RIGHT?!? What a lovely horse. It was absolutely horrifying to watch how that horse was ridden. The more I watch modern pentathlon jumping rounds after my curiosity was peaked by this… the more disturbing I find it.
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I read elsewhere that all of these horses were jumped around the entire course by a pro BEFORE any of the pentathletes got on snd tried to compete them. I’m not sure if that’s accurate… but that’s what I read. Apparently that’s why the governing body is so defensive about the horse selection aspect of it all. All the horses were literally good, proven jumpers who had already seen the course. The riders are the problem, with most demonstrating next to ZERO respect for this component of their sport, and the equines involved.
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Yeah, if he’d been dumped any deeper to those fences he’d have been jumping out of the Mariana Trench.
Plus, what was up with the footing? Even if the horse was at a halfway decent distance, it looked like he slid through it trying to take off.
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The replays on NBC (I’m watching through sling) of modern pentathlon that included the riding portion have vanished. I can see laser run and fencing, but riding - poof. Which really, there’s only so much of that I could watch
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You’re right - it’s not up on NBC… only the fencing and laser run.
Apparently you can still see it on the CBC site, for those in Canada…
I think moving to cycling or some event using inanimate equipment would probably be best. But if they use this IEA type format, more sound horses need to be available in case on needs to be pulled out. Heights should be much lower, and perhaps go with optimum time format to keep that from becoming a turn and burn nightmare.
And as for the switching disciplines exhibitions, I’d bet the top western riders not only know how to stay out of the horse’s way but also how to find a balanced canter. They need one to perform in their disciplines. They may not have an eye for a distance, but a forward balanced canter will go a lot farther than what was demonstrated by some of these poor rounds.
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On one of the two Change.org petitions circulating about the whole debacle (which have almost reached 50,000 signatures between the two… mostly coming from legit equestrians who are horrified by the riding and the overall situation the horses are subjected to)… well, that petition or a comment mentioned that they didn’t even run the show jumping phase in a legit arena in Tokyo. The arena space they used was designed for different sports, apparently…
I’m not sure if that is true, or a rumor or what… but it was on grass, and not in the arena space used for other jumping. So it makes you wonder if the base was proper for 1.2m jumping. Essentially, was this a legit grass arena, or a repurposed soccer pitch? There is a difference…
Not to mention, makes you wonder if the horses had studs if necessary…
So many questions.
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As if this couldn’t get any more bizarre, the official Facebook page for the international governing body of modern pentathlon has posted photos of Saint Boy, back home, safe and sound, presumably to prove to all of us the horse is ok after this debacle.
Personally, I think they should have put a newspaper in one of the photos with him. Proof of life. Because the horse does appear to have been the hostage in this entire situation…
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Well then we should allow punching then.
The point is that it looks terrible, unsportsmanlike, and gives horse sports a bad name. It absolutely IS damaging and has no business happening in front of the world. Never a solution to an over-horsed rider having a toddler tantrum.
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Couldn’t agree more, but would add: unsympathetic hands. Conflicting aids from both of them… and who let them wear spurs?!? Horse looked like it could take a joke, just not every one of them in succession. Poor thing!
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This whole thing is an embarrassing sh!tshow but I saw the video of the punch and tbh it really looked more like a push, not even in an angry way. Really she hardly touched the horse.
Like yeah you shouldn’t be interfering that way outside of the ring but it’s really obvious this joke of an organization is just scapegoating this trainer to distract uneducated audiences from what a mess this really is.
1.20m is too high for these riders, especially on horses they don’t know, and 1.20m is too high for horses to jump without competent riding. That’s really the abusive part of this. Really sad. A lot of these horses are going to be terrified to jump again.
Horses are so incredible sometimes, the fact that any of them made it around this course is really impressive and really shows the courage and heart horses are capable of having.
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@Jealoushe posted that her horse was used for the Pan Am games. Perhaps she can clarify, but from her post toward the beginning of the thread, I got the impression the “jury ride” was done prior to the day of the competition.
All I keep thinking is thank God they have them do stadium instead of cross country (which would be more akin to the origins of the sport).
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Agreed - I am thinking some of them would have had trouble with cross poles.
Seriously, of the 5 events, this is the only one where you stand a good chance of getting seriously hurt if something goes wrong. That would be incentive enough for me to really, really train to do it well. It may not carry a lot of weight compared to the other phases, but geez - you can’t complete if you’ve got a broken bone, etc. I am amazed there weren’t any major injuries.
After all the hoopla (and rightfully so) over trying to improve the safety of 3-day eventing, to let this go on…??? Am I correct that no other Olympic equestrian discipline allows a rider to continue if there’s been a fall?
The horse that had the fall (went to his knees) with the very first rider was used again by a second rider. Unacceptable. I hope that horse is eventually seen by a vet and a chiropractor.
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Idk how it works in modern pentathlon but in IEA, IHSA the horses are all schooled in a warmup at the beginning of the show similar to a regular horse show. Part of the challenge is watching the warm up rides and taking note of what you need to do to have a successful round. You usually watch for sticky lead changes, a horse being a little looky, or how many strides that horse is getting in the lines.
Also the German coach does deserve the backlash, but when I saw video I assumed the punch was a split second reaction because she thought the horse was going to fly back into the fence. She still shouldn’t have done it, she should’ve told the rider to soften and get out of his face to send him forward. If I was right there and a horse was flying backwards into a fence, I could see my own instincts kicking in and just trying to do something so he didn’t get caught in the fence.
I don’t take any of this lightly because I really think this event is an abomination…
But lol I teach beginners and I can’t help but think about how when I get a new person who shows up in a fancy outfit and tells me they jumped 1.10m when they were younger or back in their country and they can’t even get my nicest, safest, easiest lesson horse to canter after multiple laps of trying that maybe they aren’t lying to me 
Really they should make the jumps 18” and be riding my sweet lesson horse they probably wouldn’t be able to make him canter but he’d happily trot over or through every jump all day long I would enjoy watching that more
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I seem to recall the announcers saying it was the arena used for rugby.
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I would pay to see that, new rules: pokey school horses only & aids must be invisible otherwise you are eliminated (no whips no spurs no kicking!), fastest one around the cross rail course wins 
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Correct. Keep in mind that you’re replying to someone who most probably has no idea of SJ to make such a comment lol, especially in international settings.
On the topic, poor poor horse and a true saint! He saved the German rider on so many occasions. This was hard to watch!
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Lip service from the UIPM. “More refusals this Olympics, but it’s all good, we have it under control!” 
Unless they have some outside consultants/advisors come in to take a serious look and tell them what they need to hear (lower the jumps, make it a dressage test - just SOMETHING), nothing’s going to change.
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IIRC, that rider was one of the better ones I watched (and I watched them all). Maybe she took some more riding lessons in the intervening years? But it may be a different rider I am remembering.
