They’re not non traditional riders though. They are freaking OLYMPIANS the creme de la creme. Just a person or two from every country. Their skills must improve. STOP relying on the horse to do the work. It’s not an IHSA show. It’s the Olympics.
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Make riding count. Everyone keeps saying that the riding score is not weighed like other areas (though the person who caused this whole debate insists this horse ruined their chances at a medal so clearly riding does count). Find a way to make riding count in a way that people do not consider it an after thought for their training.
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Yes! I’m sure that these athletes don’t pick up a gun or a sword and think I’m just a beginner I just have to gut it out. Jesus. Learn to ride.
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I wonder what these changes are? I guess the wait-til-Paris is because of the logistics related to implementing big changes, especially through however these teams qualify for the Olympics.
My hope is that this means:
A. grounds for elimination based on FEI rules
and
B. making the courses ‘lower and slower,’ if you can’t guarantee competency to jump around at 3’6" - 3’9"
or
C. Replace jumping with work on the flat – here’s an idea (that someone else may have proposed elsewhere): use eventing’s old XC Roads & Tracks phase to create a test of horsemanship. Or, h*ll, adapt something based on the endurance or competitive trail riding disciplines. I’d think this would be perfectly in line with the sport’s origins and riding skills used to deliver a message or get from here to there.
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Thank you 
. Excellent post.
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I got curious about past Olympics and Modern Pentathlon jumping, and found that the London 2012 games jumping phase is available for anyone to watch online.
Guess what? One horse was so wigged out by his INCOMPETENT rider, that after finishing the course, he bolted to the side of the ring and jumped out in a panic.
It’s partially caught on video.
So yeah, the statement from the head of the international governing body is a step in the right direction… but this sport has been a MESS for years, and dangerous for the horses and riders involved…
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Make em do dressage instead. They can be equally terrible but not have as much opportunity to damage a horse. And there is nothing that speaks to how well you can control a horse as an accurate dressage ride….plus cowboying around won’t cut it.
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Ok. I found the London 2012 video, and the spot when the horse takes off and jumps out of the arena after the round is done.
It’s a Lithuanian rider, who was in the top few placings (she was 4th heading into the jumping phase). Her round begins close to the 2 hour, 11 minute mark, and the jumping out of the arena is right around the 2 hour, 13 minute mark.
This woman apparently was the #1 ranked female Pentathlete going into the 2012 games, and had previously competed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am nowhere CLOSE to an Olympic rider of any sort. With that said, the last time I had a horse jump out of an arena on me was when I was a D-2 pony clubber, on a frisky naughty medium pony, who made a sport of hopping out of the dressage arena - lol!
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Not all exposure is good exposure.
This demonstration of the epitome of lack of horsemanship is not a display of “our sport.” At least it sure as shit is not a display of my sport. If you really are ok with the shitshow of modern pentathlon as positive exposure for our sport, you need to re-think your own horsemanship and kick the stupid phrase, “There is no such thing as bad publicity” to the curb on garbage day morning where it belongs.
Running through jumps, beating on horses, blaming horses, pulling on mouths, NONE of these things should be done by an Olympic athlete, ffs. It is no less than completely appalling that an entire sport (and some of “us” apparently), think it’s ok with this being showcased at the one big event* that Joe Public might actually accidentally see.
I’m not sure there’s a way to reform this mess. Would lower, slower courses work or would that just appeal to even more awful riders that aren’t quite brave/stupid enough to think they could do a 1.20 course with minimal training?
*notwithstanding large televised show jumping events
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Someone on a Facebook thread suggested Prix Caprilli. I had to go back and refresh my memory but what a good idea!
Cowboying around definitely wouldn’t cut it there. This whole thing has reminded me a bit of long-running discussions about wee fence heights in jumpers often encouraging careless riding. That’s not the rationale behind the fence heights at this level of pentathlon, is it? (I mean, I don’t think so… it’s either a holdover from the old, old days or… I don’t know - I still just can’t get my head around it, especially having done IHSA).
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Or make it a trail course; go over a bridge, carry a bucket from here to there, check the mail, jump a small jump, traverse some terrain (maybe even outside a ring), etc
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Check the mail 
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Is this really supposed to be horse abuse as the world is calling it?
The coach, on the ground who was banned.
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That was kind of my question too, @PracticalCat.
Sure, it was very wrong of that person to whack the horse from outside the ring, but no matter how many times I watched it, that hit did not seem to be that big of a deal. Wrong. For sure. Abuse? Not really.
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Only wrong from the standpoint of interference, id think.
That didn’t hurt the horse a bit. I’d be banned before I even got there if the horse needed a smack on the butt to load.
Anyone who thinks this is horse abuse hasn’t really been around horses much.
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It is however unsportsmanly like conduct. And I bet coaches aren’t allowed to “help” the athletes while they compete. The abuse was the whipping and spurring and harsh hands. No, she didn’t yank much but she didn’t release either.
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I have no idea of the rules of the Pentathlon. I would think it might be interference. But they banned her for “punching” a horse.
And the world is calling it abuse.
And that is asinine.
Jumpers regularly use their crops. And spurs.
I think she was an ineffective rider who was overhorsed and I agree with an earlier poster who thinks they should lower the fences if they are going to insist on riders using strange horses.
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The US Pentathlon organization heavily recruits through Pony Club and has offered free training camps to the kids who compete at USPC tetrathlon championships.
It does seem that it would be safer for horses and riders if the heights were a lot lower.
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It’s not about the harm done to the horse per se. You can do damage to a horse without trying and you can abuse the horse without causing much damage. For example, if you hit a horse with a crop, the horse responds, and you keep hitting it simply because you want to with no reason other than emotion/frustration/to “punish” the horse, you are abusing it without causing harm. When you hit a horse with a crop to send it forward and you stop hitting it the moment it responds, it’s not abuse. By the same token, when you are training the horse to react to a spur cue and over time, because you aren’t looking at your heels, your thin-skinned horse develops a sore spot, are you abusing it? No, just making a mistake. But if you intend to cause a sore spot by applying chemicals, you are absolutely abusing. I think intention is the key here. She punched the horse not with the intent to cause harm and not with any training intention, but simply out of frustration. And verbally her advice to the rider was inappropriate, and sanctioning isn*t unwarranted.
The rider was not abusive. A bit rough in the seat and uneducated, but not abusive.
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I think myself and the other posters on these forums talking about abuse are referring to the rider and the situation the poor horse was put in, with a 1.2 m course and a rider who wasn’t up to the task.
If you watch multiple rounds of the Olympic jumping phase of modern pentathlon (I admit I have now, out of curiosity), a clear pattern emerges. These riders are very competitive and fit people, but the majority of them get around the courses by sheer guts and determination. The horses used are all clearly good jumpers, but are ridden POORLY. Buried at bad spots in front of big jumps, hit in the mouth repeatedly as riders get left behind over big jumps, crashes through fences because of the competitive ambitions of riders in a sport where horses do seem to be regarded as disposable equipment, to a notable extent… and all together, THIS collection of issues is the noticeable abuse issue many of us are commenting on.
The German coach punching the horse in the flank as it neared the rail, while they were melting down in the ring before the round began? I’m with those who don’t consider that significant abuse. It’s poor form, for sure, ridiculously poor horsemanship, grounds for disqualification since someone OUTSIDE the arena is attempting to interfere while the rider and horse are inside the arena… but that wasn’t the worst of this particular round.
As I and others mentioned… it was the way the rider comported herself in the first minute before she even got going to begin her round. I think we all agreed the way she used her seat was terrible. Not how a rider attempting 1.2 m courses should ride. She also struck the horse with the whip between 12 and 15 times in that first minute while it was balking. I consider that excessive… others on this thread have respectfully disagreed. I think most of us can agree that MOST other decent horsemen, if faced with a horse reacting like this while trying to start a 1.2 m course, would not have struck the horse that many times and kicked HARD with spurs intentionally dug into the horses flank the way this rider did in that first minute. Nope. A good horsemen would have voluntarily retired and tried to go back to the warm up arena and pop the horse over a few lower fences, to try and end the situation on a more constructive note.
But in pentathlon, these are borrowed horses. Some of the riders and coaches seem not to care if these borrowed horses are ridden hard, dangerously buried in bad spots over sizable jumps, and if their confidence and training is damaged as a result of the clearly poor riding. In this sport… it’s ALL about the human athlete. Not about a partnership. And when the jumping goes poorly… that’s an ugly thing to watch and abusive in many ways.
I do think there are many ways the jumping phase of the sport could be amended to prevent this dynamic, but remain true to the test that it was supposed to be. There have been many suggestions on this thread. But after spending a little time learning more about the sport (out of curiosity) and watching a few rounds from prior Olympic Games… it’s clear that the awful, inadequate riding around big jumps is the way they have done things for YEARS. Sad, but true. It seems like it’s a matter of testing the human athlete’s guts, tenacity, balance, and the degree to which they get back up after a fall and keep going. Because these people fall off mid course, then get back on and keep going, repeatedly! Even at the Olympic level. It’s a mess on many levels. Anyway… after watching this, it seems like they should just replace the jumping phase with motocross instead, for the sake of the horses involved. That’s how many of these people ride these lovely loaned horses (many of whom seem to be GREAT, HONEST jumpers)… they ride them like motocross bikes. It’s nauseating to watch. And before anyone says it… yes… people in other equestrian disciplines sometimes ride this way. Definitely in eventing and jumpers… we’ve all witnessed it upon occasions and cringed. But in modern pentathlon… riding like that is the NORM. Not the exception. It’s crystal clear when you watch multiple rounds…
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