Isn’t FST the Trakehner suffix? I certainly would hope they would end up breeding her. She’s about as good an example of a Trak one could imagine for eventing.
Like many of you, I was riding this morning and am catching up with the on-demand video. I watched Jung’s ride first which may have been a mistake because he made it look so easy!
Arthur looked hesitant from the very beginning–I was almost wondering if his conditioning was lacking, he just looked so tired but it could be that he was burning up mental energy that should have been focused on the course. Almost like AS had to get him through the entire course through her sheer force of will.
Just watched Doug Payne’s ride (one of my personal favorites) and now off to watch some others.
For those who mentioned they didn’t get to see Bunnie’s ride, replays are up now! All dressage tests are up as well as individual xc runs.
[QUOTE=vineyridge;8643249]
Isn’t FST the Trakehner suffix? I certainly would hope they would end up breeding her. She’s about as good an example of a Trak one could imagine for eventing.[/QUOTE]
Her pedigree is analyzed here.
As a spectator, I was so glad to see everyone be cautious. From the parts that I saw, it rode well. I was glad to hear of those who took the longer routes.
Michael Jung is just amazing to watch in person. Seriously.
Lauren is also a great to watch! Very good rider. Super bummed about Allison, honestly not unexpected. After they went through head of lake, I kept my eyes glued to the jumbo tron! Hopefully Allison will find another horse and will give her 100% when she needs it.
So she isn’t a Trak. What does FST stand for? It looks like a Verband suffix.
I felt badly for Tiana, coming back to the U.S. and fairing badly. Finn never looked like he wanted to be in the game today either. He can be amazing and then not look like the same horse. I wondered how he would fair after the “quiet” dressage test, I didn’t see the usual flair that he has shown before.
I just love Derek’s courses! And I was thrilled for Lauren, she’s such a beautiful, quiet rider and really gets it done. A little damp but a great XC day.
The full program is up! There goes my Saturday night plans…
I watched some early goes on the live feed then had to go away and returned home to watch some of the replays. I am so impressed with Lauren and Veronica: what an elegant and confident duo! Lauren rides so quietly and pretty much stays out of Veronica’s way, which impressed me tremendously. Lainey had a great go as well and it was fun to watch her rejoice at the end of her XC. These athletes are so impressive and so brave. Hats off to all of them!
I didn’t see Maya Black’s round (heard it was awesome) but one of the most impressive bits of footage I witnessed were Matt Brown and Supersocks- he rode the pants off that horse and the horse rose to the occasion. So nice and forward, he was kicking on the whole time. Kudos to him. Was this his first 4*?
[QUOTE=CaitlinandTheBay;8643297]
The full program is up! There goes my Saturday night plans…[/QUOTE]
Where might one find todays videos?
[QUOTE=faybe;8643319]
I didn’t see Maya Black’s round (heard it was awesome) but one of the most impressive bits of footage I witnessed were Matt Brown and Supersocks- he rode the pants off that horse and the horse rose to the occasion. So nice and forward, he was kicking on the whole time. Kudos to him. Was this his first 4*?[/QUOTE]
Yes, it is.
MJ’s style of riding is so different from our riders. His horses have self carriage, so he can stay off their mouths when galloping. He sees his distance 10 strides out and can balance for a stride or keep coming forward to meet the jumps going forward. (Of course, when things do not go as planned, he can get down in the trenches with the best of them. But when things are going right, he is poetry in motion.)
I wince when I see the “push-me, pull-you” style where horses are geared down and down and down to balance and find a distance, and then kicked on. They lose at least 1 second at each jump, and it must be tiring to have to change gears more often.
I was also interested to hear in his interview that he planned to ride the first half of the course conservatively, so he would have plenty of horse for the second half. I don’t believe I saw anyone else with that plan, but there may have been some.
MJ could win a hunter Derby with his horses. (Although I doubt that is high on his list of worlds to conquer… 
)
So, who pays the shipping on Michael’s new Land Rover?
I was able to watch quite a bit - cleaned my tack for my piddly novice event tomorrow. My course looks entirely do-able after watching this!
I have a horse by Arthur’s sire Windstar. My horse is not anywhere near the athlete that Arthur is, but damn do they look exactly the same when they are saying “no thank you”. So incredibly quick to change from “ok, I will try for you” to not. I have followed Arthur too and Alison has done with him things probably no one else could but it is heartbreaking to see him not reciprocate for her.
And Michael Jung. Am I the only person who thought he was a cowboy out there? Flapping his elbows waving the reins at several jumps? He got it done in a way that no one else did but I was really surprised at all the kicking and flapping. The horse was smooth, but Jung was kinda not.
****edited that I just watched the full video and was happy to see that there was not nearly as much flapping as the live stream showed. Many many harmoniously ridden fences. Live must have really concentrated on the truly difficult ones?
I felt very bad for Kim, too, but her horse looks like a beast to ride - arguing with her at the beginning of the course and then just not locking on at that mound.
It was interesting to see the horses who were more generous - 'ok? That? let’s go" and the ones who were not.
USEF Network will stream tomorrow’s jog at 8:30am USA Eastern time.
Whoever wanted the link to the full program for today, here it is. Just scroll down below the big viewer window, and you’ll find smaller windows for the on-demand.
I just watched Allison’s ride. I have a question about the options at the coffin complex where Arthur had the refusal. Are the options there only for a contingency plan after a refusal, or can they be used to avoid the ditch altogether? Would that have been a better plan for Allison knowing the Arthur was just not bringing his A game today, or would she have picked up about as many time faults over the longer route as should have with the refusal?
Also, I noticed the back log of the oxer at fence 3 had lost a lot of bark by the end of the day. Is that just from horses dragging their back legs when they are still settling into their rhythm or do horses at this level do it intentionally to save energy?
[QUOTE=tbchick84;8643376]
I just watched Allison’s ride. I have a question about the options at the coffin complex where Arthur had the refusal. Are the options there only for a contingency plan after a refusal, or can they be used to avoid the ditch altogether? Would that have been a better plan for Allison knowing the Arthur was just not bringing his A game today, or would she have picked up about as many time faults over the longer route as should have with the refusal?
Also, I noticed the back log of the oxer at fence 3 had lost a lot of bark by the end of the day. Is that just from horses dragging their back legs when they are still settling into their rhythm or do horses at this level do it intentionally to save energy?[/QUOTE]
The ditch is the “B” element, so he has to jump it regardless.
Watching the video, several horses hit the long with their front legs.
Well if you really want to kill your entire Saturday night, the complete individual ride videos are up as well! 
Here’s the link (same one just posted above)
http://www.usefnetwork.com/featured/2016RK3DE/
Scroll down past the ‘main video’, watching the right side for the “search” box. That’s where you can find individual rider videos.
I don’t mind so much that the live stream spends more time on the leaders, knowing I can see any rider’s full round later. Good deal, USEF! :yes::yes::yes:
Fwiw … the live stream showed only a few of Avery Klunick’s jumps since she was on at the same time as a leader. But IMO her round is well worth a look, keeping in mind that she’s the youngest rider in the field, this is her first 4*, and she’s on her Junior Rider mount. Except for just a couple of minor blips, she looks like a Rolex veteran! Oh well, that last fence was nearly a disaster … has to have one major learning experience out of it, I guess.
Mackenna Shea also had a nice round! Is this her first time? Somehow her horse’s name seems familiar.
Really enjoyed Elinor McPhail’s ride as well.
Who else who is down the leaderboard a bit has a round that you recommend is worth a watch?
