Definitely not in the minority! I’m also rooting for him. I feel like a constant KC defender on this forum. Most of the time when people talk about his riding ability or himself negatively, they put a dollar sign or mention how rich he is. You could put me on a $10mil horse, and I wouldn’t get over the first jump.
I think Lillie is out, unfortunately, IMO. She’s got a nice string of horses just on the verge of being there, but her results are far more inconsistent than either Aaron or Karl right now.
I think it’s interesting that some commentators sneer at Karl Cook’s wealth which is unearned and he would be the first to admit that, but never do so about all of the top candidates’ similar wealth. It just takes a lot of money to be at the top and there aren’t any of the current top riders who are doing it while working a “regular job”. Perhaps we should just admit the obvious, if you have access to money, a work ethic, and talent, you are going to be able to be in that sport. If you have no access to money, you can maybe be in the sport. It’s like a lot of things in this life, money helps, a lot. Not looking for a fight here, I just think it’s time we just admitted that money makes success a lot simpler in top show jumping and pretty much everything else. NPR did a great show on how those with a “wealth cushion” tend to be more risk taking in business ventures than those who are spending their entire “wealth”. The wealth cushion folks could take risks the others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Sucks but that’s the way our system currently is.
I think it is incredibly fair to be turned off to him after his reaction during the Pan Am games. I think it is even fair to think his results at the Pan Am games mean he hasn’t shown the consistency yet to be a dependent team player.
It is insane to me to say he can’t ride and that it is his expensive horse carting him around to a win. He’s not buying a $10 million dollar horse and winning the 1.0ms adult ammys. At a Nation’s Cup his horse isn’t any nicer or more valuable that the others he is competing against - these are all some of the nicest horses in the world. Its insulting to the other horses and riders to say they got beat by someone who can’t ride but whose horse is just so much more $$ that it makes up for it…
But it is true. It is true at all levels of the sport here in America. We have people buying their way into levels that they are not equipped to ride by buying a multi million dollar horse, pointing and steering.
I stand by my personal opinion that the man is not a good rider. He is jerky and unbalanced and all over the place. He does not balance the horse before a jump and then throws himself over the jumps. He often jerks them back in the mouth on landing. He is not alone in that for sure but you cannot compare him to our top cadre of riders or any of the top riders in Europe when it comes to skill. And no, many of those riders have years of experience bringing their championship horses up the FEI levels, they do not always have he most earth shattering jumpers. Those get sold to rich Americans haha. Honestly, I would love to see what McLain could do with a horse like Caracole or hell United Touch! I feel McLain, who doesn’t come from billions, is often not mounted up to his talent and skill comparatively, he just can ride the crap out of anything he sits on
Didn’t he come back for the second round after his day 1 Pan Am disaster and put in a clear round? I think it shows a lot of resilience and mental toughness to be able to do that.
I agree that it’s ridiculous to say that anyone at this level has bought their way to the top, unless you want to say they’re all doing it.
Karl can’t ride? That mare is incredibly difficult, her prior rider has said as much, and Karl just made it look like he was out for a Sunday stroll to win the 5* grand prix of Rome on the grass.
I honestly don’t get the Karl hate. Yeah, he had a rough go and was not a beacon of super horsemanship at the Pan Ams. And what did he do? He apologized, figured his stuff out, and the horse has been better than ever.
As for the wealth, you think Lillie doesn’t come from money? Her dad is a literal billionaire.
Of course that happens. And those riders may get carried to wins at a lower height on a less technical track. But no horse, however much its worth, is carrying its terrible unqualified rider to a win over 1.60m. In the 2021 Olympics a young rider, very well mounted but clearly not ready for the level, had a scary fall. He wasn’t winning anything.
You don’t have to like his riding style. But we can compare him to our top cadre of riders or any of the top riders in Europe since he is literally competing against and beating them.
What are you talking about? How does someone having years of experience bringing along their own championship horse mean the horse doesn’t jump as well? Have you looked at the start lists of the bigger classes Karl has been successful in? Those are top horses. And hate to break it to you, but three of those “rich Americans” you’re saying the “earth shattering jumpers” get sold to were in that Nations Cup Karl won…
By your logic shouldn’t Lillie Keenan and Adrienne Sternlicht be having just as much success? They certainly are not buying cheap horses…
This is laughable. I think many would be hard pressed to think of another rider who has had so many once-in-a-lifetime talents in their string. Goldika. Sapphire. Antares F. Rothschild. HH Azur. Clinta. Contagious. With the exception of maybe Rothschild (who clearly had his own style), all were horses that were as scopey and talented as they come.
Let’s also not pretend McLain is a rags to riches story or that he didn’t come from a very privileged position with opportunity and horse flesh “back in the day”.
McLain also had the “opportunity” to get on all the assorted horse flesh that came through the busy sales barn back in the day. Not just the good ones or the expensive ones or the broke ones or the talented ones or the fancy ones.
That sort of background will often give someone a lot more tools in their toolbox to react when things don’t go perfectly, especially compared to people who have always been mounted on the best horses money can buy.
I feel like this is going off the rails. We can all agree that the choices for our Olympic team have wonderful horses and good results. But, who do you choose? I’m torn between Karl and Lilllie still.
I should make fun of Lillie more often - she did great at Devon last night. I’ve liked that new horse of hers since she got it so it’s nice to see them do well.
McLain had a very surprisingly not great Devon in every single big class he was entered in. Let’s hope that the 5 star in Paris this weekend goes better for him.
