I’ve always thought it would be fun to see all of the ***** events but I don’t think I’d bother to go to see Pau. I have never liked the looks of that course. Its seems to be all tight and twisty. I don’t see how a horse and rider ever find a rhythm on that course.
Re: Pinkney. When that tack broke why was he not pulled off course by an official? Stupid and irresponsible decision by the rider but where were the officials. Did no one radio he that he was riding with broken tack?
It turns out that Archie Rocks’ fall was as bad as you guys thought: https://eventingnation.com/archie-rocks-euthanised-after-fall-at-les-5-etoiles-de-pau/?fbclid=IwAR0QyWGSY7PSPJA_S51dktI9BeAVjq5z0p-Dc3LJOanhjfC8z_sYM2bk71E
Damn! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
ArchieRocks had quite a nasty slip earlier as well–see 6:56 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY0kC6V3Ias
That might have made the hind end look more off. A shoulder fracture though–perhaps a bad angle hit into the skinny in the water? Or causing the initial stumble in the pond? RIP nonetheless.
There were three Falls at that fence. None of them were at the jump they were all before the jump it looked like Archie got ahead of his feet and he fell into the jump I do not understand how three horses and one of them being Tim Price’s could fall going into the jump and nobody else had any trouble there.
I just saw this video that was going around Facebook. In my opinion he looks to be having a temper tantrum. You can pull off your equipment with out all the dramatic stomping and tossing.
This video does not show what happened after the horse cantered off and the rider gained their composure.
I don’t know too many horses that will willingly try to jump into a solid wall on their own.
Too much carnage. Period. Why do CD’s do this? This really makes me sad for our sport. If you look at the results, you do not see any MR’s. At least one of the ones shown on the youtube video was a MR. I wonder about that horse, too? It seemed to be walking strangely, after the fall. There were some really good riders and horses who bought the dust. I just do not understand how these courses keep getting approved? The Officials need to stand up and do the right thing, too. They need to make CD’s produce safer courses. JMHO.
Looks to me like they may actually be using the breakaway poles from ski racing… I’ve seen a few get hit and they spring back up after being hit. I don’t know why these are not standard.
In ski racing the athletes accept getting massively bruised when the flag bounces back and hits them. We need to think about how this works in a totally different context before assuming they are a good idea for XC.
Well, you have the EN cross country preview saying that Pierre Michelet is referred to “affectionately” as “Michelet the Menace”. Therein lies at least part of the problem.
And the course at Pau claims the life of another (former, American horse. I still do not understand the three falls at that fence. They were BEFORE the jump, not at the jump or after.
You need to go read the eventing nation interview with him. I had the same thoughts as you, but the article paints it a little more favourable to him. I.e. he was furious at himself for risking his horse, not at the horse. Yes he didn’t need to have a tantrum, but I can understand it more as furiousness that he risked his horse. If I had risked my horse, who then just showed how much of a once in a lifetime horse they are by trying to jump a 10 foot wall, I would be likely to act out at my own stupidity as well.
But he DID let someone else go get the horse while he threw his tack on the ground. I read that article and I think he should have stopped when e broke his rein. I was watching earlier in the day and he seemed to slow down Alex Bragg was commenting he also thought he was pulling up. Then he went on. I think maybe it was like Elisa Wallace a year or two ago at Burghley(?) Badminton(?) So pumped to be there, and the adrenalin gets pumping, but his behavior was inexcusable. he should have been all over that horse, making sure it was all right.
No matter what he was mad at, throwing a tantrum on course is inexcusable. He was too jacked up to stop after breaking a rein, then too angry to do anything but throw a tantrum after running his horse into a wall. No matter what he was actually mad at, he did NOT do the right things on this course.
Why was he not pulled up for continuing with a broken rein? That has got to be considered dangerous riding.
Yellow card!!! Shouldn’t have been trying to ride like that. Look what he did to that horse!
Have you ever hit a rapidgate skiing? Have you ever hit a wooden pole? Which hurts more? One major advantage of the rapidgate is that it does not break into sharp bits and stab you. Another is that the course maintenance people do not have to reset it. A third is that it doesn’t usually spring back until you have passed it. ( Ski racers pad their arms and shins heavily because they repeatedly ( like 50 times per run) ski into the pole deliberately.
Besides, I watched about an hour of the Pau XC and saw several poles behaving exactly like rapidgates, and no one seemed to be writhing in pain.
Larksmom, I agree. I don’t understand why he wasn’t running to catch and check over his horse after such a horrendous accident. It was horrifying and it broke my heart to see that horse trying to do what he thought his rider wanted even though it was the impossible. I don’t care how mad you are at yourself - the horse comes first. It was a bad situation all the way around and it’s a miracle that horse wasn’t killed.
Jack Pinkney needs a yellow card and some sort of suspension, to carry on with a broken rein and cause his poor horse to think it was supposed to jump a 10 foot wall is a horrific lack of horsemanship.
None of that is a substitution for ensuring there aren’t unintended consequences of adapting equipment from ski racing to eventing.
Excellent ski racers hit the gates hard and fast, and yes, they have guards. Depending on several factors, the gates sometimes rebound and whack them in the butt. I wasn’t that good of a racer, but my sister was.
Perhaps we also just need to ask if this is the direction the sport should be going. You mentioned splintering flags; there is already a rule in place for that. There’s also a rule in place for flags to be detachable so they will fall rather than be fixed to the obstacle causing injury.
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