Last Czech rider was good just unfortunate that he was left behind at a couple jumps. Horse was awesome.
The horse was a saint for the Chinese rider. Let me yank a bit in your mouth like that. A$$.
[QUOTE=JER;6493081]
Also, PC is a major feeder for pentathlon in the countries that have PC. A huge percentage of the US competitors come from Pony Club or from riding-first backgrounds. Same with GB and Ireland.[/QUOTE]
The person I knew who did it started out as a Pony Club participant. :yes:
I almost said Pony Clubber, but that could be misinterpreted. 
From Wiki…
As the events of the ancient pentathlon were modeled after the skills of the ideal soldier of that time, Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19th century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines: he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight with pistol and sword, swim, and run.[1]
Since it is “modern”, shouldn’t they just upgrade the horse with a Humvee driving course? Urban warfare style course?
It isn’t like modern soldiers ride anymore.
JER, you’ve always been a very knowledgable and patient advocate for MP on the threads that have come up on COTH. So kudos for handling the moaning and groaning with grace.
I guess in the U.S., at least, the men’s MP elites are weighted toward military guys. Bowsher is AF, no? As are other top U.S. men.
I guess I just can’t wrap my head around an elite athlete, representing one’s country, preparing themselves rigorously for only 4 phases of a 5 phase competition. With the horses getting the shaft. Or the yank and spur, as the case may be.
I really don’t hold anything against the owners who donated their horses today at all. I’d think it would (should!) be a neat way to contribute to the Olympics, for pete’s sakes, and this crop of horses was terrific.
I’m now watching the boxing heavyweight bout where a Ukrainian and Italian are putting on a great show while smashing each other. Makes me feel a bit better.
The New York Times has a good article on the riding phase of the modern pentathlon:
I really want to watch this! Does anyone know how to get ctvolympics.com working again? I watched it for a few days on this computer, turned the computer off for night, and since then I have not been able to get any of the videos working at all!
[QUOTE=JER;6493081]
I would not expect much response from the leadership at USA Pentathlon. But writing letters is never a bad idea.
Also, PC is a major feeder for pentathlon in the countries that have PC. A huge percentage of the US competitors come from Pony Club or from riding-first backgrounds. Same with GB and Ireland. Other countries don’t have the PC system but countries like Germany have pentathlon clubs from a young age.[/QUOTE]
Growing up in Pony Club doesn’t mean much if you’re only training once every one to two weeks. Are the Americans unusual in that training schedule? Why such a big disparity between training for the 4 other sports and the riding portion?
I watched the first 5 or 6 rounds, thinking, okay, this is really pretty decent.
And then came Dennis Bowsher’s turn.
What an embarrassment. He couldn’t even put the horse in a proper canter. Flapping leg, all hands, no balance. All of those things indicate a lack of preparation. This guy did not do his homework.
Here’s why it’s so bad: Dennis Bowsher qualified for the Olympics via the Pan Ams in October 2011. That means that since October, which means 10 months ago, he knew he’d secured a place at the Olympics. (That place would be his regardless of his UIPM world ranking. Many of these other athletes had to be in the top 40 of the world rankings; Bowsher is #71 and doesn’t appear to have ever made it into a final at a world cup competition.)
Ten months to work on your riding for the biggest day of your competitive life – and this is the result?
So please, write those letters to USA Pentathlon. Tell Rob Stull that as an American and an equestrian, you are embarrassed that USA Pentathlon allowed an athlete to go to the Olympics with a skill level so utterly lacking and so completely unfair to both the horse and to the gracious owners who loaned the horse to the competition in good faith that their horse would be ridden by a competent rider.
Also, tell USA Pentathlon that you like the sport and want to help it grow but only if that means that the athletes are actual pentathletes, with real skills in all five disciplines.
I should mention here that pentathlon is a seriously non-funded sport in the US and that pentathletes really do struggle to afford training and competition. Because pentathletes don’t ride until after age 18 (it’s a tetrathlon before that), the sport’s set-up means that you can do the other sports first and then add riding later. Which, from what I’ve understood, happens more often with the men than with the women.
Bowsher, however, is funded as an Army athlete (the program is called World Class something or other) and really has no excuse for this glaring hole in his training.
Purely out of interest,here are the official eventing results of the horse that the korean was riding
http://www.britisheventing.com/asp-net/events/Results.aspx?HorseId=74017
Now, out of interest…i googled Annabel canavan…
Comes up with “famous stunt rider”… (No idea if there is a connection!!..but seriously… if there was… would be very disapoining indeed!!)… Obviously this is simply the musings of someone downunder sleep deprived by theOlympic time difference!!
Watching a replay now. Trinidad deserves his own gold medal he’s a trooper.
The American was horrible.
As nice as it is to see how well turned out the horses are, I would almost prefer to see unbraided manes so they have a holy sh*t handle to grab.
I have two points:
- Obviously, the Hungarians’ equestrian training schedule is different from the American, and they got a Silver.
- The American wasn’t good in ANY event, let alone riding.
A serious Pentathlete would want to train more rigorously in riding just so that his combined score wouldn’t suffer too much.
That guy was an embarrassment.
Have to say the new combined 4th phase, the running and shooting are now combined into one event isvery exciting (they run 1000m XC, then shoot targets, they run another circuit, rinse and repeat).
Pity they couldn’t find a way to combine all 5 phases into one… like some how make the riding a XC phase (but with some minimum riding ability standard).
[QUOTE=JER;6493141]
I watched the first 5 or 6 rounds, thinking, okay, this is really pretty decent.
And then came Dennis Bowsher’s turn.
What an embarrassment. He couldn’t even put the horse in a proper canter. Flapping leg, all hands, no balance. All of those things indicate a lack of preparation. This guy did not do his homework.
Here’s why it’s so bad: Dennis Bowsher qualified for the Olympics via the Pan Ams in October 2011. That means that since October, which means 10 months ago, he knew he’d secured a place at the Olympics. (That place would be his regardless of his UIPM world ranking. Many of these other athletes had to be in the top 40 of the world rankings; Bowsher is #71 and doesn’t appear to have ever made it into a final at a world cup competition.)
Ten months to work on your riding for the biggest day of your competitive life – and this is the result?
So please, write those letters to USA Pentathlon. Tell Rob Stull that as an American and an equestrian, you are embarrassed that USA Pentathlon allowed an athlete to go to the Olympics with a skill level so utterly lacking and so completely unfair to both the horse and to the gracious owners who loaned the horse to the competition in good faith that their horse would be ridden by a competent rider.
Also, tell USA Pentathlon that you like the sport and want to help it grow but only if that means that the athletes are actual pentathletes, with real skills in all five disciplines.
I should mention here that pentathlon is a seriously non-funded sport in the US and that pentathletes really do struggle to afford training and competition. Because pentathletes don’t ride until after age 18 (it’s a tetrathlon before that), the sport’s set-up means that you can do the other sports first and then add riding later. Which, from what I’ve understood, happens more often with the men than with the women.
Bowsher, however, is funded as an Army athlete (the program is called World Class something or other) and really has no excuse for this glaring hole in his training.[/QUOTE]
Well said. :yes:
It’s too bad the other guy from last year (Sam Sacksen?) wasn’t the U.S.'s entrant. I remember he had a pretty good jumping round at the trial event. (Former pony clubber as well, I believe.)
Also, what about doing a dressage test instead of jumping? Nothing hard, like a BN test, but at least this will put an emphasis on correct riding rather than “winging it.” Make the rider position coefficient higher and the horse’s gaits lower. (This is what they do in IDA, since you have no control over whether your horse moves like a sewing machine or Cadillac. ;))
From H&H forum;
“I have been reliably informed (by someone involved) that the rearing horse is absolutely fine, it’s very quiet normally but got confused with stop and go being issued at the same time. The first rider (who withdrew) upset it and the second rider (who fell off) suffered the consequences. It was quiet and well behaved at all other times.”
[QUOTE=Mickey the Marcher;6493241]
Have to say the new combined 4th phase, the running and shooting are now combined into one event is very exciting (they run 1000m XC, then shoot targets, they run another circuit, rinse and repeat).[/QUOTE]
Yes it is! Very exciting. This is a good example in how a sport can evolve in a positive way.
[QUOTE=FrittSkritt;6493247]
It’s too bad the other guy from last year (Sam Sacksen?) wasn’t the U.S.'s entrant. I remember he had a pretty good jumping round at the trial event. (Former pony clubber as well, I believe.)[/QUOTE]
Yes, he’s a PC guy. He’s ranked #50 in the world; as I mentioned earlier, Bowsher is #74, but Sacksen’s ranking didn’t get him into the Olympics and Bowsher qualified via a 4th at Pan Ams (Sacksen was 6th).
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That would be boring. The riding phase, along with the run/shoot, are fun to watch. Fencing and swimming aren’t very spectator friendly.
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Showjumping is a good test for these athletes. The standard just needs to be raised. It’s very difficult for this to happen in countries that don’t have an established or accessible equestrian culture but the UIPM is trying.
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Dressage judging is subjective. Why introduce that element to this sport?
I hope everyone tunes in tomorrow for the women’s event. You will see some good riding, I promise, even from the Americans. And please make special cheers for our Canadian girls, who are both excellent riders. 
COTH should award its own medals for the horses…
It is a little funny to think that the sport is based on such an outdated idea of the necessary skills for a soldier. Things have changed a bit since then.
The baron probably would have been shocked at the idea of women (gasp!) competing on horses in the Olympics.
Was it the last Olympics where a rider fell in the jumping and shattered his leg? That’ll teach him…
The new running and shooting does the same as biathlon in skiing. Just being able to slow your breathing and heart pumping from running to the stillness required to shoot accurately takes one hell of an athlete.
If the showjumping course is 1.20 meters, that’s the same as the sj for eventing at the 4* level.
