Any thoughts on why the order was chosen the way it was? The NBC site shows it as Boyd, Karen, Tiana, Will, and Phillip. I was hearing that the team would want Karen to leadoff, I found it interesting Boyd and Otis are going first, despite not being one of the most experienced US teams. Regardless, I’m happy so I will get to watch him go before I leave for work!
It used to be that the pathfinder had to be someone the team could count on to complete the course, bringing back valuable information for the rest of the team on how the course rode. And the last rider on the team would have the best opportunity for an individual medal, if the rest of the team was well positioned, giving the last rider to go the chance to take more chances, perhaps going all the direct routes, going faster, etc. Not sure if that is still the thinking since the disappearance of the long format, but certainly Phillip would be my choice for an individual medal, and I would pick Boyd over the others to get home no matter what. :yes:
Interesting! I trust Boyd on any XC course on any one of his horses- I had just seen other threads talking about how Mr. Medicott may be a better choice to run first.
Mr. M would surely get around clean and within the time with his previous rider but it is a new partnership with KOC and she does not have a great record at OG so I think Boyd was the logical choice to be pathfinder.
Karen and Mr Medicott are such a new partnership and he’s so strong on xc. Karen will have her hands full getting him around without tons of time penalties, no need to add the pressure of being the pathfinder. On the other hand, If she puts the pedal to the medal, theres a decent chance they’ll have a drive by at some point.
If your pathfinder doesn’t make it all the way around, havoc insues.
It sucks for Boyd as his start position screwed him out of even an upside shot at an individual medal. I might have been tempted to run Will C first and sacrifice his dressage score but he did a really good test and they’re sitting on a good score so maybe TPTB were banking on Will C scoring better than Boyd. I also can’t help wondering if the judges would have been more generous with Neville than they were with Otis because he’s an international superhorse. :).
I suspect that once we drew first, any discussion of a non Boyd first rider ceased.
Yes, Boyd is such a fearless rider and I am sure going first XC doesn’t bother him at all. I felt he deserved a much better dressage score, and according to his blog, Silva did too (although she may be partial!). Regardless, I don’t think he could’ve asked for a better ride. I also wonder, though, if he’d had Neville in that first spot if the judges would’ve been a bit kinder…
I really don’t think Neville’s “stardom” would have carried any weight with the judges, as I don’t think he is an international hero in the way folks here think he is.
I suspect Neville would have probably scored quite a bit worse than Otis… I know everyone loves Neville, but Otis is by far the better horse in dressage.
Otis has by far more potential than Neville in dressage but historically, their scores are not that far apart and in fact, I believe Nevile has outscored Otis in the past. Now whether Neville would have totally lost his mind in that arena is another story entirely, but I admit I thought he has been a little generously scored at fei events in the past. If he really wanted the possibility of going super low, Remi would have been the choice.
