Tic Tac, you need to go back to Leslie.
[QUOTE=handwalk;8807428]
Nick deserved this win. Having been virtually raised on horseback, he is truly a natural. I’ve always thought he is the best in the world. The British team back in the 70s and 80s would beat the pants off of us at indoors. Incredible riders. Party all night, the grooms would ride the horses in the morning (drunk too), win in the afternoon and win at night.
Brilliantly done, Nick. And thank God it was an American who found you that horse. Now find another one for the USA, Laura 
Glad you two found each other and that horse. Superbly ridden.
Kids that start out at the barn have a huge advantage. And letting them pony club, or hunt or do something other than gallop around the ring really teaches bravery.[/QUOTE]
I posted this on another thread but nobody laughed. So I’ll try it again. Here’s the saddle he beat all our Hermes totin,’ Ralph Lauren wearin’ prodigies in. I think it’s the same one he used on Apollo for Aachen '86.
Nothing outlasts a good Stubben.
[QUOTE=caper;8806137]
What a heartbreaker for Eric![/QUOTE]
But what a horse he has! (I saw “Fine” in the name and thought Fred did it again. 
)
[QUOTE=nutmeg;8807717]
Here’s the saddle he beat all our Hermes totin,’ Ralph Lauren wearin’ prodigies in. I think it’s the same one he used on Apollo for Aachen '86.
The pommel on that thing is higher than the cantle !
[QUOTE=Highflyer;8807729]
Nothing outlasts a good Stubben.[/QUOTE]
He is sponsored by Stackhouse. Could that possibly be an older Stackhouse?
[QUOTE=Belmont;8808958]
He is sponsored by Stackhouse. Could that possibly be an older Stackhouse?[/QUOTE]
That would make sense. If his groom would only stop crying we could ask him on Farcebook.
[QUOTE=nutmeg;8807717]
I don’t want to derail the well deserved accolades for Nick and Big Star, but can someone tell me why his extra stirrup leather is looped forward and under the main part of the leather? I’ve never seen it done up like that.
Back in the old days, before they put the little loop on for the extra leather, that is how you did it. We had a few old Whippy hunting saddles that were like that.
I don’t know why it’s done here, as there is a loop. Nick Skelton isn’t that old…
We use to do it that way also…I wonder if it also helps secure the stirrup leather in one place so as not to come off of the stirrup bar (even with the safety catch up.) I assume there is a lot of movement at thatepoint when you are jumping and coming off of such huge fences?
It holds the extra leather under the vertical leather and prevents it being pulled loose by an active leg.
[QUOTE=omare;8809795]
We use to do it that way also…I wonder if it also helps secure the stirrup leather in one place so as not to come off of the stirrup bar (even with the safety catch up.) I assume there is a lot of movement at thatepoint when you are jumping and coming off of such huge fences?[/QUOTE]
Who puts the safety catch up?
[QUOTE=Drvmb1ggl3;8806650]
Given that many sports operate at the Olympics with group stages and qualifying rounds, I don’t see how the showjumping set-up would stop members of the public from “getting it”.
In the women’s soccer, the three unbeaten teams from the group stages, Brazil, USA and Canada, all got knocked out by teams that had lost games in the group stages, with Canada and Brazil losing out in the semifinals to teams they had beaten in earlier rounds, Germany and Sweden respectively.
In many track events, you can qualify for the final by finishing fourth in the semifinal, and then go on to win gold in the final.
Don’t see how the showjumping is particularly confusing.[/QUOTE]
The better a runner does in the semifinals, the closer to the center of the field he gets to start. Same in swimming. The best finishers in the lead up races get to swim in the center of the pool.
In Equestrian, the best of the semifinal finishers get to jump at the end of the pack, which is the preferred jump off position. In this case, since Nick had a less than stellar lead up to the finals, he was the first to jump in the jump offs. He was was able to win, but he did it despite his jump off position, not because of it.
So, in all these sports, there is a “reward” for finishing well in the lead up races. That is why, in swimming the swimmers in the center of the pool tend to win more than the swimmers in positions 1 and 8. And in track the runner in the center has the advantage because he does not have to negotiate the tight turns that the lower positions do, but neither does he have to run "blind, with all the other racers behind him that the outside runner has to, because of the staggered start
The Nick Skelton saddle mystery has been solved. This from dehoefslag.nl:
"What not many people know is that during the Olympics, Skelton rode in a saddle that was specially made for him 30 years ago by a Stubben dealer in Great Britain. The model is called Siegfried MF. He also rode to his team gold in London with Big Star in this saddle.
Director Johannes Stubben called it great that top riders such as Skelton made use of his saddle. “Many golden medal winners also use that type saddle, such as Hans Gunter Winkler, Paul Schockemohle, Ulrich Kirchhof, and Jeroen Dubbeldam. " And that while Stubben is not even the sponsor of the Brit. Skelton represents the Italian firm Equiline. He helped the company to develop a saddle that very much looks like his own. But at important moments, such as the Olympic Games, he puts his trust in his 30-year-old saddle.”
I just love that. Gets it down to what’s essential.
