were all fit and recovered fine, but everyone was toasty.
No, I don’t think they’ve had any since it became the 5 star. I used to outride at the Fair Hill International.
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With all the comments about heat and ground conditions, aren’t riders conditioning their horses? This is the tail end of the season, shouldn’t horses be in top condition? The high today in that area was 72. So it was not scorching hot.
They know what the course is like, it was not the debut season for the event.
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