Boyd has posted all three of his rides at Pau on his Facebook page. As well as a personal video, as he was walking out of the jumping ring of his experience of the weekend. Have to say, his face looks terribly beaten up… And he looked knackered finishing XC and jumping - that man is an AMAZING horseman and athlete! I am in awe of him after what he went through in Maryland.
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I saw that too. His face looked awful. I would have worn the sunglasses all weekend-well, maybe not Saturday, but I hope he gets his Mojo back. He is SO Close to the top! (I know, I am a hopeless old fangirl.)
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I’m so impressed with these riders and horses! Everyone came out amazing today too after that!
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I don’t think Boyd cares what he looks like! Which is why many of us probably like him - He cares about his horses and his sport. A true horseman! Have to say, after Maryland, what a success in Pau! Congratulations!
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@Jealoushe you share the best videos -Thank you! That is some messy, scary, footing! That took some brave riding and horses.
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Sigh. I have to say, I am not. I am sure he felt immense pressure, especially with Bruno, but the flip side of the coin is that this sport is far too dangerous to be doing it when you are halfway okay. He often looks like he is physically feeling the effect of years in this sport, but on Saturday he looked more defensive in his riding than usual and he clearly felt terrible at the finish. I commend him for making the decision to withdraw Lulu, but my stomach turns when I think of how so many people would have felt had something gone wrong out there - especially when he was with Bruno.
I really don’t like to question the decisions of these riders, because they put so much into it and they know better than anyone how they and their horses feel, so I will stop short of criticizing him, but I really, really do not like to see anyone “in awe” of that performance or holding it out as an example of aspirational toughness. I believe he tried his hardest to make the best decisions he could on the day. I do not believe they are decisions that we should be advertising as motivation to the next generation.
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Update, Boyd is coming to Ontario for the indoor eventing and then gracing us with a clinic on the Sunday before he flies home, hosted by the Ontario Eventing Association. Last year we had Phil come. Very exciting for us!
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go and take pictures if you can! 
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Absolutely!!
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Four stallions finished in the top eight, has that ever happened before? 
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It has happened before, insofar as it is an error. The only actual stallion to compete at Pau, as far as I know, was Piggy March’s Halo (who is so lovely, and did very well in those conditions for his first 5*). The rest seems to be an odd glitch of FEI registration - many male horses who are definitely geldings show up in the FEI database and on certain scoring systems as stallions. I’m not sure why, but D. Day, Izilot, and Chicko are not stallions unless I have missed a lot.
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You’re absolutely right! Halo is the only stallion entered at Pau!
FEI database is not to be trusted when it comes to the labelling of stallions vs geldings, mainly because breeders or owners fail to update the records.
The same issue applies to HorseTelex.
