Thanks for posting! OMG… poor Saint Boy.
4 Likes
I was listening to a national sports talk radio program earlier today. It is on the air for three hours and they normally discuss football, basketball, baseball, etc., whatever the hot topics are for the day. Today they opened the show with “a coach at the Olympics punched a horse”. The discussion lasted for an hour. All the general public knows about horses at the Olympics is “those poor horses”, “jumping hurdles”, “punching horses”, etc. It went on and on. The general public honestly does not know the difference between the different disciplines and the hot headline from these Olympics is the cruelty exhibited by what happened in the pentathlon.
13 Likes
Thank you for posting!!!
2 Likes
Here are a few things most of us horsey people don’t know about Modern Pentathlon:
–the FEI and bodies governing actual equestrian events have no part of the pentathlon
–for the riding, the riders start with 300 points. Each rail is minus seven. Stops are minus 10. There are also time faults and penalties for the first fall or for things like skipping a fence. Four stops is elimination. The points left from the 300 are added to the scores for the fencing and swimming (don’t ask me how those are scored). The scores determine how far back from the first place competitor each person starts their laser run (running and shooting). So having a high score is important because it gives you a head start over potentially stronger runners.
–Eliminated competitors still start their run, just really far back.
–Most of the riders do take lessons, some even have their own horses or take a LOT of lessons and really learn how to ride. Others take just the bare minimum of lessons.
–On their normal competition circuit they actually end up getting repeat rides with some regularity from their “usual” horses. Great for normal competition, not so great when you actually have to get on a strange horse!
–Most of the riders I saw (and I watched the entire women’s and am about to watch the men, and I have watched a lot in the past) were able to get on, get the horse into a rhythm, stay out of the horse’s way if they got a bad spot, stay somewhat out of the horse’s face, and ignore a bad moment. Several were actually decent riders. Many were quite tactful and quite good at helping a horse stay positive if they had a bad jump.
–Some were actually quite lovely riders for what the discipline is. It’s not like watching a 3`6" (or whatever) jump course at home. They really are just getting on and trying to get around without getting in the horse’s way. They aren’t trying to fix problems or find good distances per se.
–Some are really awful riders who have good natural balance, a lot of strength, and sheer guts and willpower, which gets them around. And they have no horse sense at all and have no idea how to fix a problem when things go wrong. The Russian rider who first rode Saint Boy, for example, could have stopped, not fought with him, walked him to settle him, skipped the fence in question, and moved on. Or otherwise worked to solve the problem rather than escalate it. It may not have worked, but it might have. The German woman could have done the same, and there were others with similar issues who could have spared themselves a few faults at least by simply taking a breath and using some basic horse sense.
14 Likes
Wow… video of both rounds on this poor horse sure tells an entire story. A quality horse, that was clearly forward and sensitive… and he was ruined in two rides. Unreal. He was put in a single rein gag with a running martingale… and then both the Russian and German riders were brutal with their use of HARD whip, spur and seat aids. Awful to watch.
I guess in Pentathlon some of the riding we witness is a matter of fit, bold people, who have considerable athletic ability, considerable competitive ambition, but a clear deficit of skill, horsemanship, and in the case of the German rider, general sportsmanship. Soooo… hard hands, hard seats, punishing whip and spur aids, over jumps they have no business jumping, just to get through it and get to the next phase. The horse was FRIED after getting put in bad spots and manhandled so much by the first rider (the Russian). And then the second one (the infamous German woman) clearly had a meltdown in warmup. The horse came into the ring a stressed, panicked MISERABLE mess, and she resorted to more rough riding in order to try and get it around, while crying and having a complete emotional meltdown. She wailed on the horse at different points, and brutally spurred it. Clear abuse. The punch by the coach to the flank of the horse, from the sidelines over the rail (good God), was honestly nothing compared to what the rider was doing with her spurs, whip and that gag.
What an embarrassment for an entire sport. One has to assume that the point of having a 5 phase sport including show jumping, pistol shooting and fencing, is that they wish to celebrate and emphasize athletes who possess a certain degree of overall sportsmanship, skill, and finesse… not just single minded athletes who run fast and swim well. I think the show jumping phase knocked out the competitors who SHOULD have been knocked out. It just shouldn’t have involved wrecking and abusing horses in the process.
They clearly need to either replace the show jumping phase with motocross at this point, or lower the jumps, and have some sort of rules in place to prevent/eliminate rough and dangerous riding.
Just my take.
40 Likes
The German rider said that she spoke with the owner after the first rider, and the owner had suggested cantering into the arena and not walking at all. Not sure why that didn’t work.
She also said that they only counted three refusals for the Russian, not four–which is why she was not permitted to request a different horse. She was actually a remarkably good sport about it in the aftermath of her run. She said they actually had a super warm up and that the horse jumped well there. While she does definitely deserve some blame for her aggression and her emotions getting the better of her, the horse being over it came from the first rider, not the second. As someone else pointed out, putting the horse back on track after it got fried by the first was a big ask, and while the German rider was not innocent by any means, she didn’t cause the problem. She just wasn’t capable of fixing it. Where I DO blame the German rider is in her inability to control her emotions. Had she done so, she might have gotten further than she did and maybe even gotten around, though of course we can’t know. And I would imagine her inability to recognise that shortcoming is the other part of the problem, though the interview came immediately after the laser run and not after any time for reflection or rewatching the performance.
And I will disagree with a bit on the riding. She hit the horse with the crop, sure, but not wailing on him, and no, she never once yanked on his mouth. And her first instinct wasn’t to spur the crap out of him. She wasn’t brutally spurring him, either. She did USE the spur, and he was so fried that it was only escalating him, but the horse was just done for the day. He was so gate sour that even turning to re-present to the combination she had to go outside of a fence because he wouldn’t turn away from the gate. Had she had a good spot to the fence before that and jumped it well, he may have been able to be nursed a good way around the course. And certainly her emotional state put her in a poor position to get anything else out of him or help him and was part of the problem. But I wouldn’t call her abusive per se. Now, the coach . . . . Sorry, but the coach’s job is to tell her to take a deep breath, gather her emotions, and to help her solve the problem, not just apply more force. I have no problem sanctioning the coach (and they did).
Again, I fully hold the German rider accountable for her inability to get her own emotions under control. It may not have gotten Saint Boy back to his old self or gotten her around the course, but it definitely would have increased their chances. Some smarter riding after the stop at the combination might also have helped him. Maybe not, but she certainly did herself no favours. I am not trying to excuse her, and I firmly believe that being able to control one’s emotions on a horse is a critical skill in this and any other type of riding. But I don’t see her as abusive.
8 Likes
@Thames_Pirate, do you not think basically running him into a couple of fences did not add to the problems of the second rider?
8 Likes
I disagree she didn’t spur the horse. She basically pony kicked him with substantial spurs while pulling back. When a horse’s teeth are basically bared the entire ride I think things are going sideways. And how many fences in the first and the second ride did that poor horse present to completely crooked ? Usually pulled inward towards the hand with the whip. That freaking horse should be awarded a gold medal. For being a saint. And enduring really bad riding. Maybe pentathlon riders should develop their own mounts and bring them to competitions like they do their other “equipment”.
29 Likes
And furthermore I think that horse’s refusals were about self preservation for completely shitty riding and terrible buried spots. The riders should have thanked Saint. For saving them from terrible falls. The slow mo of the video posted shows weak weak seats with legs flying and spurs engaging. If I owned Saint I’d be well and truly pissed
25 Likes
Is there any possible way to eliminate the equestrian portion of pentathlon and substitute a non equine part?
12 Likes
Ok… for the sake of cordial debate and discussion, I went back and looked at the video again.
I will agree that the riding by the Russian women set the stage for the disastrous second ride.
We don’t know exactly what happened in the warmup… all we know is what the horse looked like when he left the arena with the Russian rider, and how he appeared when he entered the arena at the 4 minute marl with the German rider.
He was much sweatier, distressed, and balking about even entering the ring at the 4 minute mark. Doesn’t look like a horse who had a smooth warm up. Not at all. From about the 4 to 5 minute mark, the rider repeatedly spurred and smacked the horse with the crop, while simultaneously keeping a tight hold on the gag, and grinding her seat bones in the saddle … the stressed horse kept backing up to evade the situation.
I call that wailing on a horse. I guess it could have been worse. But it certainly is the sort of riding that would get you eliminated in other recognized equestrian competitions. In modern pentathlon, however, the pair somehow picked up a canter around the 5 minute mark, and started the course. It was messy, but the rider was certainly determined. At a little after the 7 minute mark, she begins the approach to the over that got them eliminated. Contact is exceptionally tight, and the horse is shaking his head and baring teeth around the turn. Then she spurs him hard, while maintaining tight contact, after he refuses the first time. After the second refusal at that jump… they’re done.
I don’t know why the horse was put in that gag and running Martingale set up… my guess is he can get pretty forward when having a good jumping round. But after watching this… and other show jumping rounds in modern pentathlon… it’s clear that there is a tendency in the sport for some riders to just run a horse HARD around the course, putting them in awkward spots to jumps repeatedly, crashing through rails, etc. Just get it done seems to be the mentality of some. It’s horrible to watch. This lovely horse was too sensitive for that. He clearly decided he was done early on, and had no trust in either rider. I don’t blame him.
24 Likes
Here’s the thing. A pentathlon athlete should not rely on their equipment for the expertise. Do they pick up any facet of their 5 phases and expect that equipment to carry them past their shortcomings? Their expertise should be the driving force whether it’s their sword in fencing or their riding ability on a living breathing animal
12 Likes
She got him to one bad spot. The previous rider got him to a bunch. Of course if the fence had gone well, her chances were better for each successive fence.
I was always taught that every good jump is money in the bank, and every bad spot a withdrawal, with the “not ideal” spot being a small withdrawal and a “horse saved my butt” spot a big one. Well, the account balance was basically zero with the first rider, and she put just enough money in the bank in the warm up to get to the four jumps. When she needed the withdrawal at the bad spot–and EVERY rider in the pentathlon had bad ones, as we all do–there was nothing left.
As for the crooked, sorry, but that isn’t the issue; horses can jump angled fences, and in fact they should. Now, was the balance ideal? No, but that is part of the whole choosing horses process. The horse should go from most distances and from a canter created by a mediocre rider; that’s part of the testing process. Now, I have thoughts on the nature of the test in the first place, but this isn’t about whether the 20 minute warm up and SJ in the pentathlon should exist, but about whether these particular riders were somehow head and shoulders worse than the others. I’d say the Russian might have been, but I actually thought the American was a far worse rider–but her horse was cooperative because she rode first. In fact, most of the horses were more forgiving of the first riders than of the second. The reality of the sport is what it is (not that it isn’t open for debate, but when discussing the PAST event, we take it as it was at the time of the event). So given the parameters, the organisers choose horses that are willing and able to jump from a missed distance or an imperfect line or a canter that the rider doesn’t have to work super hard to create. In their testing process they know they are looking for this.
Again, I am not excusing the German rider. I just didn’t see her pony kicking him, and I never saw her pull on his face; his teeth were bared because he was frustrated and done, not because she had particularly rough hands. The previous rider did have rough hands, though.
And of course the refusals were about self-preservation. Again, he had decided with the previous rider that he was done, and as others have pointed out, when a horse loses that much confidence, it often takes a pro and a fair bit of time to sort it out. She didn’t create the problem so much as just was incapable of fixing it and made it worse by not controlling her emotions. The horse was at an account balance of zero, and the right rider might have been able to put enough money in the bank to get around, while she was withdrawing instead through her emotions and of course the missed distance at fence 5.
3 Likes
Disagree. That was bad riding. And these athletes rely on their swords and guns and shoes to be perfect to compete. They practice with said things. These are living breathing animals. Leaving the equestrian part to the horse to make up for less than stellar ability is cruel.
32 Likes
It’s like saying hey maybe I don’t fence really well but maybe if I draw a really compliant sword I can squeeze it too hard and choke it a bit and still win. Sorry sword if I spurred you and overfaced you and ripped your teeth out. Please save me
14 Likes
Maybe, If they’re going to have this weird format, they should take away spurs and crops from the riders, have all horses go in nathe bits, and just drop the fences to 2’6”. Then let the shit show play out. It would still be really ugly, but less awful in other ways.
42 Likes
I’m going to qualify this by saying I’m not sure if the German rider had already crossed the timers, leading to her being more frantic. But the first thing I do when my horse seems scrambled is let go with the hand, pet him, breathe and let him breathe. Most real 1.20 riders realize that frantic met with frantic equals disaster.
27 Likes
PS this is the GD olympics! Not a local schooling show with questionable riding skills. Is this the best in the world ??? That’s NUTS
30 Likes
To the person who saw the interview with Saint Boy’s owner (sorry, can’t get out of this screen to address you by name) - Did it seem that this horse has a “regular” owner? I mean someone who cares for the horse who won’t let this event affect his future? I would hate to see him sold down the road because of this experience.
ETA: Sorry for sounding melodramatic, but ever since the Bloodsport crimes of killing non-performing horses for insurance money, every time I see a horse have a bad go (usually through no fault of their own), I worry for their future.
1 Like
