This is asking the right question. At Rio, the same situation - having a horse who’d had a rough go in round 1 - happened to several top athletes, including Beijing gold medalist Lena Shoneborn and London gold medalist Laura Asadauskaite. But they’re class acts who didn’t devolve into bratty child behavior.
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Yes please. So it’s the horse’s or the Russians or ??? Fault the rider displayed poor horsemanship and cried like a baby? Because even when she did clear a fence she buried that horse to the base and drove with her seat.
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I don’t think it’s worth it… I really tried in the beginning and remember I even quoted an article a second time because you all ignored it the first time…
You are all having so much fun in your discussion far away from reality that it wouldn’t make sense to spoil it… 
How mature.
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Ledingham was the rider of the great Kilbaha. Mentioning this because you should go to YouTube and look him up if you want to see a truly outstanding jumper who was also one of the best-looking horses ever.
Ledingham, as he’s affiliated with Pentathlon Ireland, is bitter about their athlete Natalya Coyle’s riding performance in Tokyo. She was in a great position (3rd?) coming into the ride and got halfway round before her horse refused to go any further.
Funny thing is, I’ve seen this happen to this particular athlete several times before. She’s a very good rider, or at least she appears to be, but that this has happened so many times to her makes me wonder. And it’s the same exact thing - the horse is fine partway and then quits.
This most recent time got me wondering if it’s something she’s doing that contributes to the issue.
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So may I ask whether you really think these horses were suitable for this type of competition??? No I don’t think the German rider acted appropriately at all I have no idea how her preparation for the competition looked like but she should have been experienced enough to deal with a situation like this…but I personally would have reacted similar if I prepared 5 years for an event like this and would be in a medal position after 2 competitions… and then there would happen something like this… exactly the reason why I never ever would do this sport… wasn’t there a British boxer who got mad about his medal because he wanted gold?? Or the German rowing team? (8 rower). They were desperate after they only got silver… it took them some time to accept that they won silver. And they all got a medal…
I think the evil Russians set the whole thing up. Secret agent Gulnaz Gubaydallina maneuvered herself into position during the fencing and swimming to be riding the same horse as angelic German Annika Schleu. Then she proceeded to not only ride it poorly but to run as-of-yet unexposed top-secret psy-ops on the horse to trigger a response anytime it heard the name ‘Annika’.
And it worked! Russia 1 Germany 0.
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Well I do accept that you have experience in Pentathlon but is it really necessary to diminish the ability of riders of other nations to defend your position? This is the second rider you judge for personal reasons…
I guess MP is a showcase of a truly competent “catch rider”. Personally that’s not my forte. In the end it’s the reaction to things going sideways that makes a measure of horsemanship and skill. And what has thrust these games under a magnifying glass. People like @JER have obviously begin sounding an alarm for awhile. Hopefully changes can be made to insure horse and rider welfare and preserve the sport.
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And honestly @Manni01 if your lovely dressage horse acted like an ass in whatever competition you’ve pursued for years and you spurred whipped and cried like a two year old … I would think you were a poor sport and needed a nap.
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New theory.
Out of curiosity, I tried to look up Saint Boy’s competition record, and noticed his breeding.
He was born in FRANCE. Classic French breeding 
Manni might be onto something. Maybe he DID intentionally screw the German rider out of the gold medal that she clearly was entitled to.
The nappy gelding was thinking to himself “Vive le Resistance!” from the first moment he set foot in the arena.
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Chapeau !!!
you are starting to master the interpretation of the situation
With the help of the Russians of course
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An alliance as old as time.
And is it any coincidence that the BRITISH rider walked away with the gold medal the German was entitled to?
I think not.
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Wait you forgot the complaining Irish 
. They should have gotten the medal!!! https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/john-ledingham-olympic-fairness-and-animal-welfare-trampled-upon-in-tokyo-1.4643920?mode=amp
Lots of tail wringing in the canter video. The rider has him in draw reins and is really cranking his head around to the inside. At one point looks like the rider is really see-sawing on the reins. Looked much more relaxed in the trot video.
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Those are two separate things.
The job description for this event did not involve doing the course with a rider that was necessarily competent.
Or one could argue that he actually was perfectly suited for this event, if part of his job was to demonstrate the difference between the people who could ride well and the people who could not ride well. Maybe he was actually ideal for this event in that context.
Regardless, it was hard to watch, and I felt terrible for the horse. I hope the one silver lining to this whole debacle is that they will make productive changes to prevent another horse from having a similar experience the next time.
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Ditto.
Is there an email address for the organization so we can voice our ideas in a way that might be productive? Instead of just ranting on social media?
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Here’s another article by a Canadian pentathalon coach with some kind of interesting ideas:
Two ideas in particular that I think are interesting is an intentional design for a more technical course with lower jumps that uses skinnies and bending lines, basically with the sport using a portfolio of FEI-licensed course designs.
He also uses the idea that if Para can evaluate riders on their appropriate disability grade that evaluators could be used to have Pentathalon riders pass a riding test.
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I think that’s a critical difference that needs to be addressed if they want to keep horses in the pentathlon.
I remember the old story from many years ago of a marathon (?) runner who actually broke his leg, but kept going and finished the race, because his muscles acted as a splint for the broken bone, if I remember correctly. Which is fine to do to yourself if you want.
But it’s not fine to do that or anything similar to a horse.
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