The story of Hachi, the Akita, has me in tears.
Finished watching team show jumping final an hour ago while doing some errands (highly recommend doing laundry while watching show jumping lol), and the adjective that best describes my feelings is impressed.
Impressed by Sweden, and the performance by all three horse/rider combinations including Henrik von Eckermann and his amazing horse, King Edward, who jumped clear in all six rounds at the Tokyo Games. All the carrots in the land, indeed!
Impressed by the United States, and the clutch clear round put in by Laura Kraut and Baloutinue in the first round, and speedy Gonzalez round by McLain Ward and (the appropriately COVID-19 named) Contagious in the jump-off. Hats off to Jessica Springsteen and Don Juan van de Donkhoeve who rode her butt off in her first Olympic Games; glad she was able to shut up some of those armchair Grand Prix riders Iāve encountered online this week.
Impressed by the beautiful, creative jumps on course, footing, stabling, and the hospitality demonstrated by host city Tokyo. Everything Iāve read from the riders, coaches, etc. has been nothing but positive, well done!
Impressed by the horsemanship demonstrated by Daniel Deusser by not pushing his horse, Killer Queen, to complete the course and retiring. Gave the mare a calming pat on the neck, and took the courtesy jump before exiting the round.
Overall, the jump-off was really exciting, and I hope this encourages more people tuning into show jumping for the first time to learn more about our sport and take up riding 
We can never have enough horse people in the world!
Edit: would like to point out that, as a non-American, I am not the biggest fan of the US at the Olympics. However, with that in mind, I always cheer my heart out for US riders at the Olympics, and at other events which attract international riders (i.e. Royal Winter Fair). Laura and McLain are some of my favourite riders, and, OMG, Lauraās huge smile during the victory ceremony put a big smile on my face 
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I am a huuuuuge Bruce fan although Iāve never seen him in concert. I named my current horse, Bennie, āGlory Daysā for his show name!
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Yāall know they would have been blasting Springsteen songs had they pulled off the gold
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I thought this was interesting. Peder Fredricson wrote an emotional, love letter to All In:
āYou love to compete, you always want to jump higher and faster, the last couple of years have been amazing. You truly are a champion. Thank you for always wanting to be the best. I love your personality, calm and wild. Spooky and brave, thatās what makes you one of a kind and a very special horse. In Gothenburg you will show them what a true champion looks like.ā
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Someone would have probably felt downright obligated to play Born in the USA. On which note, as an enormous fan of ABBA, I have to thank the Swedish team again. 
(That said, our soundtrack at the gym this morning included one of my personal Boss favorites, Dancing In The Dark, and I couldnāt resist pointing out that it was by father of Olympic silver medalist Jessica!)
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My dog and cat elected to leave the room while I watched. I think I was disturbing their nap. Lol.
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I always hate when they play Born in the USA as a celebratroy song. You donāt have to have an advanced degree to listen to the lyrics and realize itās not a happy, celebratory song.
One of my favorite Bruce songs is Reason to Believe, which would be a GREAT name for a show horse.
Lyrics are not exactly cheerful either.
I could also see Thunder Road, Johnnny 99, Brilliant Disguise or Rosalita as great show horse names.
Ok, Iām gunna stop now.
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Iām with you, which is one of the reasons itās a good thing Sweden won and saved us from that dissonance; but letās be real, the people who think about celebratory music arenāt thinking about the lyrics- just the punchy chorus.
One day, when I am rich and famous and have a lot of horses, I will have a black gelding named Thunder Road and a mare named Fascination Street (after the song by The Cure.)
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Did anyone else notice that all the U.S. riders were wearing gloves? Thatās unusual, is it not?
Just watched this on NBC. Iām so happy for the Sweden!
However, I can not stand that women commentator like at all! I kept saying shut up whenever she talked. Also I feel during Jessica Springsteenās round they didnāt talk enough about her parentsā¦ (note sarcasm)
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ROFL.
No, why would it be?
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Iāve never actually watched the show, so I donāt know if this is accurate. But the woman commentator made me think a little bit of the British show Absolutely Fabulous.
I donāt know if it was the heat, the format, or the course design today but these Olympics have lacked the usual magic that they have. There was a glimmer in it in the individual final but otherwise it was too many good horses struggling in my opinion
Rooted really hard for Sweden- what an incredible performance. The fact that it comes from years of work and patient horse preparation makes it even better. Peder for clutch rider of the year!
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For the equestrian events, I think itās as simple as: we know that the format and structure of these games (Iām taking about the no-drop score and the start new jumping round from scratch) are not at all ideal, and so everyoneās trying to put on a game face and do the best they can anyway.
Without a fourth rider in the mix, it seemed like the competition just didnāt last very long. Also, because of the 3 riders to a team format and more nations competing, there were fewer of the greats present and more of the ānot quite there yetā riders.
Watching people from an underrepresented country compete for the spirit of the games is inspirational in swimming; not so much in riding, I find.
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Iāve never understood why that song is played on happy occasions. Itās a very sad song.
Well done you for letting people know that heās related to an Olympian. 
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Itās not unusual at all. Wouldnāt you wear gloves if you were in their place?
Are you referring to Lucinda Green? If so,āthat womenā (sic) is an Olympian and the winner of Badminton and Burghley multiple times.If you are referring to Melanie Smith, she was also an Olympian, but in Show Jumping.
I enjoyed Lucindaās commentary. It was clear she wanted everyone to do well and she tried to say something nice about every horse and rider.
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