In COTH that came yesterday there were a couple of well thought out articles on the games. Packy McGaughan’s long article pretty well spelled out the ups and downs and what they did/did not accomplish. Beth Rasin makes some excellent comments about the direction of the WEG. Great writing.
Which issue? I just received my 9/24-10/1 issue yesterday (horse care issue) and don’t see anything re the WEG.
Issue dated 10/8&15, arrived yesterday.
Good morning fellow horse sport lovers
Would love to know why so many top showjumpers weren’t riding. By my count, 15 out of the top 30 riders weren’t there. And with all due respect to the British team riders, you have to wonder where Scott Brash, Ben Maher and John and Micheal Whitaker where.
Anyway here are the latest top 10 show jumping riders rankings, after WEG Tryon 2018.
I have included images AND a video of one of their best winning rounds in 2018.
Its very entertaining, and a nice way to start off your day.
http://clear-round.com/index.php/2018/08/18/top-10-rider-rankings-october-2018/
Enjoy!!!
Cheers
Dave
There is no prize money, which is a big departure from what these top GP show jumpers usually compete for. That’s a factor.
Not true. There was prize money available, a lot of it.
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/world-equestrian-games-prize-money-653326
Did Tryon do a good enough job with it to host again in 2022?
I was not there; it sounds like there were some good bits and some awful bits, but I don’t have a sense of the big picture, especially from the FEI perspective.
I think the more relevant question is whether anyone else is willing to host it. If not, it might be Tryon or nothing.
If that happens, hopefully they would learn from the shortcomings and fix them, especially with four years to work on it.
Thanks Viney, I was misinformed!
as far as who showed up for sj, I was surprised that Scott b wasn’t on the team. but I don’t know much about sj, as I follow more closely the eventing. SJ do win a lot more money than eventers, but looking at the money offered, it wasn’t a lot. BUT it WAS the World Championships! Surely that alone would be worth a lot of money if you win.
And look what the UK did with their eventing team. A lot of people were shocked and disgruntled that O Townend was left off the team. But Oli has a sort of bad reputation. They were so strong they could have sent two teams. And look at their finish! Two gold medals. I see many more in their future as they seem to be rising again, and the addition of Chris bartles will only help.
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There’s no universal answer but it is worth noting that 8 of the top 10 were at the WEG. Some riders are focused on the Global Champions Tour instead of riding on championship teams (Scott doesn’t ride on the team much anymore and Ben, who was short listed, chose the GCT because he’s up for the big win), some kept away due to their own or their horse’s injuries that either stopped or interrupted the schedule (like our own Kent), others who didn’t have the right horse at the right time or decided their big horse wasn’t up for the big competition, or… a combination of all of the above and more. Is there ever a championship where everyone shows up?
Here’s an article from earlier this year that sheds some light: https://www.eurosport.com/equestrian…70/story.shtml
Sadly, not quite as much as the GCT: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/sport/lgct-2018-preview-spt/index.html
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I had a conversation with Chris Kapler on the last day of team competition where he noted that most show jump pros understand that in order for their country to qualify for an Olympic games they must assist their national teams in the qualifying competitions like the WEG. Some teams that skipped these games will try to qualify at their regional championships next year. As for why riders like Scott Brash were not present, perhaps he wasn’t selected by his national federation. They left Ollie Townend home because they feared his horses would not respond well to heat and humidity. Similar reasons could be given for others not attending. Money plays less of a role than you might think.
This was my first time at Tryon and my first time attending WEG. However, I have been fortunate to watch shows like Aachen, Hickstead, Dublin, and WEF. It was not my favorite venue, but it seemed like “management” tried to improve things day-to-day. Nevertheless, $4 for a bottle of water was ridiculous.
As for which showjumping riders came to play, it takes a special horse to jump big rounds all week. I think day 2 was set 1.60m all around. Add to that the heat and humidity, so some riders opted out during team selections (I can think of Simon Deleste, Luciana Diniz, Kent Farrington). In the WEG/Olympic format, faults accumulated through the week, which is a lot of pressure every day versus saving the top horse for Sunday’s Grand Prix. It was unfortunate to see some horses do a beautiful round one day and then stop out and say, “No thank you!” the next day.
