Modern Pentathalon

[JER]

@Darkwave

Pentathletes only have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week to train and recover. It makes sense that they allocate those hours in a way that maximizes their performance over all 5 sports. So increase the importance of the riding phase (and the consequences for not riding well), which in turn will force them to reallocate their training to place a greater weight on riding.

It’s not really that hard to train for pentathlon. I know that sounds ridiculous.

The old school thinking is you have to train 8 hours a day. I won’t go into how outdated that is. I coach adult athletes with jobs and professional careers and kids.

If you are already a competent rider, you will ride anywhere from daily (horse people) to 1-2x week (minimum). If you ride regularly, you really don’t need to school jumping more than once per week.

But you do have to ride intensively for long enough to achieve that basic competence. Before people go all German on me about ‘correct’ ‘every day’ training, I want to point out that if you’ve been riding and jumping regularly for say 5+ years, you don’t need to jump every day to remember how to jump. You do need to ride regularly to be riding fit.

[poltroon]

I think skinnies are a better test of a rider than a liverpool. Skinnies test steering and line and pace, and don’t tend to hurt anyone when they don’t work out. Liverpools IME are more of a test of the horse’s training and a horse that has a question about them isn’t necessarily going to be persuaded by a less-than-pro rider they’ve just met in a big stadium with a noisy crowd.

[trubandloki]

@JER

You can view instagram accounts in a web browser without signing in.

Go to google and look for jersporthorse. It will come up first in the results.

I will try, but historically what happens is Instagram puts a pop-up that blocks the whole page and tells me to create an account and there is no simple X to make it go away.

Edit to add - and yes, that is exactly what happened. Yes, your account was the first option on Google but when I clicked on it, all I get is an instagram log in screen and no option to simply close it.

[JER]

@quietann

Did the rules allow her to request a different horse after how Saint Boy’s first rider did by him? Would there have been a penalty for doing so?

If a horse is E’d by having 4 refusals, the second rider can request a reserve horse.

According to the judge at Tokyo, Saint Boy did not have 4 refusals. He had 2 or 3 and then backed up to the in gate.

According to the German contingent, they requested a reserve horse but were denied for that reason.

The rule is stupid. You should be able to request a reserve horse if the horse is E’d for any reason with the first rider.

Also, in backing up and spinning about, Saint Boy crossed his tracks multiple times, which would have counted as a refusal in normal show jumping. There’s a rule in pent that says it’s a refusal if your within 15m of the jump. Not sure how that would have affected things if it were enforced.

[JER]

@trubandloki

I will try, but historically what happens is Instagram puts a pop-up that blocks the whole page and tells me to create an account and there is no simple X to make it go away.

Edit to add - and yes, that is exactly what happened. Yes, your account was the first option on Google but when I clicked on it, all I get is an instagram log in screen and no option to simply close it.

Wait. You mean you won’t join Instagram for the sole purpose of following me?

My heart is broken.

(I get it. I’ve never joined Facebook and never will. )

[Darkwave]

@JER

It’s not really that hard to train for pentathlon. I know that sounds ridiculous.

The old school thinking is you have to train 8 hours a day. I won’t go into how outdated that is. I coach adult athletes with jobs and professional careers and kids.

If you are already a competent rider, you will ride anywhere from daily (horse people) to 1-2x week (minimum). If you ride regularly, you really don’t need to school jumping more than once per week.

Interesting. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a former rider (showed in the high junior jumpers and Medal/Maclay stuff) who currently is pretty serious about long distance running. I played with the idea of trying pentathlon, but concluded I just couldn’t do it.

Currently my running training (which includes some swimming) plus a full time job has me feeling fully overcommitted. I have no idea how I would be able to fit in a) commuting to a barn to ride a few times a week, b) learning how to fence, and c) learning how to shoot.

I’m guessing it’s easier for people who live in a location where they have easy and quick access to facilities for fencing, shooting, swimming, riding.

[JER]

Interview with gold medalist Kate French: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2021/08/16/kate-french-interview-dont-think-modern-pentathlon-needs-changed/

[JER]

@Darkwave

I’m guessing it’s easier for people who live in a location where they have easy and quick access to facilities for fencing, shooting, swimming, riding.

Having a good fencing coach is essential. I don’t mean a community program where you can hop around on the piste. Fencing is technical and requires a lot of skill. There aren’t many coaches capable of producing a fencer to international level.

Here in Lexington, you can access everything for pentathlon in a very small radius and we have the benefit of one of the world’s greatest fencing coaches. You can do it all without driving more than 10-15 minutes.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

The fact that someone has so little appreciation of the risks of riding itself speaks volumes about a lack of preparation and adequate coaching. (And yes, I do realize that this isn’t confined to pentathlon riders, but that still doesn’t make it right.)

In figure skating, for different reasons, there used to be a (apparently deadly dull) compulsory school figure portion to test balance and accuracy, where skaters would just slowly trace movements on the ice, but it was eliminated many decades ago. For something like this, being able to show a rider can steer a horse at a walk, trot, canter, and jump inside, outside, diagonal doesn’t seem unreasonable.

[banmharcach]

Try an incognito screen for the initial google search, then when the images first appear, right-click on desired one & open in new tab—that lets you see sequential photos or videos within the one original “page”. It will likely still not let you scroll super-far down a user’s postings though.

[trubandloki]

@banmharcach

Try an incognito screen for the initial google search, then when the images first appear, right-click on desired one & open in new tab—that lets you see sequential photos or videos within the one original “page”. It will likely still not let you scroll super-far down a user’s postings though.

Thank you for the tip. I have no idea what an incognito screen is, but I do appreciate you vote of confidence in my computer skills.
At this point I will assume that the person posting is fine with lots of people no being able to see it.

[Night_Flight]

@Impractical_Horsewoman

In figure skating, for different reasons, there used to be a (apparently deadly dull) compulsory school figure portion to test balance and accuracy, where skaters would just slowly trace movements on the ice, but it was eliminated many decades ago. For something like this, being able to show a rider can steer a horse at a walk, trot, canter, and jump inside, outside, diagonal doesn’t seem unreasonable.

It could even be done in a similar way as measuring pony height and issuing a card. Designate certain larger pentathlon competitions as being locations where one can be tested to receive a riding card. Give all athletes a period of a year in which to get their card before they will be required in order to participate in the riding portion of a pentathlon.

Have a qualified, neutral equestrian evaluate each rider’s competency over a simple course on a steady eddy horse (without the score counting towards any competition) and if they demonstrate that they have achieved the required level of competence, they get their riding card.

It would require some initial costs and logistics, but once everyone has received their card you wouldn’t need to offer the evaluations as often since it would just be for new pentathletes or retakes for those who failed the riding test previously.

Leaving it in the hands of each national federation is just a recipe for disaster, as we’ve seen.

[banmharcach]

Practice makes perfect!

Incognito just stops a lot of tracking cookies etc so the program “forgets” you’re not a member and lets you in… PS this also works these days for Horse&Hound.

On Chrome, CTRL-SHIFT-N will get you there. For a different browser, well, “google-it”!

[trubandloki]

Thank you so much to the person who sent me the copy of the video! I agree, that was a lovely round. What a nice ride.

[BravAddict]

This is an outrageous example of why falls of the horse or rider must lead to immediate elimination. That woman could’ve been killed; plenty who have made this mistake were. They had no idea what that horse could’ve broken. Do they do this to make it more thrilling? How nice that your coach, your teammates, and your sport’s governing body are willing to trade your life for thrills. Asinine doesn’t even cover it. Do they think that the FEI and just about every other horse sport organization prohibits this just for fun? It’s just a cute suggestion?

[endlessclimb]

Clearly they’re just not tough enough. Stop trying to dismantle the sport. /s

[TwilightJumper]

Didn’t they say it was to showcase how someone would complete a mission over different terrain? I feel like a better example of that would be a few jumps sure but doing different tasks on horseback. I’m thinking of that one type of show where they have to open and close gates among other things. The name escapes me. But putting in tasks might help refocus the riding technical aspect to without demanding so much from the horses physically?

[hb]

Lowering the fences would increase the number of horses available who can both jump the course and tolerate less proficient riding. It would also reduce the severity of problems caused by less than proficient riding.

Making elimination from the equestrian phase of the pentathalon similar to elimination from other equestrian events (no more carrying on after 2 refusals or 1 fall) would help improve safety of the rider and the horse and encourage the riders to become skilled enough to complete the course.

The jumps in the Olympics were almost 4 foot, that is too much for a part-time rider on an unfamliar horse.

[SuzieQNutter]

@banmharcach

Practice makes perfect!

The saying is actually Practice makes Permanent.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Well, in the words of the inimitable Jimmy Wofford, “perfect practice makes perfect“