I’m sorry the link to the results that I posted in the OP didn’t seem to work. It is a European based website that is not so easy to navigate so maybe that’s why.
For those commenting on the number of eliminations:
I was there scribing all day Friday so I can give a little insight into the eliminations. But because the electronic scribing method is new to me and takes a lot of focus, and because the JR individ test has so many movements, I was looking down and not at the horses when the lameness decisions were made by the judges. So I don’t have an opinion of my own on whether the horses were visibly lame, or, how lame.
First, I can say it wasn’t the footing. The footing there ranks among the best of any big venue and many people commented on that. Whomever installed the bases under the GGT did it perfectly. That storm overnight Tuesday-Wed was a deluge and left mud and puddles everywhere on the property, yet, the rings were cleared for riding by 10am Wed. It was almost hard to believe how well the drainage system worked underneath the rings. Riders and coaches were very impressed and the horses seemed to go exceptionally well in it.
During the tests, the jury for this champs is made up of more European judges than US judges and I think they were being particularly detailed in scrutinizing the pairs. You can see from the score trends that they have been on the low side of the norm, for the most part. And I think that tighter scrutinization, plus the number of judges, includes a closer examination of irregularities in the trots as the tests begin. As compared to most of our regular recognized shows around the Country.
I think the poster who suggested that many of these horses are more senior/seasoned veterans hit onto part of the reason.
When I was scribing, I was writing “irregular” frequently in the boxes of the particular tests that led to the pair being rung out for lameness. In the earliest parts of the tests, obviously. The first mediums across the diagonal and then the first shoulder in are informative as to how off/unevenly a horse is moving, in both tests I scribed on Friday. But as I said I did not see the lameness myself in the majority of the cases because I was looking intently at the keyboard and the screen.
The e-system allows judges around the court to make a call of “lameness” by having the scribe toggle a switch marked that. It then pops up as a flag on the screens of all five scribes, and it shows which judge(s) made the call. The judge at C has the final word on elimination and can choose to ignore the flag (s) and let the pair continue. Or, to agree. And to then have his/her scribe toggle the button also. Then ring the bell and eliminate the pair.
The adolescent and young adult riders all took the news in an extremely sportsmanlike way while in the public eye. I was very impressed by how well. The cheering and clapping responses from their teams and the other spectators gave them moral support in a rough moment.
And I can also say that none of the riders, not a single one, appeared shocked or surprised when told, “I am so sorry, but we are seeing lameness today.”
